"But all ain't plain sailing," added the young skipper wistfully. "I
am running too close to the reefs right now to crow any."
"But I am sure you will be successful in the end. Of course you
will!"
"That's mighty nice of you," he said, smiling down into her vivid
face. "With you and Aunt Lucretia both pulling for me, I ought to
win out, sure enough.
"You can't fail to like her," he added. "If you just get the right
slant on her character, I mean, Ida May. Hers has been a lonely
life. Not that there has not almost always been somebody in the
house with her. But she has lived with her own thoughts. She reads a
great deal. There is not one topic I can broach of which she has
not at least a general knowledge. I was sent away to school, but
when I came home vacations I brought my books and she read them all.
"And she is a splendid listener." He laughed. "You'll find that out
for yourself, I fancy. And I know she likes people to talk to
her--when they have anything to say. Tell her things; that is what
she enjoys."
In spite of his assurances, Sheila Macklin approached the old, brown
house behind the cedars with much secret trepidation. Although Aunt
Lucretia had a neighbor's girl come in to help her almost daily, she
had preferred to prepare the dinner on this occasion with her own
hands.
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