And if she ain't ready to go to-morrow, she can stay a day or
two longer. It's all the same to me, if it's the same to you,
cap'n."
Captain Cephas having said that it was the same to him,
Captain Eli put on his cap and buttoned up his pea-jacket,
declaring that the sooner he got to his house the better, as she
might be thinking that she would have to move out of it now that
things were different.
Before Captain Eli reached his house he saw something which
pleased him. He saw the sea-going stranger, with his back toward
him, walking rapidly in the direction of the village store.
Captain Eli quickly entered his house, and in the doorway of
the room where the tree was he met Mrs. Trimmer, beaming brighter
than any morning sun that ever rose.
"Merry Christmas!" she exclaimed, holding out both her hands.
"I've been wondering and wondering when you'd come to bid me
`Merry Christmas'--the merriest Christmas I've ever had."
Captain Eli took her hands and bid her "Merry Christmas" very
gravely.
She looked a little surprised. "What's the matter, Captain Eli?"
she exclaimed. "You don't seem to say that as if you meant it."
"Oh, yes, I do," he answered. "This must be an all-fired--I
mean a thunderin' happy Christmas fer you, Mrs. Trimmer."
"Yes," said she, her face beaming again. "And to think that
it should happen on Christmas day--that this blessed morning,
before anything else happened, my Bob, my only brother, should--"
"Your what!" roared Captain Eli, as if he had been shouting
orders in a raging storm.
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