'There's a pretty welcome for a tired man who wants his dinner!'
Betty was standing before her uncle with a white little face and determined, set mouth, and nurse was releasing the other little prisoners and bringing them down to their uncle.
Captain Stuart's friend was lounging on the low window-seat of the best parlour, looking on with an amused eye.
'Nurse thinks you ought to have a good whipping,' continued Captain Stuart, stroking his long, fair moustache very gravely, though there was a twinkle in his blue eyes. 'I think we must have a court-martial first. Were you trying to kill yourself, Betty?'
'I was trying to save myself from a fire—I mean a fire that might be.'
The sentence was begun bravely, but the little lips began to quiver. Shaken by her fall, afraid of her uncle's anger, and uncomfortable by the presence of a stranger, she burst into tears.
And then Captain Stuart took her on his knee, and drew out his large handkerchief.
'There, little woman, rest your head against my shoulder and cry away; it will do you good. I was beginning to think you a little stoic.'
The door opened, and the other children appeared, with very large eyes and solemn faces.
They kissed their uncle in a subdued fashion, and then Molly said, 'Nurse told us Betty had fallen, is she hurt?'