And then, when they saw his face, Annie screamed out, "What is it? What is the matter?"
"Nothing, only I have had a little adventure. Don't make a noise or you will frighten the Mater. I should like some warm water to bathe my face and wash the blood off. There, it is nothing, only my nose bled as I fell over Adrian."
"Oh, Arthur, have you been with cousin Adrian? I saw him the other day, and he looked as though he had been drinking too much."
"Never mind, he is safe at home now, I have just taken him, and Hannah is there, as the grocer said. Now let that satisfy you for the present, for when I have washed my face, I should like to go to bed."
But Molly was not to be put off with this meagre account of the adventure. She followed him upstairs with a jug of hot water, and would not leave him until he had given her a full account of the whole matter, and then he asked her to go and tell Mamma about it, and ask her to excuse him from going to her room that night.
"I shall be all right in the morning," he said, "and then I will look in before I go to business."
And he went to sleep in the hope and belief that all traces of his adventure would have disappeared by the time he woke up again.
[CHAPTER IX]
A BLACK EYE
WHEN Arthur got up the next morning he saw, to his dismay and disgust, that in addition to his swollen nose, he had a black eye, as a result of the blow he had received the previous evening.