“Say, look here, John Kendrick!  If you keep on talkin’ loony in this way I’ll begin to heave out a few hints myself.  I may be as popular as you say, with Imogene and—­and the help, but I know somebody else that is catchin’ the same disease.”

“Meaning Mr. Daniels, I suppose?  He is popular, I admit.”

“Is he?  Well, you ought to know best.  Seems to me I can call to mind somebody else that is fairly popular—­in some latitudes.  By the way, John, you don’t seem to be as popular with Heman as you was at first.”

“I’m sorry.  My accepting my cousin’s retainer may—­”

“Oh, I didn’t mean that.  What was you and Emily doin’ at Chris Badger’s store yesterday afternoon?”

“Doing?  Yesterday?  Oh, yes!  I did meet Miss Howes while I was on my way to the office and I waited while she did a little marketing.  What in the world—­”

“Nothin’.  Fur’s that goes I don’t think either of you knew you was in the world.  I passed right by and you didn’t see me.  Heman saw you, too.  What was your marketin’—­vegetables?”

“I believe so.  Captain, you’re sidestepping again.  It was of you, not me, I was speaking when—­”

“Yes, I know.  Well, I’m speakin’ about you now.  Heman saw you buyin’ them vegetables.  Tomatters, wa’n’t they?”

“Perhaps so.  Have you been drinking?  What difference does it make whether we bought tomatoes or potatoes?”

“Didn’t make none—­to me.  But I bet Heman didn’t like to see you two buyin’ tomatters.”

“For heaven’s sake, why not?”

“Oh, ’cause he probably remembered, same as I did, what folks used to call ’em in the old days.”

“You have been drinking!  What did they use to call them?”

“Love apples,” replied Captain Obed, and strode away chuckling.  John watched him go.  He, too, laughed at first, but his laugh broke off in the middle and when he went into the house his expression was troubled and serious.

One remark of the captain’s was true enough; John Kendrick’s popularity with his professional rival was growing daily less.  The pair were scrupulously polite to each other, but they seldom spoke except when others were present, and Mr. Daniels made it a point apparently to be present whenever Miss Howes was in the room.  He continued to bring his little offerings of fruit and flowers and his invitations for drives and picnics and entertainments at the town hall were more frequent.  Sometimes Emily accepted these invitations; more often she refused them.  John also occasionally invited her to drive with him or to play tennis on his cousin’s courts, and these invitations she treated as she did Heman’s, refusing some and accepting others.  She treated the pair with impartiality and yet Thankful was growing to believe there was a difference.  Imogene, outspoken, expressed her own feelings in the matter when she said,

“Miss Emily likes Mr. Kendrick pretty well, don’t she, ma’am?”