Galusha turned red.  “Ah—­ah—­don’t—­ah—­please don’t,” he stammered.  “It was just—­ah—­a silly idea of mine.  On the spur of the moment it came to me that—­ah—­that the medium person hadn’t said who the small, dark man was.  And as I am rather dark perhaps—­ and small, certainly—­it occurred to me to claim identity.  Almost every one else had received some sort of—­ah—­spirit message and, you see, I didn’t wish to be neglected.”

“Well, it was the smartest dodge that I ever heard of.  By jingo, it was!  Say, you don’t suppose Cap’n Jeth will take it seriously and begin to get down on you, do you?”

Martha looked grave.  “I was wonderin’ that myself,” she said.

Galusha smiled.  “Oh, dear no,” he said.  “I think there is no danger of that, really.  But, Mr. Howard, in regard to that—­ah—­ cap of yours, I . . .  Eh? . . .  Um . . .  Why, dear me, I wonder—­”

“Why is it you wonder, Mr. Bangs?” asked Martha, after a moment’s wait.

“Why—­ah—­considering that that cap of Mr. Howard’s is one which, so you and he say, he is in the habit of wearing, and that many people have often seen him wear, I was wondering—­ Dear me, yes, that might explain.”

“Explain what?”

“Why, it occurred to me that as that cap was hanging in the—­ah—­ entry—­the little hall off Captain Hallett’s dining room—­when the people came in, and as the medium person—­Miss—­ah—­bless me, what is her name?—­as she came in with the rest, it occurred to me that she might have seen the cap and—­”

Miss Phipps clapped her hands.  “She saw it and knew whose it was,” she cried, excitedly.  “Of course she did!  That’s how she guessed the small, dark man was in the house.  That’s how ’Little Toddy Blossom,’ or whatever her name is, got so smart all at once.  Well, well!  Of course, of course!”

“It—­ah—­occurred to me that that might possibly explain,” observed Galusha, placidly.

“It does.  But, Nelson, what set Marietta and her spirits after you in particular?  Has she got any grudge against you?”

“Not that I know of, Martha.  She knows I don’t take any stock in her kind of spirit messages.  I don’t think she likes me very well on that account.”

“Well, perhaps, that is reason enough.  Or perhaps she just happened the first time to mention the small dark man hit or miss and Cap’n Jethro pinned the tag to you; after that she did her best to keep it there.  Well, thanks to Mr. Bangs, the cap’n isn’t as sure as he was, that’s some comfort.”

Martha accompanied Nelson to the door.  After he had gone and she returned to the sitting room she found her lodger standing, lamp in hand, at the foot of the stairs.

“Goin’ to turn in, Mr. Bangs?” she asked.  “Goin’ to bed, I mean?  Father always used to call it turnin’ in; it’s a saltwater way of sayin’ it, just as so many of his expressions were.  I guess you must be pretty tired.  I know I am.  Take it by and large—­that is another of father’s expressions—­we’ve had an excitin’ evenin’.”