He said nothing concerning his meeting with Miss Hallett and the South
Wellmouth station agent, but he did mention encountering Captain Jethro
and Mr. Pulcifer. Martha seemed much interested.
“Humph!” she exclaimed. “I wonder what possessed Cap'n Jeth to go over
to the cemetery in the mornin'. He almost always goes there Sunday
afternoons--his wife's buried there--but he generally goes to church in
the mornin'.”
Galusha remembered having heard the light keeper refer to the exchange
of preachers. Miss Phipps nodded.
“Oh, yes,” she said, “that explains it, of course. He's down on the
Wapatomac minister because he preaches against spiritualism. But what
was Raish Pulcifer doin' in that cemetery? He didn't have anybody's
grave to go to, and he wouldn't go to it if he had. There's precious
little chance of doin' business with a person after he's buried.”
“But I think it was business which brought Mr. Pulcifer there,” said
Galusha. “He and--ah--Captain Hallett, is it? Yes--ah--thank you. He and
the captain seemed to be having a lengthy argument about--about--well,
I'm not exactly certain what it was about. You see, I was examining
a--ah--tomb”--here Primmie shivered--“and paid little attention. It
seemed to be something about some--ah--stock they both owned. Mr.
Pulcifer wished to sell and Captain Hallett did not care to buy.”
Martha's interest increased. “Stock?” she repeated. “What sort of stock
was it, Mr. Bangs?”
“I didn't catch the name. And yet, as I remember, I did catch
some portion of it. Ah--let me see--Could there be such a thing as
a--ah--'ornamenting' stock? A Wellmouth ornamenting or decorating stock,
you know?”
Miss Phipps leaned forward. “Was it Wellmouth Development Company
stock?” she asked.
“Eh? Oh, yes--yes, I'm quite certain that was it. Yes, I think it was,
really.”
“And Raish wanted Cap'n Jeth to buy some of it?”
“That was what I gathered, Miss Phipps. As I say, I was more interested
at the time in my--ah--pet tomb.”
Primmie shivered again. Miss Martha looked very serious. She was
preoccupied during the rest of the dinner and, immediately afterward,
went, as has been told, over to the Hallett house, leaving her guest the
alternative of loneliness or Primmie.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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