"You're as wet as a drowned rat," his sister said. "Come on up and get some dry clothes, Ford. I'm sure you're awful kind, Mrs. Gallup. I will telephone for the doctor at once."

"You bet she's kind! Good old soul!" murmured Lawford. "I'd have been six fathoms deep if it hadn't been for Betty."

"She hauled you into the boat, did she?" Prue said in a sympathetic tone. "Well, we won't forget _that_."

Betty had stepped aboard the sloop again to reef down and make all taut. Her sailor-soul would not allow her to leave the lapstreak in a frowsy condition.

Meanwhile Cecile came flying down from the garage, and between his two sisters Lawford was aided up to the house. Despite the young man's protests, Dr. Ambrose was called and he rattled over in what the jolly medical man termed his "one-horse shay." That rattletrap of a second-hand car was known in every town and hamlet for miles around.

Sometimes he got stalled, for the engine of the car was one of the crankiest ever built, and the good physician had to get out and proceed on foot. When this happened the man who owned a horse living nearest to the unredeemed automobile always. .h.i.tched up and dragged the car home. For Dr. Ambrose was beloved as few men save a physician is ever loved in a country community.

"You got a hard crack and no mistake, young man," the physician said, plastering his patient's head in a workmanlike manner. "But you've a good, solid cranium as I've often told you. Not much to get hurt above the ears--mostly bone all the way through. Not easy to crack, like some of these eggsh.e.l.l heads."

Lawford felt the effects of the blow, however, for the rest of the evening. His father was away and so he had no support against the organized attack of the women of the family. Although it is doubtful if I. Tapp would have sided with his son.

"It really serves you right, Ford, for taking that movie actress sailing," drawled Marian.

"It is a judgment upon him," sighed their mother, wiping her eyes.

"Oh, Ford, if you only would settle down and not be so wild!"

"'Wild!' Oh, bluey!" murmured L'Enfant Terrible, who considered her brother a good deal of a tame cat.

"At least," Marian pursued, "you might carry on your flirtation in a less public manner."

"'Flirtation!'" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lawford, with a spark of anger--and then settled back on the couch with a groan.

"My goodness me, Ford!" gasped Prue. "You're surely not in earnest?"

"I should hope _not_," drawled Marian.

"Oh, Ford, my boy----"

"Now, mother, don't turn on the sprinkler again," advised L'Enfant Terrible. "It will do you no good. And, anyway, I guess Ford hasn't any too bright a chance with the Grayling. You ought to have seen that handsome Judson Bane lean over her when they were walking up to Cap'n Abe's. I thought he was going to nibble her ear!"

"Cecile!"

"Horrid thing!" Prue exclaimed. "I don't know where she gets such rude manners."

"That boarding school last winter completely spoiled her," complained the mother. "And I sent her to it because Sue Perriton and Alice Bozewell go there."

"And I had a fine chance to get chummy with _them_!" snapped Cecile.

"They were both seniors."

"But really," Marian went on, "your entanglement with that movie actress is sure to make trouble for us, Ford. You might be a little more considerate. Just as we are getting in with the Perritons. And their guest, Mrs. Conroth, was really very nice to mother this morning on the beach. She has the open sesame to all the society there is on this side of the Atlantic. It's really a wonderful chance for us, Ford."

"And--he's bound--to spoil--it all!" Mrs. Tapp sobbed into an expensive bit of lace.

"You might be a good sport, Fordy, dear," urged Prue.

"Yes, Fordy; don't crab the game," added the vulgar Cecile.

"You know very well," said the elder sister, "how hard we have tried to take our rightful place here at The Beaches. We have the finest home by far; daddy's got the most money of any of them, and let's us spend it, too. And still it's like rolling a barrel up a sand bank. Just a little thing will spoil our whole season here."

"Do, do be sensible, Ford!" begged his mother.

"Sacrifice yourself for the family's good," said Prue.

"Dear Ford," began Mrs. Tapp again, "for my sake--for all our sakes--take thought of what you are doing. This--this actress person cannot be a girl you could introduce to your sisters----"

"No more of that, mother!" exclaimed the young man, patience at last ceasing to be a virtue. "Criticise me if you wish to; but I will hear nothing against Miss Grayling."

"Oh, dear! Now I have offended him again!" sobbed the matron.

"You are too utterly selfish for words!" declared Marian.

"You're a regular _pig_!" added Prue.

"If you get mixed up with an actress, Fordy, I'll have a fine time when I come out, won't I?" complained Cecile.

"Caesar's ghost!" burst from the lips of the badgered young man. "I wish Betty Gallup had let me drown instead of hauling me inboard this afternoon!"

CHAPTER XVIII

SOMETHING BREAKS

An express wagon, between the shafts of which was a raw-boned gray horse leaning against one shaft as a prop while he dozed, stood before Cap'n Abe's store as Louise and Mr. Judson Bane came up from the sh.o.r.e front. She thanked the actor as he set the heavy baskets on the porch step.

"Those blackfish look so good I long for a fish supper," he said, smiling in open admiration upon her.

Louise was quick to establish a reputation for hospitality. Perhaps it was the Silt blood that influenced her to say: "Wait till I speak to Uncle Amazon, Mr. Bane."

There was a tall gaunt man in overalls and jumper, who, somehow, possessed a family resemblance to the gray horse, leaning against the door frame, much as his beast leaned against the wagon shaft. Perry Baker and the gray horse had traveled so many years together about Paulmouth and Cardhaven that it was not surprising they looked alike.

When Louise mounted the porch steps she could not easily pa.s.s the expressman, who was saying, in drawling tones:

"Well, I brought it over, seeing I had a light load. I didn't know what else to do with it. Of course, it was Cap'n Abe give it to me to ship. Let's see, I didn't happen to see you here that night you came, an' I brought the young lady's trunks over, did I?"

"Not as I know on," barked Cap'n Amazon with brevity.

"Funny how we didn't meet then," drawled Perry Baker.

There seemed to be a tenseness to the atmosphere of the old store.

Louise saw the usual idlers gathered about the cold stove--Washy Gallup on his nail-keg, his jaw wagging eagerly; Milt Baker and Amiel Perdue side by side with their elbows on the counter; Cap'n Joab Beecher leaning forward on his stick--all watching Cap'n Amazon, it seemed, with strained attention.

It was like a scene set for a play--for the taking of a film, perhaps.

The whimsical thought came to Louise that the director had just shouted: "Get set!" and would immediately add: "Action! Camera! Go!"