Captain Obed, who had evidently been on the lookout for his passenger, appeared on the platform of the store on the other side of the road.After asking if she had any other "port of call" in that neighborhood, he assisted her into the carriage and they started on their homeward trip.The captain must have filled with curiosity concerning the widow's interview with Mr.Cobb, but beyond asking if she had seen the latter, he did not question.
Thankful appreciated his reticence; the average dweller in Wellmouth--Winnie S., for instance--would have started in on a vigorous cross-examination.Her conviction that Captain Bangs was much above the average was strengthened.
"Yes," she said, "he was there.I saw him.He's a--a kind of queer person, I should say.Do you know him real well, Cap'n Bangs?"The captain nodded."Yes," he said, "I know him about as well as anybody outside of Trumet does.I ain't sure that anybody really knows him all the way through.Queer!" he chuckled."Well, yes--you might say Sol Cobb was queer and you wouldn't be strainin' the truth enough to start a plank.He's all that and then consider'ble.""What sort of a man is he?"
"Sol? Hum! Well, he's smart; anybody that beats Sol Cobb in a trade has got to get up a long ways ahead of breakfast time.Might stay up all night and then not have more leeway than he'd be liable to need.""Yes, Yes, I'm sure he's smart in business.But is he--is he a GOOD man?'
The captain hesitated before replying.
"Git dap!" he ordered, addressing the horse."Good? Is Sol good?
Well, I cal'late that depends some on what dictionary you hunt up the word in.He's pious, sartin.There ain't many that report on deck at the meetin'-house more reg'lar than he does.He don't cal'late to miss a prayer-meetin' and when there's a revival goin'
on he's right up front with the mourners.Folks do say that his favorite hymn is 'I'm Glad Salvation's Free' and they heave out consider'ble many hints that if 'twa'n't free he wouldn't have got it; but then, that's an old joke and I've heard 'em say the same thing about other people.""But do you think he's honest?"
"I never heard of his doin' anything against the law.He'll skin honesty as close as he can, there ain't much hide left when he gets through; but I cal'late he thinks he's honest.And maybe he is--maybe he is.It all depends on the definition, same as I said.
Sol's pious all right.I cal'late he'd sue anybody that had a doubt as to how many days Josiah went cabin passenger aboard the whale.His notion of Heaven may be a little mite hazy, although he'd probably lay consider'ble stress on the golden streets, but he's sot and definite about t'other place.Yes, siree!" he added, reflectively, "Sol is sartin there's a mighty uncomf'table Tophet, and that folks who don't believe just as he does are bound there.
And he don't mean to go himself, if 'tendin' up to meetin' 'll keep him clear.
"It's kind of queer to me," he went on, slowly, "to see the number of folks that make up their minds to be good--or what they call good--because they're scared to be bad.Doin' right because right IS right, and lettin' the Almighty credit 'em with that, because He's generally supposed to know it's right full well as they do--that ain't enough for their kind.They have to keep hollerin' out loud how good they are so He'll hear and won't make any mistake in bookin' their own particular passage.Sort of takin' out a religious insurance policy, you might say 'twas....Humph!" he added, coming out of his reverie and looking doubtfully at his companion, "I--I hope I ain't shocked you, ma'am.I don't mean to be irreverent, you understand.I've thought consider'ble about such things and I have funny ideas maybe."Thankful declared that she was not shocked.She had heard but little of her driver's long dissertation.She was thinking of her interview with Mr.Cobb and the probability of his accepting her proposal and taking a mortgage on her East Wellmouth property.If he refused, what should she do then? And if he accepted and she went on to carry her plan into execution, what would be the outcome? The responsibility was heavy.She would be risking all she had in the world.If she succeeded, well and good.If she failed she would be obliged to begin all over again, to try for another position as housekeeper, perhaps to "go out nursing" once more.She was growing older; soon she would be beyond middle life and entering upon the first stages of old age.And what a lonely old age hers was likely to be! Her husband was dead; her only near relative, brother Jedediah, was--well, he might be dead also, poor helpless, dreamy incompetent.He might have died in the Klondike, providing he ever reached that far-off country, which was unlikely.
He would have been but an additional burden upon her had he lived and remained at home, but he would have been company for her at least.Emily was a comfort, but she had little hope of Emily's being able to leave her school or the family which her salary as teacher helped to support.No, she must carry her project through alone, all alone.
She spoke but seldom and Captain Obed, noticing the change in her manner and possibly suspecting the cause, did his best to divert her thoughts and cheer her.He chatted continuously, like, as he declared afterwards, "a poll parrot with its bill greased." He changed the topic from Mr.Cobb and his piety to the prospects of good fishing in the spring, from that to the failure of the previous fall's cranberry crop, and from that again to Kenelm Parker and his sister Hannah.And, after a time, Thankful realized that he was telling a story.
