Thankful noticed the hesitation.
"Yes, what was it, Cap'n Bangs ?" she asked.
Captain Obed fidgeted with the reins.
"Why, nothin', I guess," he faltered.

"Only--only--well, I tell you, Mrs.Barnes, if--if you was figgerin' on doin' any business with Mr.
Cobb, any money business, I mean, and--and you'd rather go anywheres else I--I--well, I'm pretty well acquainted round here on the Cape amongst the bank folks and such and I'd be real glad to--" Thankful interrupted.

She had, after much misgiving and reluctance, made up her mind to approach her distant relative with the mortgage proposition, but to discuss that proposition with strangers was, to her mind, very different.

She had mentioned the proposed mortgage to Emily, but she had told no one else, not even the captain himself.

And she did not mean to tell.