When he saw me, he stopped his work and stared at me.
"Good-mornin'," he said. "Don't often see strangers here so airly. Did
ye come on the grocery boat? I saw her puttin' in. Do ye want a room?
Time for a good nap before breakfast."
I answered that I did not want a room, but the remark about breakfast
made me feel that I should like a cup of coffee, and perhaps I might get
it here. It might have been a more natural thing to go back to the boat
and ask Abner to make me the coffee, but I did not want to go back to
the boat. I did not want to wake Walkirk. I did not want to have him
with me on shore. I did not want to have him talk to me. My present
intention was to go to the yacht as soon as it was reasonable to suppose
that its passengers were awake, to see Mrs. Raynor, and say to her what
I had to say. I did not feel in the proper spirit for this; but, in the
spirit in which I found myself, the less I was trammeled by advice, by
suggestions of prudence, and all that sort of thing, the better it would
be for me. So I was very glad that my under-study was asleep on the
grocery boat, and hoped that he would remain in that condition until I
had had my talk with Sylvia's mother.
I put my request to the man and he smiled.
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