“Myownfamily？“herepeatedslowly。“Myown——AndtheReg’larchurch——Whatdoyoumean？HasNat——“
“No，heain’t。Butthatcussedgirlofyours——“
“Stop！“Eben’sshoutrangthroughthehouse。Thelistenerheardit，rose，andthensankslowlytoherknees。
“Stop！“shoutedCaptainHammond。“ElkanahDaniels，foryourownsakenow，becareful。Ifyoudasttosayaword，anotherwordlikethat，I’ll——“
“IfIdast！Thehussy！Butthere’snousetalkin’toyou。You’reascrazyasaBedlamite。Eitherthat，oryou’reinthegamewithher。Ifyouare，Iwarnyou——“
“Stop！Whatgame？Whatdoyoumean？Gracie！MyGrace！Whatisit？Formercysakes，Elkanah——“
“Humph！IwonderedifIcouldn’tgetsomesenseintoyou，finally。
Lockthatdoor！“
“Iwill！Iwill！ButElkanah——“
“Lockit！Givemethekey！“
Theclickofthelocksoundedsharply。
“Where’sthelamp？“demandedDaniels。“Andthematches？Don’tstandthereshaking。“
Asmellofsulphurfloatedoutintothehall。Thenthesicklyglowofthe“fluid“lampshonethroughthedoorway。
“Whatailsyou？“askedElkanah。“Areyoustruckdumb？Nowgoandseeifthere’sanybodyelseinthehouse。“
“But——butthereain’t。Iknowthereain’t。Hannah’sgoneandGracie’satmeetin’bythistime。“
“She？Humph！Well，maybeshe’satmeetingandmaybesheisn’t。
Maybeshe’soverinPeters’spines，huggingandkissingthatmanshe’smetthereeverySundayforIdon’tknowhowlong——Here！letgo，youoldfool！Letgo，Itellyou！“
Achairfelltothefloorwithabang。Therewasthesoundofhardbreathingandrapidfootsteps。
“Letgo！“pantedDaniels。“Areyoucrazy？Takeyourhandsoffme！“
“Youliar！“snarledCaptainEben。“Youlow-livedliar！BytheAlmighty，ElkanahDaniels！I’ll——YoutakethatbackorI’llchoketheeverlastin’souloutofyou。Iwill——“
“Letgo，youlunatic！You’llkillyourself。Listen！I’mnotlying。It’sthetruth。She’smetaman，Itellyou。Beenmeetinghimformonths，Iguess。There！nowwillyoulisten？“
Thefootstepshadceased，buttheheavybreathingcontinued。
“Aman！“gaspedEben。“Aman！Gracie！It’sa——Whoishe？
What’shisname？“
“Hisname’sJohnEllery，andhe’sministeroftheRegularchurchinthistown；that’swhoheis！Here！holdup！GoodLord！areyoudying？Holdup！“
Thegirlonthestairssprangtoherfeet。Herheadwasreelingandshecouldscarcelystand，butsheblindlybeganthedescent。
Shemustgotoheruncle。Shemust。ButCaptainDaniels’svoicecausedhertohaltoncemore。
“There！there！“itsaidinatoneofrelief。“That’sbetter。Setstillnow。Bequiet，that’sit。ShallIgetsomewater？“
“No，no！letmebe。Justletmebe。Iain’twhatIusedtobeandthis——I’mallright，Itellyou。Grace！And——and——Whatwasityoujustsaid？I——Idon’tb’lieveIhearditright。“
“Isaidthatdaughterofyours，orniece，orwhateversheis，thisGraceVanHorne，hasbeenmeetingyoungEllery，ourminister，inPeters’sgrove。Beenmeetinghimandwalkingwithhim，andkissinghim，and——“
“It’salie！Itain’tso，Elkanah！Proveitor——It——itCAN’Tbeso，canit？Please——“
“Itisso。She’smethiminthosepineseverySundayafternoonforalongtime。Shewasseentherewithhimthisafternoon。“
“Who——whosawher？“
“Nevermind。Theonethatdid’llnevertell——unlessit’snecessary。They’refixingtobemarried，and——“
“MARRIED！ShemarryaReg’larminister！Oh——“
“Hush！Listen！Theyain’tmarriedyet。Wecanstop’em，youandI，ifwegetrighttowork。Itisn’ttoolate。Willyouhelp？“
“WillI——I——Goon！tellmemore。“
“Wecanstop’em。Iknowitwouldbeagoodcatchforher，thesneaking，designing——Well，nevermind。Butitcan’tbe。Itshan’tbe。You’vegottotellherso，Hammond。WefolksoftheRegularchurchhaveprideinoursociety；wewon’thaveitdisgraced。Andwehavebeenproudofourminister，theyoung，rattle-headedfool！We’llsavehimifwecan。Ifwecan’t“——thespeaker’steethgrated——“thenwe’llsendhimtoeternalsmashordietrying。“
