Lawford Tapp was very seriously
smitten.
He saw his youngest sister, Cicely, whom the family always called
L'Enfant Terrible, speeding back to the villa in the automobile. She
had not gone as far as Paulmouth, after all, and she reached home long
before he docked the launch. Lawford did not pay much attention to
what went on in the big villa. His mother and sisters lived a social
life of their own. He merely slept there, spending most of his days on
the water.
The Salt Water Taffy King was not at the private dock when Lawford
arrived. Mr. Israel Tapp was an irritable and impatient man. He "flew
off the handle" at the slightest provocation. Many times a day he lost
his temper and, as Lawford phlegmatically expressed it, "blew up."
These exhibitions meant nothing particularly to Mr. Tapp. They were
escape-valves for a nervous irritability that had grown during his
years of idleness. Born of a poor Cape family, but with a dislike for
fish-seines and lobster-pots, he had turned his attention from the
first to the summer visitors, even in his youth beginning to flock to
the old-fashioned ports of the Cape.
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