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“Myownfamily？“herepeatedslowly。“Myown——AndtheReg’larchurch——Whatdoyoumean？HasNat——“
“No，heain’t。Butthatcussedgirlofyours——“
“Stop！“Eben’sshoutrangthroughthehouse。Thelistenerheardit，rose，andthensankslowlytoherknees。
“Stop！“shoutedCaptainHammond。“ElkanahDaniels，foryourownsakenow，becareful。Ifyoudasttosayaword，anotherwordlikethat，I’ll——“
“IfIdast！Thehussy！Butthere’snousetalkin’toyou。You’reascrazyasaBedlamite。Eitherthat，oryou’reinthegamewithher。Ifyouare，Iwarnyou——“
“Stop！Whatgame？Whatdoyoumean？Gracie！MyGrace！Whatisit？Formercysakes，Elkanah——“
“Humph！IwonderedifIcouldn’tgetsomesenseintoyou，finally。
Lockthatdoor！“
“Iwill！Iwill！ButElkanah——“
“Lockit！Givemethekey！“
Theclickofthelocksoundedsharply。
“Where’sthelamp？“demandedDaniels。“Andthematches？Don’tstandthereshaking。“
Asmellofsulphurfloatedoutintothehall。Thenthesicklyglowofthe“fluid“lampshonethroughthedoorway。
“Whatailsyou？“askedElkanah。“Areyoustruckdumb？Nowgoandseeifthere’sanybodyelseinthehouse。“
“But——butthereain’t。Iknowthereain’t。Hannah’sgoneandGracie’satmeetin’bythistime。“
“She？Humph！Well，maybeshe’satmeetingandmaybesheisn’t。
Maybeshe’soverinPeters’spines，huggingandkissingthatmanshe’smetthereeverySundayforIdon’tknowhowlong——Here！letgo，youoldfool！Letgo，Itellyou！“
Achairfelltothefloorwithabang。Therewasthesoundofhardbreathingandrapidfootsteps。
“Letgo！“pantedDaniels。“Areyoucrazy？Takeyourhandsoffme！“
“Youliar！“snarledCaptainEben。“Youlow-livedliar！BytheAlmighty，ElkanahDaniels！I’ll——YoutakethatbackorI’llchoketheeverlastin’souloutofyou。Iwill——“
“Letgo，youlunatic！You’llkillyourself。Listen！I’mnotlying。It’sthetruth。She’smetaman，Itellyou。Beenmeetinghimformonths，Iguess。There！nowwillyoulisten？“
Thefootstepshadceased，buttheheavybreathingcontinued。
“Aman！“gaspedEben。“Aman！Gracie！It’sa——Whoishe？
What’shisname？“
“Hisname’sJohnEllery，andhe’sministeroftheRegularchurchinthistown；that’swhoheis！Here！holdup！GoodLord！areyoudying？Holdup！“
Thegirlonthestairssprangtoherfeet。Herheadwasreelingandshecouldscarcelystand，butsheblindlybeganthedescent。
Shemustgotoheruncle。Shemust。ButCaptainDaniels’svoicecausedhertohaltoncemore。
“There！there！“itsaidinatoneofrelief。“That’sbetter。Setstillnow。Bequiet，that’sit。ShallIgetsomewater？“
“No，no！letmebe。Justletmebe。Iain’twhatIusedtobeandthis——I’mallright，Itellyou。Grace！And——and——Whatwasityoujustsaid？I——Idon’tb’lieveIhearditright。“
“Isaidthatdaughterofyours，orniece，orwhateversheis，thisGraceVanHorne，hasbeenmeetingyoungEllery，ourminister，inPeters’sgrove。Beenmeetinghimandwalkingwithhim，andkissinghim，and——“
“It’salie！Itain’tso，Elkanah！Proveitor——It——itCAN’Tbeso，canit？Please——“
“Itisso。She’smethiminthosepineseverySundayafternoonforalongtime。Shewasseentherewithhimthisafternoon。“
“Who——whosawher？“
“Nevermind。Theonethatdid’llnevertell——unlessit’snecessary。They’refixingtobemarried，and——“
“MARRIED！ShemarryaReg’larminister！Oh——“
“Hush！Listen！Theyain’tmarriedyet。Wecanstop’em，youandI，ifwegetrighttowork。Itisn’ttoolate。Willyouhelp？“
“WillI——I——Goon！tellmemore。“
“Wecanstop’em。Iknowitwouldbeagoodcatchforher，thesneaking，designing——Well，nevermind。Butitcan’tbe。Itshan’tbe。You’vegottotellherso，Hammond。WefolksoftheRegularchurchhaveprideinoursociety；wewon’thaveitdisgraced。Andwehavebeenproudofourminister，they
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