"Aye, aye," said the captain, regaining his composure by an effort.
"What a lot of things he will have to tell them!" murmured the persevering Miss Willett. "Have you ever seen them?" she inquired, turning to Mrs. Chinnery.
"How strange!" said Miss Willett, with a reproachful glance at the captain. "I expect you’ll like them very much when you do."
"Sure to," chimed in Mr. Truefitt. "Susanna was always partial to children."
"I’m sure she is," said Miss Willett, regarding the industrious Mrs. Chinnery affectionately. "How fortunate!"
She rose as she spoke, and, screwing her face up at Joan with great significance, asked her whether she wouldn’t care to see the garden.
"Very much," said Joan. "Come along," she added, turning to the captain. "Now come and show me that rose-bush you have been talking about so much."
Captain Trimblett rose with an alacrity that mystified Miss Willett more than ever, and, having gained the garden, found so many things to show Miss Hartley, and so much to talk about, that supper was on the table before he had finished. Fearful of being left alone with Miss Willett, he stuck to his young protector so closely that in going in at the door he trod on her heel. Miss Hartley entered the room limping, and, having gained her seat, sat eying him with an expression in which pain and reproachful mirth struggled for the mastery.
"What a delightful evening!" she said, in an affected voice, as the captain walked home with her about an hour later; "I have enjoyed myself tremendously."
The captain uttered an impatient exclamation.
"It reminded me of the old fable of the lion and the mouse," continued Joan.
The captain grunted again, and, in a voice that he vainly endeavoured to render polite, said that he did not know what she was talking about.
MR. ROBERT VYNER received the news of Miss Hartley’s sudden departure with an air of polite interest. The secrecy of the affair and the fact that she had gone with Captain Trimblett convinced him that it was no casual visit, and he mused bitterly on the strange tendency of seafaring people to meddle with the affairs of others. An attempt to ascertain from Hartley the probable duration of her visit, and other interesting particulars, as they sat together in the young man’s office, yielded no satisfaction.