"Um-hm. They hinted that my room was better than my company, and, take it by and large, I guess they was right for the present, anyhow. I set up till three o'clock thinkin' it over, and then Idecided to get out afore breakfast this mornin'. I didn't wait for any good-bys. They'd been said, or all I cared to hear--Captain Elisha's smile disappeared for an instant--"last evenin'. The dose was sort of bitter, but it had the necessary effect. At any rate, I didn't hanker for another one. I remembered what your landlady told me when I was here afore, about this stateroom bein' vacated, and I come down to look at it. It suits me well enough; seems like a decent moorin's for an old salt water derelict like me; the price is reasonable, and I guess likely I'll take it. I GUESS I will.""Why do you guess? By George, I hope you will!""Do you? I'm much obliged. I didn't know but after last night, after the scrape I got you into, you might feel--well, sort of as if you'd seen enough of me."The young man smiled bitterly. "It wasn't your fault," he said.
"It was mine entirely. I'm quite old enough to decide matters for myself, and I should have decided as my reason, and not my inclinations, told me. You weren't to blame.""Yes, I was. If you're old enough, I'm TOO old, I cal'late. But Idid think--However, there's no use goin' over that. I ask your pardon, Jim. And you don't hold any grudge?""Indeed I don't. I may be a fool--I guess I am--but not that kind.""Thanks. Well, there's one objection out of the way, then, only I don't want you to think that I've hove overboard that 'responsibility' I was so easy and fresh about takin' on my shoulders. It's there yet; and I'll see you squared with Caroline afore this v'yage is over, if I live."His friend frowned.
"You needn't mind," he said. "I prefer that you drop the whole miserable business.""Well, maybe, but--Jim, you've taken hold of these electric batteries that doctors have sometimes? It's awful easy to grab the handles of one of those contraptions, but when you want to drop 'em you can't. They don't drop easy. I took hold of the handles of 'Bije's affairs, and, though it might be pleasanter to drop 'em, Ican't--or I won't."
"Then you're leaving your nephew and niece doesn't mean that you've given up the guardianship?"Captain Elisha's jaw set squarely.
"I don't remember sayin' that it did," he answered, with decision.
Then, his good-nature returning, he added, "And now, Jim, I'd like your opinion of these new quarters that I may take. What do you think of 'em? Come to the window and take a look at the scenery."Pearson joined him at the window. The captain waved toward the clothes-lines and grinned.
"Looks as if there was some kind of jubilee, don't it," he observed. "Every craft in sight has strung the colors."Pearson laughed. Then he said:
"Captain, I think the room will do. It isn't palatial, but one can live in worse quarters, as I know from experience.""Yup. Well, Jim, there's just one thing more. Have I disgraced you a good deal, bein' around with you and chummin' in with you the way I have? That is, do you THINK I've disgraced you? Are you ashamed of me?""I? Ashamed of YOU? You're joking!"
"No, I'm serious. Understand now, I'm not apologizin'. My ways are my ways, and I think they're just as good as the next feller's, whether he's from South Denboro or--well, Broad Street. I've got a habit of thinkin' for myself and actin' for myself, and when I take off my hat it's to a bigger MAN than I am and not to a more stylish hat. But, since I've lived here in New York, I've learned that, with a whole lot of folks, hats themselves count more than what's underneath 'em. I haven't changed mine, and I ain't goin' to.
Now, with that plain and understood, do you want me to live here,in the same house with you? I ain't fishin' for compliments. I want an honest answer."He got it. Pearson looked him squarely in the eye.
"I do," he said. "I like you, and I don't care a damn about your hat. Is that plain?"Captain Elisha's reply was delivered over the balusters in the hall.
"Hi!" he called. "Hi, Mrs. Hepton."
The landlady had been anxiously waiting. She ran from the dining room to the foot of the stairs.
"Yes?" she cried. "What is it?"
"It's a bargain," said the captain. "I'm ready to engage passage."