"Ah me! I fear not!" answered Dulcie, with a little laugh. "But never mind; one can't be more than perfectly happy!"
"Dulcie, is that you? Do take my bag; I'm so tired I don't know what to do with myself. Oh, Mr. Carlyon, there you are! I wonder you have the face to speak to me again, after your base desertion in our hour of need!"
She tried to speak archly; but temper and spite were in her tone, and the gleam in the eyes that rested first on Dulcie and then on him was not at all pretty to see.
"I left you under most capable guardianship; but I found my own enthusiasm unequal to the demand made upon it. There is such a thing as making a labour of a pleasure. Old fellows like me get beyond that in time."
Arabella swept fiercely past him, carrying Dulcie with her.
"When did he join the ship again?" she asked fiercely.
"On Tuesday morning," answered Dulcie quietly.
Arabella, red and pale by turns, cross-questioned her as to every event of the past days, which Dulcie gave truthfully, though with a sense of coming trouble.
Then the storm burst. She had seen Arabella angry before; but this was a unique outburst, and before it she stood dumb.
III.