"Certainly not. I mean my husband, the gallant Captain Stillwater, of the East Indiaman Queen of Sheba, who has been spoken within three days' sail of port, and is expected here every hour. So that, you see, I must remain here to welcome my husband. It is my sacred duty," said the woman demurely.
"Ha-ha-ha!" laughed Mr. Fabian, in a low, half-suppressed chuckle.
"Hush! Oh, be careful! You will be heard!" murmured Rose Stillwater, in a frightened whisper.
"What! at this hour? Why, everybody in this suite is in his or her deepest sleep. I say, Rosebud."
"What?"
"His Majesty the King of the Cumberland Mines has been in a demoniac humor ever since he learned that you were not coming home with us."
"I know it, and I am very sorry for it, especially on his family's account, but I could not help it."
"Certainly not. It would have been inconvenient and embarrassing. Look here, Rosalie."
"Well?"
"If the aged monarch was not such a perfect dragon of truth, honesty and fidelity, and all the cast-iron virtues, I should think that he was over head and ears in love with you."