The fellow was, as Cap'n Ira had once observed,
one of those yapping curs always envious of the braver dog's bone.
To the girl's disgust, too, Orion Latham showed plainly that he
considered that he, as an older acquaintance of the girl, could
presume upon that fact. He clung to her throughout the evening like
a mussel to duck grass. Of all the Big Wreck Cove youth, he was the
only one that she could not put in his place.
She did not think it wise to snub him so openly that Orion would
take offense. This course might do the captain of the _Seamew_ harm.
She foresaw trouble in the offing for Tunis, in any case, and she
did not wish to do anything that would spur Orion to further and
more successful attempts to harm his cousin's business.
There was another matter troubling Sheila's mind after Orion had
come to the harvest-home festival. Mason Chapin likewise appeared at
the church. But Tunis did not come. He knew, of course, of the
festival, and he had known when he sailed last for Boston that the
Balls and Ida May intended to go. It did seem as if Tunis might have
come, if for only a little while, before going home.
These thoughts made Sheila rather inattentive to other proposals,
and she found herself obliged to go down to supper with Orion, since
he had outsat and outtalked all the other young men who had hovered
about her.
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