“ButIcan’tbelieveit’strue。It’samistake；someothergirlandnotGracie。Why，shedon’tevenknowhim。Shewouldn’t——ButsheHASbeenouteverySundayafternoonforweeks。IfitSHOULD
be！“
“Itis。Itellyouitis。Don’twastetimerollingyoureyesandtalkingstuff。We’vegottoworkandyou’vegottoworkfirst。I
don’tknowwhetheryou’reonlymakingbelieveornot。Irealizethat’twouldbeagoodthingforyourgirltomarryapromisingyoungchaplikehim，but——Hush！letmegoon。Itellyou，Hammond，itcan’tbe。Wewon’tlether。Iwon’tlether。I’mamanofinfluenceinthistown，andoutsideofit，too。I’mheadoftheparishcommitteeandamemberoftheNationalRegularSociety。
Ican’treachyourpreciousward，maybe，butIcanreachthefellowshe’safter，andifhemarriesher，I’lldrive’embothtothepoorhouse。
“Here’swhereyoucomein，Hammond。Itmaybeshedoesreallycareforhim。Ormaybeshe’safterpositionandmoney。Well，youtalktoher。Youtellherthatifshekeepsongoingwithhim，ifshedoesn’tbreakoffthisdamnablebusinessnow，tomorrow，I’llruinJohnElleryassureasI’malivingman。He’llberuinedinTrumet，anyhow。He’llbethrownoutbytheparishcommittee。I’mnotsurethathischurchpeoplewon’ttarandfeatherhim。
Marryingalow-downCome-Outerhussy！Asiftherewa’n’tdecentgirlsofgoodfamilieshemighthavehad！Butlosingthischurchwon’tbetheonlythingthat’llhappentohim。Thecommittee’llseethathedoesn’tgetanotherone。I’llusemyinfluenceandhavehimthrownoutoftheRegularministry。ThinkIcan’t？Whatsortofyarnsdoyousupposewillbetoldabouthimandher，meetingthewaytheydid？Won’tthecountypapersprintsomefinetales？Won’ttheBostononesenjoysuchascandal？Itellyou，EbenHammond，thatyoungchap’snamewillbedraggedsodeepinthemudit’llnevergetcleanagain。“
Hestoppedforbreath。Hiscompanionwassilent。Afteramoment，hecontinued：
“Youtellherthat，Hammond，“hewenton。“Ifshereallycaresforhim，it’llbeenough。Shewon’tlethimruinhislife。AndI’llkeepquiettillIhearfromyou。Ifshe’ssensibleandreallydecent，thenshecangivehimhisclearancepaperswithouthisknowingwhyshediditandeverythingwillbeasecretandkeptso。
Nobodyelse’lleverknow。Ifshewon’tdothat，thenyoutellmeandI’llhaveasessionwithHIM。IfTHAT’Snogood，thenouthegoesandshewithhim；andit’sruinationforbothof’em，reputationsandall。WhyamIdoingthis？I’lltellyou。Ilikehim。Heisn’torthodoxenoughtosuitme，butIhavelikedhimmightywell。AndAnnab——Humph！that’sneitherherenorthere。
WhatI’mfightingforistheTrumetRegularchurch。That’sMY
churchandI’llhavenodirtyscandalwithCome-Outersdraggingitdown。Nowyouunderstand。WillyoutellherwhatI’vesaid？“
Thechaircreaked。Evidently，CaptainEbenwasrisingslowlytohisfeet。
“Well？“repeatedElkanah。
“ElkanahDaniels，“saidEbenslowly，hisvoiceshakingfromnervousexhaustionandweakness，butwithafineringofdeterminationineveryword，“ElkanahDaniels，youlistentome。I’veheardyouthrough。Ifyouryarnistrue，thenmyheartisbroke，andIwishImighthavediedaforeIheardit。ButIdidn’tdieandIhaveheardit。Nowlistentome。Ilovethatgirlofminebetter’nthewholewideworldandyetI’drutherseeherdeadaforemethanmarriedtoaReg’larminister。DisgracetoHIM！Disgracetoyourmiser’blechurch！WhataboutthedisgracetoMINE？AndthedisgracetoHER？Ruintoyourminister！RuintomygirlhereandhereafteriswhatI’mthinkin’of；thatandmypeoplewhoworshipGodwithme。I’lltalktoGrace。I’lltalktoher。Butnotofwhat’llhappentohimoryou——oranyofyourcantin’，lip-servin’
