Captain Dan declined. The prisoner continued to thump and kick and threaten. Her jailer refilled and lighted his pipe.
“Thought over that bill of fare, Zuby?” he shouted, after a time.
More thumps and threats; tears as well. Daniel began to feel pity instead of triumph.
“Hadn't you better, Labe,” he began. Mr. Ginn waved him to silence.
“How about supper, Zuby?” he called. “Oh, all right, all right. I don't know as I'm as hungry as I was, anyway. Appetite's kind of passin' off, I cal'late. You stay in there and think till mornin', and we'll have it for breakfast.”
Silence--actual silence--for a moment. Then Azuba asked, in a half-smothered but much humbler voice, “Oh, Labe! WON'T you let me out?”
“Sure thing--if you've thought up that supper for me and Cap'n Dan'l.”
“But I did so want--oh, if I could only tell you! It was SO necessary for me to go to that meetin'. You've spiled everything, and just as 'twas goin' so nice. What Gertie'll say I don't know.”
“Gertie?” he repeated. “Hush, Labe! wait a minute. What's Gertie got to do with it?”
“Well, I tell you, Zuby: it's close to nine now, and that's too late for you to be cruisin' out to meetin's. Sorry you have to miss the speeches and things, but--Say, I tell you what I'll do. If it's a sermon you want I'll preach you one, myself. Make it up while you're settin' the table. Ready to come out and be good? That's right. Now, I bet you she's thought up somethin' that'll make our mouths water, Cap'n.”
The crestfallen housekeeper emerged, blinking, from her thinking place. She removed her coat and, without even a glance at her employer, proceeded to adjust the dampers of the stove. Captain Dan rose from his chair.
“I'm afraid I can't stop to have supper with you, Labe,” he said. “I've got an--an errand to do outside, myself. I'll eat at a restaurant or somewhere. You'll stay here to-night, of course. I'll see you in the mornin'. Good-night! Good-night, Zuby!”
Azuba did not reply. Laban shouted protests. What was the sense of going just when supper was being made ready at last? Daniel, however, did not stay to listen. He climbed the back stairs to the hall, put on his overcoat and hat and went out. He had been too tender-hearted to remain in the kitchen and gloat, or appear to gloat, over a “free woman's” humiliation. Nevertheless, he astonished the waiter at the restaurant where he ate dinner by bursting into laughter at intervals, and with no obvious cause. The waiter suspected that the old gentleman from the country had been drinking, and the size of the tip he received helped to confirm his suspicion.