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12 real interested in findin' you somewhars to sleep. You know how the Scriptures says that the birds o' the air has nests, an' the beasts has holes, but it seems to me you ain't even as well off as they be."

"You're very, very kind," said Joan. She was wishing that the advertisement of the Harbor View House had never been printed, wishing still more that she had not obeyed her hasty impulse.

Mrs. Fisher opened her door only a few inches when the Captain knocked.

"I'm sorry I can't let you in, 'Bijah," she said. "Georgie was took sick last night—terrible bad—and Doctor says maybe 't is the scarlet fever. My, it was something awful the way he— There! I hear him a-hollerin' for me now!" she cried, and shut the door. They heard her footsteps ﬂying up the stairs.

"Wal, Miss Kirkan," Cap'n 'Bijah said, as they stood beside the white paling fence, "I own I'm stumped. I dunno who else I can ask. 'Less—I guess mebbe Mis' Driscoll might pull one o' the mattresses offen the chil'ren's bed an' let you hev that in the parlor."

Somehow this idea did not appeal to Joan,