CHAPTER TEN
TINKER'S FOUNDLING
On the following afternoon Tinker met Madame de Belle-Île hurrying out of the hotel in a scarlet travelling costume.
At the sight of him she stopped short and cried, "Have you heard the sad news?"
"No; what sad news?" said Tinker.
"About poor Monsieur Courtnay! He has had an accident; he is laid up at Nice, ill among strangers! I go; I fly to nurse him!"
"Nurse that brute!" said Tinker quickly. "That—that is a waste of kindness."
Madame de Belle-Île's face fell, and then flushed with anger. "You are a horrid and detestable boy!" she cried angrily.
"Oh, no! I'm not! It's quite true," said Tinker quietly, and he looked at her seriously. He wanted to warn her; then he saw that he could not do so without revealing Claire's secret. "I wish I could tell you about him," he went on. "But I can't. He really is a sweep!"