“Gracious king!  Consarn the paint brushes!  Tell me what Melissa said.”

“Oh, yes, yes. . . .  Well, ‘cordin’ to Gabe she said ’twas a comfort to know there was a place in this town where an unprotected female could go and not be insulted.”

Captain Sam’s laugh could have been heard across the road.

“Ho, ho!” he roared.  “An unprotected female, eh?  ‘Cordin’ to my notion it’s the male that needs protection when Melissa’s around.  I’ve seen Lute Small standin’ in the teller’s cage, tongue-tied and with the sweat standin’ on his forehead, while Melissa gave him her candid opinion of anybody that would vote to allow alcohol to be sold by doctors in this town.  And ’twas ten minutes of twelve Saturday mornin’, too, and there was eight men waitin’ their turn in line, and nary one of them or Lute either had the spunk to ask Melissa to hurry.  Ho, ho! ‘unprotected female’ is good!”

He had his laugh out and then added:  “But there’s no doubt that Charlie’s goin’ to be popular with the women.  Why, even Maud seems to take a shine to him.  Said she was surprised to have me show such good judgment.  Course she didn’t really mean she was surprised,” he hastened to explain, evidently fearing that even an old friend like Jed might think he was criticizing his idolized daughter.  “She was just teasin’ her old dad, that’s all.  But I could see that Charlie kind of pleased her.  Well, he pleases me and he pleases the cashier and the directors.  We agree, all of us, that we’re mighty lucky.  I gave you some of the credit for gettin’ him for us, Jed,” he added magnanimously.  “You don’t really deserve much, because you hung back so and wouldn’t tell his name, but I gave it to you just the same.  What’s a little credit between friends, eh?  That’s what Bluey Batcheldor said the other day when he came in and wanted to borrow a hundred dollars on his personal note.  Ho! ho!”

Captain Sam’s glowing opinion of his paragon was soon echoed by the majority of Orham’s population.  Charlie Phillips, although quiet and inclined to keep to himself, was liked by almost every one.  In the bank and out of it he was polite, considerate and always agreeable.  During these first days Jed fancied that he detected in the young man a certain alert dread, a sense of being on guard, a reserve in the presence of strangers, but he was not sure that this was anything more than fancy, a fancy inspired by the fact that he knew the boy’s secret and was on the lookout for something of the sort.  At all events no one else appeared to notice it and it became more and more evident that Charlie, as nine-tenths of Orham called him within a fortnight, was destined to be the favorite here that, according to his sister, he had been everywhere else.