Sheila of Big Wreck Cove Part 33

"Oh! I hope--it can't be that Ida May would leave us," murmured Prudence. "I don't mean to be selfish."

"Looks like we could get another gal easy enough if we wanted her,"

remarked the old man, with some bitterness. "I swan, Prue! S'pose Ida May had turned out to be the sort of a gal that flyaway critter is? We are blessed; we certainly are." And he treated himself to a liberal pinch of snuff.

Sheila did not wish to hear the two old people talk about the real Ida May Bostwick. When Tunis took the girl away it was an enormous relief. Of that she was quite sure. The malevolent att.i.tude of the frustrated Ida May was sufficient to frighten anybody.

Shelia was positive enough that, as Ida May had promised, the matter was not ended. That venomous girl would not be content to leave Big Wreck Cove without making a further attempt--perhaps many--to establish herself in her right ident.i.ty and in what she considered her rightful place with the b.a.l.l.s.

Supper was late that evening. They were only just seated at the table when Tunis returned.

"Come on, boy," said Cap'n Ira. "There's a place set for you. Tell us what you did with that crazy girl."

Sheila was busy between the stove and the table and did not come to the side of the captain of the _Seamew_ as he took the chair indicated. He was not smiling as usual, but neither did he seem alarmed. He replied to the questions of the old people with tranquillity.

"I did not advise her to go to the Burch.e.l.l House," Tunis said. "You know what a talker Sally Burch.e.l.l is. I remember that Mrs. Pauling took boarders in the summer, and I went to her with that girl."

"You mean Zeb's mother?" asked Prudence. "Well, she'll take care of her, I guess. And Zeb is strong and willing. If she gets crazy in the night, they ought to be able to hold her."

A faint smile flickered for a moment about Tunis Latham's stern lips.

"I don't guess she will act up so very bad with strangers."

"I swan! We was strangers enough to her, it would seem," exclaimed Cap'n Ira.

"But she seems to consider that you ought not to be," Tunis pointed out.

"Never heard of such a thing!" muttered the old man.

"I would have been glad to get her out of town this very night,"

Tunis observed quietly. "But it could not be done. She is convinced that she has what she calls 'rights,' and she proposes to remain and fight for them."

"I swan!"

"You will have to be firm with her. I explained to Zeb's mother what we thought was the matter with her. And I'll try to find her friends. She says she comes from Boston."

"Goodness gracious gallop!" exclaimed the old woman, more angry than frightened now. "She certainly can't stay here and tell those awful things she was saying about Ida May."

"I don't really see how we are going to stop her, right at first,"

Tunis rejoined. "Of course, if she continues to come up here and bother you, you can have her arrested."

"Oh!" gasped Sheila.

"Now, gal," said Cap'n Ira firmly, "don't you let your tender heart deceive you. That crazy critter ain't worth worrying about. She shan't be hurt. But I won't have her coming round here frightening you and Prudence. No, sir!"

"Quite right," said Tunis, agreeing.

"Oh, Tunis!" murmured the girl.

"But she will make talk. No doubt she will make talk," said Prudence in a worried tone. "We ought to stop her, somehow, from telling such things about our Ida May."

"Does she want money?" asked Cap'n Ira gruffly. "She talked as though she did."

"I think to offer her money would be the very worst possible way of shutting her up," said Tunis. "She wants to come here and live and be accepted as your niece."

"I never did!" gasped Prudence.

"She says nothing else will suit her. She seems to think she can prove what she had claimed. I think the best thing to do is to let her try it."

Sheila could not eat. She merely stared from one to the other of the three and listened to the discussion. In no way could she see a shadow of escape from ultimate disaster; yet she saw that Tunis was determined to fight it out on this line, to deny the stranger's claim and hold to what had already been gained for the girl in possession!

"Well," Prudence said, with a sigh, "I can see plainly it is going to stir up a puddle of muddy water. Unless she says or does something that makes the authorities take her and put her away, there will be them that will believe her--or half believe her."

"Let 'em talk," growled Cap'n Ira. "'Twon't be the first time Big Wreck Cove folks got a mouthful to chew."

"But it will hurt Ida May," said Prudence, her voice trembling, as she squeezed the girl's hand and held it.

"'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me,'" began Cap'n Ira. Then he broke off in anger when he saw the girl's face, and exclaimed: "But, I swan! They'll keep you dodging, and that's a fact! Ought to be some way of shutting her up, Tunis."

"I don't know how that is going to be done. Not just at first, anyway. Perhaps something will turn up. And, anyway, she hasn't begun to talk yet."

"It's like being tied down to one o' them railroad tracks and waiting for the fast express to come along and crunch ye," grumbled the old man. "I know how Ida May feels. But you keep a stiff upper lip, my gal. You've got plenty of friends that won't listen to any such crazy notions as that other gal's got in her noodle."

In this manner the old folks comforted themselves in part. But nothing that was said could comfort Sheila. Tunis smoked a pipe with Cap'n Ira after supper, while the girl cleared off the table and washed and dried the dishes. Then he got her outside just after he had bidden Cap'n Ira and Prudence good night.

They walked away silently from the kitchen door into the deep murk of a starless night. The moaning of a rising sea upon the outer reefs was the requiem of Sheila's hopes. One thing, she saw clearly, she must do. If she remained and fought for her place with the b.a.l.l.s, she must stand alone. Whether or not she held her place, she must not allow Tunis to be linked with her in this situation. As she slipped deeper and deeper into the mora.s.s, she could not cling to him and drag him as well into infamy and disgrace.

Away from the house, fully out of earshot from the kitchen, she halted. Tunis had taken her hand in his warm, encouraging grasp. She let it remain, but she did not return his pressure.

"Dear, this is dreadful," he whispered, "I know. But leave it to me.

I'll find some way out."

"There is no way out, Tunis," she said confidently.

"Cat's-foot! Don't say that," he cried in exasperation. "There is always a way out of every jam."

"This girl will do one of two things," said Sheila firmly. "Either she will prove her claim, or she will give up and go back to Boston.

You know that."

"She'll fight hard, I guess" he admitted.

"Either way, Tunis," the girl pursued, "there is bound to be much doubt cast upon my character--upon _me_. If the truth becomes known, I am utterly lost. If it is hushed up, I must go on living a lie--if I stay here."

"Don't talk that way!" he exclaimed gruffly. "Of course you'll stay here. If not with the b.a.l.l.s, then with me."

"Stop!" she begged him. "Wait! I am going to state the matter plainly as it is. We can no longer dodge it. This is the _truth_ which we have been trying to ignore. I have not been foolish only; I have been wicked. And my greatest sin was in allowing you to link yourself with me so closely."

"What do you mean?" he gasped.

"Just what I say. It was wrong for me to allow you to be friendly with me before the b.a.l.l.s and other people. I should not have gone to your house last Sunday. I should not have allowed you to introduce me to your Aunt Lucretia."