She laughed outright, and clapped her hands in regular kitten-like joy.
"What on earth do you mean, Mrs. Wilmot? I hate such palavering and beating about the bush. If he's coming home, say so; if he ain't coming home, tell me where I can see him, or where he's hiding."
"Why, he can't be coming home when——"
Here she stopped short in the most aggravating manner in the world.
The jovial captain grew black and threatening.
He was just going to burst out into a noisy fit of abusive language, when she stopped him short with a remark which quite startled him.
"There, there, what an impatient man you are, surely, Captain Robinson. Go up stairs and see for yourself why he ain't coming home."
The captain could only infer one thing from her words.
Murray was back.
Yes, he was not coming home, because he had already come.