“Bully fer you, Flo!” he shouted.  “Ye’ve saved me neck all right this time, an’ I shan’t fergit it soon.  Ye’ll have a new dress, by gum, ye will.  Ho, ho, Martha,” and he turned to his discomfited wife, “ye thought that I was entertainin’ ladies on the ‘Eb an’ Flo,’ didn’t ye?  An’ it was all on account of that comb.  Ha, ha, that’s a good one.”

“Hold your tongue, Sam’l.”  Mrs. Tobin had at last found her voice.  “I admit that I was mistaken about the comb, but I want to know why you didn’t stop on your way up river?  I really believe there’s something wrong with your mind, Sam’l.  I never heard you speak to me the way you did on the boat, and then coming to the house you talked such nonsense about dying, and appearing to me from the spirit world.  You haven’t been drinking, have you?”

Before the captain could reply Flo interposed.  She was bubbling over with excitement, and her parents’ troubles did not concern her in the least.  She was too well accustomed to such scenes to take them seriously to heart.

“Mother,” she began, “there’s a girl visiting the Hamptons, and I believe she and John are engaged.”

This startling announcement had a profound effect upon Mrs. Tobin.  Whatever took place across the road was of special interest to her.  She sat down suddenly upon the nearest chair, and stared at her daughter.  Flo laughed outright at her mother’s excitement.

“That’s more interesting than the comb, isn’t it?” she bantered.  “But it’s true.  I saw her myself, and my, she’s beautiful!”

“A girl visiting the Hamptons!” Mrs. Tobin slowly repeated, “and engaged to John!  Are you sure?  When did you hear all this?”

“I was just over there, and saw things for myself.  You don’t need to have your eyes and ears very wide open in that house to understand how she and John love each other.”

“Who is she, for pity’s sake? and where did she come from?  I never knew that John had a girl.”

“Neither did I, mother.  But if you saw them together you would have no doubt about it.  They seem to be so happy.  John brought her in his car last night.  She met with an accident somewhere, and she has a bandage across one side of her forehead.”

“Met with an accident!” Mrs. Tobin exclaimed.  “In what way?”

“I have no idea, and I didn’t like to ask.”

“Didn’t like to ask!” Mrs. Tobin sniffed in disgust.  “If I’d been in your place I would have found out everything.  You don’t even know her name, I suppose.”

“Oh, yes, I found that out.  It’s a funny one, Betty Bean.”

During this conversation the captain had been rubbing his hands vigorously with the towel.  He had to be doing something, so this was just as well as anything else.  When he learned that a visitor was at the Hamptons, and that she had met with an accident, he began to fear the worst.  Who else could it be but the girl he had taken up river on his boat?  But when he heard that her name was Betty Bean he was greatly relieved, hung up the towel, and started for the table.  The girl interested him no longer, and it did not matter to him whether John Hampton had a sweetheart or not.