crew。I’lltellhertochoosebetweenhimandme。Andifshechooseshim，I’llsendheroutofthatdoor。I’lldomydutyandreadheroutofmycongregation。AndI’llknowshe’sgonetoeverlastin’hell，andthat’sworse’nthepoorhouse。That’sallto-
night，Elkanah。Nowyoubettergo。“
“Humph！Well，Ideclare！youAREabigoted——“
“Stopit！I’vekeptmyhandsoffyousofur，becauseI’mtheLord’sservant。ButI’mfightin’hardtokeepdownmyoldsalt-
watertemper。Yougo！There’sthedoor。“
“Allright，allright！Idon’tcarewhatyousay，solongasit’ssaidsoastostopherfromgettinghim——andsaidsoon。“
“It’llbesaidto-night。Nowgo！Mypeoplearewaitin’atthechapel。“
“You’renotgoingtothatprayermeetingafterTHIS？“
“WhereelseshouldIgo？’ComeuntoMeallyethatlaborandareheavyladen。’And——and“——hisvoicebroke——“HeknowsthatIAM
heavyladen。Lord！Lord！dohelpme，forthisismore’nIcanbearalone。“
Thelockturned；thedooropenedandclosed。Grace，clingingtothebalusters，heardCaptainHammondcrosstheroom，slowlyandfeebly。Sheheardhimenterthesittingroom。Thensheheardnothingmore，notanothersound，thoughtheminutesdraggedonandon，endlessly，eternally，andeachwithamessage，asentencerepeatedoverandoveragaininherbrain。“Ifshereallycaresforhim，shewon’tlethimruinhislife。“
Byandby，pale，butmorecomposed，andwithhermindmadeup，shecamedownintothehall。Drawingalongbreath，sheturnedintothesittingroomtofaceheruncle。Bythelightshiningthroughthedining-roomdoorshesawhimonhiskneesbythehairclothsofa。Shespokehisname。Hedidnotanswernorlookup。
Alarmed，shetouchedhimontheshoulder。Athertouchhisarmslidfromthecouchandhefellgentlyoveruponhissideonthecarpet。
CHAPTERXII
INWHICHCAPTAINEBENMAKESPORT
Halfpasteight。InthevestryoftheRegularchurchJohnEllerywasconductinghisprayermeeting。Theattendancewasaslargeasusual。Threeseats，however，werevacant，andalongthesetteespeoplewerewonderingwhereCaptainElkanahDanielsandhisdaughtermightbe。Theyhadnotmissedaserviceformanyaday。
AndwherewasKeziahCoffin？
AttheCome-Outerchapelthetestifyingandsingingwereinfullblast。ButEzekielBassettwasleading，forCaptainEbenHammondhadnotmadehisappearance。NeitherhadGraceVanHorne，forthatmatter，butCaptainEben’sabsencewasthemostastonishing。
“Somethin’sthematter，“whisperedJosiahBadgertohisright-handneighbor。“Somethin’swrongd-d-d-downtothetavern，sartin’
sure。I’mgoin’downtherejustsoon’smeetin’soverandf-f-f-
findout。Ebenwouldn’tnomoremissleadin’hismeetin’fromchoicethanI’dgowithoutameal’sv-v-vi-vittles。Somethin’shappenedandI’mgoin’toknowwhat’tis。You’llgoalongwithme，won’tye，Lot？“
Theanswerwasanaffirmative。Infact，almosteveryworshiperinthatchapelhaddeterminedtovisittheHammondtavernassoonastheservicewasatanend。
IntheRegularparsonageKeziahsatalonebythesitting-roomtable。Prayermeetingandsuppershehadforgottenentirely。Theministerhadnotcomehomeforhiseveningmeal，andfoodwasfurthestfromthehousekeeper’sthoughts。Whatshouldshedo？
Whatoughtshetodo？Howcouldsheavertthedisastersocertaintooverwhelmthosetwoyoungpeoplethemomenttheirsecretbecameknown？
ItwasinvainthatshetriedtoencourageherselfwiththehopethatKyanhadexaggerated——thatthemeetingsinthegrovehadnotbeenasfrequentashesaidtheywere，orthattheyhadbeenmerelycasual。Sheknewbetter。ShehadseenthepairtogetherandthelookinJohnEllery’seyes。No，themischiefwasdone，theylovedeachother；or，atleast，helovedher。Therewasthegreattrouble。