But wife here wo n't give in to that . '' `` No , I never will , '' said Mrs. Bentley firmly . `` Young Si comes here often for milk and butter , and he 's a perfect gentleman . Nobody 'll ever convince me that he has done anything to be ashamed of , whatever 's his reason for wasting his life down there at that shore . '' `` He ai n't wasting his life , '' chuckled Mr. Bentley . `` He 's making money , Young Si is , though he do n't seem to care about that a mite . This has been a big year for mackerel , and he 's smart . If he did n't know much when he begun , he 's ahead of Snuffy now . And as for work , I never saw his beat . He seems possessed . Up afore sunrise every blessed morning and never in bed till midnight , and just slaving away all between time . I said to him t ` other day , says I : ` Young Si , you 'll have to let up on this sort of thing and take a rest . You ca n't stand it . You 're not a Pointer . Pointers can stand anything , but it 'll kill you . ' `` He give one of them bitter laughs of his . Says he : ` It 's no difference if it does . Nobody 'll care , ' and off he walks , sulky like . There 's something about Young Si I ca n't understand , '' concluded Mr. Bentley . Ethel Lennox was interested .
A melancholy , mysterious hero in a setting of silver-rimmed sand hills and wide blue sweeps XXXXX ocean was something that ought to lend piquancy to her vacation .
If about at for like of off on that though