His name was Seymour
Armstrong and he had now been dead four years. Mrs. Armstrong and
Barbara, the latter an only child, had continued to occupy the
house at Middleford, but recently the lady had come to feel that
she could not afford to live there longer, but must find some less
expensive quarters.
"She didn't say so," volunteered Captain Sam, "but I judge she lost
a good deal of her money, bad investments or somethin' like that.
If there's any bad investment anywheres in the neighborhood you can
'most generally trust a widow to hunt it up and put her insurance
money into it. Anyhow, 'twas somethin' like that, for after livin'
there a spell, just as she did when her husband was alive, she all
at once decides to up anchor and find some cheaper moorin's. First
off, though, she decided to spend the summer in a cool place and
some friend, somebody with good, sound judgment, suggests Orham.
So she lets her own place in Middleford, comes to Orham, falls in
love with the place--same as any sensible person would naturally,
of course--and, havin' spent 'most three months here, decides she
wants to spend nine more anyhow. She comes to the bank to cash a
check, she and I get talkin', she tells me what she's lookin' for,
I tell her I cal'late I've got a place in my eye that I think might
be just the thing, and--"
He paused to bite the end from a cigar.
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