"Oh, well, we'll manage to start something. Won't we, Tom?"
Tom Witherbee mumbled an unintelligible reply and glanced at Rosalind. She shook her head severely.
Suddenly Reginald missed the master of the house.
"Where's Mr. Witherbee?" he demanded.
"He—he went out in the launch," faltered Mrs. Witherbee.
"Why the dickens didn't he invite somebody? Nothing I'd like better on a night like this."
"He just went over to Mr. Davidson's island," explained Gertrude in a soothing tone. "He didn't think anybody would want to go."
At this point Fortescue Jones, who had been regarding Reginald with amazed eyes, entered the conversation. Said he:
"He went over to see about bur—"
The elbow of Tom Witherbee put an abrupt end to the sentence.