"He seemed well?" The question was asked wistfully.
"Yes." It was not like Mr. Williams to do more than give the laconic reply.
"Ora has been worrying, too," Gwen said in a low voice.
"She has no reason to."
"You are sure the storm went around."
"Yes, though they may get it out at sea later on."
"I will tell her you said there was no cause for worry." She turned to the girl who stood a little way off. "They are getting the storm over Bath way, Ora," she said. "We needn't be alarmed."
Ora turned a brighter face toward the girl. "I've been watching it," she said. "I'm going to see Almira now. She must be lonely to-day." And without further word she walked away.
Gold green were the islands now, sparkling were the dancing waves, though over the arm of the mainland there still hung a pall of clouds, and once in awhile there was a rumble of distant thunder. "It has been a wonderful storm," Gwen told Mr. Williams, "and if no one is the worse for it I shall be glad of its having come, for it gave us a scene I can never forget; those great masses of inky clouds dropping fringes all along their edges, and those brilliant, sun-touched islands in a silver rim of sea, beyond the gloomy spaces. It seems almost like a prophecy, Daddy Lu, as if one might say to one's self, no matter how dark and terrible the present seems, there is sunlight beyond, sunlight that will spread and spread till you stand in its glory, as you and I are doing this minute."
His rare smile lighted up his face. "That is the way to talk," he said. "Some may be wrecked in the gale, but the same storm brings great good to others."