“Good-night. One thing more: If the minister comes tell him I’ll keep up Bella’s subscription to the church the same as she did when she was here--that is, for the present, anyhow. If he says anything about my giving money toward the new steeple tell him I haven’t made up my mind whether or not the steeple is going to be rebuilt. When I do I’ll let him know.... That’s all, I guess.” He went into the library, drawing the curtains with his own hands this time. He glanced at the ornate marble and gold clock upon the mantel, decided that it was too early for his contemplated walk, and sank heavily into the leather chair. He picked up the paper from the floor, adjusted his spectacles and attempted to read. The attempt was a failure. Nothing in the closely printed pages aroused his interest sufficiently to distract his thoughts from the empty rocker at the other side of the table. He tossed the paper upon the floor again and sat there, pulling at his beard and glancing impatiently at the clock. Its gold plated hands crept from seven to seven-thirty and, at last, to ten minutes to eight. Then he rose and moved toward the front hall. In that hall he took from the carved walnut hatstand a long ulster and a black soft hat. He had donned the ulster and was about to put on the hat when he heard Mrs. Gifford’s step in the library. She was calling his name. “Well, here I am,” he answered, impatiently. “Now what?” Nabby was out of breath, and this, together with the consciousness of the importance of her errand, did not help her toward coherence. “I--I’m awful sorry to stop you, Cap’n Foster,” she panted, “and--and of course I know you didn’t want to see nobody to-night. But--but he said ’twas serious and he’d come all the way from Trumet a-purpose--and it’s rainin’ like all fire, too--and bein’ as _’twas_ him, I--well, you see, I just didn’t know’s I’d ought to say no--so--” Townsend interrupted. “Who is it?” he demanded. Nabby’s tone was awe-stricken. “It’s Honorable Mooney,” she whispered. “Representive Mooney, that’s who ’tis. He’s drove all the way from Trumet, rain and all, to see you, Cap’n Foster, and he says it’s dreadful important. If it had been any one else I wouldn’t have let him in, but honest, when I see him standin’ on the steps to the side door, lookin’ just as big and--and noble as he done when Varunas took me to that Republican rally and he made such a grand speech, I--well, I--” Again her employer broke in. “You _have_ let him in, I take it,” he said, curtly. “And of course you told him _I_ was in.... Well, I’ll give him five minutes. Send him into the sitting-room.”