“Well, the man said it was just the hat for me and—­ah—­I didn’t wish to argue, that’s all.  Besides, I thought perhaps he knew best; selling hats was his—­ah—­profession, you see.”

“Yes, sellin’ ’em was.  Do you always let folks like that pick out what they want to sell you?”

“No-o, not always.  Often I do.  It saves—­ah—­conversation, don’t you think?”

He said nothing concerning his meeting with Miss Hallett and the South Wellmouth station agent, but he did mention encountering Captain Jethro and Mr. Pulcifer.  Martha seemed much interested.

“Humph!” she exclaimed.  “I wonder what possessed Cap’n Jeth to go over to the cemetery in the mornin’.  He almost always goes there Sunday afternoons—­his wife’s buried there—­but he generally goes to church in the mornin’.”

Galusha remembered having heard the light keeper refer to the exchange of preachers.  Miss Phipps nodded.

“Oh, yes,” she said, “that explains it, of course.  He’s down on the Wapatomac minister because he preaches against spiritualism.  But what was Raish Pulcifer doin’ in that cemetery?  He didn’t have anybody’s grave to go to, and he wouldn’t go to it if he had.  There’s precious little chance of doin’ business with a person after he’s buried.”

“But I think it was business which brought Mr. Pulcifer there,” said Galusha.  “He and—­ah—­Captain Hallett, is it?  Yes—­ah—­thank you.  He and the captain seemed to be having a lengthy argument about—­about—­well, I’m not exactly certain what it was about.  You see, I was examining a—­ah—­tomb”—­here Primmie shivered—­“and paid little attention.  It seemed to be something about some—­ah—­stock they both owned.  Mr. Pulcifer wished to sell and Captain Hallett did not care to buy.”

Martha’s interest increased.  “Stock?” she repeated.  “What sort of stock was it, Mr. Bangs?”

“I didn’t catch the name.  And yet, as I remember, I did catch some portion of it.  Ah—­let me see—­ Could there be such a thing as a—­ ah—­’ornamenting’ stock?  A Wellmouth ornamenting or decorating stock, you know?”

Miss Phipps leaned forward.  “Was it Wellmouth Development Company stock?” she asked.

“Eh?  Oh, yes—­yes, I’m quite certain that was it.  Yes, I think it was, really.”

“And Raish wanted Cap’n Jeth to buy some of it?”

“That was what I gathered, Miss Phipps.  As I say, I was more interested at the time in my—­ah—­pet tomb.”

Primmie shivered again.  Miss Martha looked very serious.  She was preoccupied during the rest of the dinner and, immediately afterward, went, as has been told, over to the Hallett house, leaving her guest the alternative of loneliness or Primmie.