"I really believe," said Miss King, "that you don't want me to go with you, Mr. Meldon. It's most unkind of you. I'm beginning to think that you don't like me. You said something quite rude to me the other day, and I don't believe half you're saying to me now.—It's not dangerous to catch lobsters, is it, Major Kent?"
The Major felt Meldon's eye on him. He was also aware that Miss King was looking at him appealingly.
"No," he said; "at least, not very; not if you're careful about the way you take hold of them."
"And I shouldn't get my feet wet, should I? not very wet?"
"No," said the Major, "or you might, of course. There's a sort of pool at the other side of the island, and if you walked through it—; but then you could go round it."
"There now," said Miss King. "I knew you were only making excuses, Mr. Meldon."
"I was," said Meldon. "I may as well own up to it that I was. My real reason for not wishing you to come with us—"
He edged over to where Simpkins was sitting, and kicked him sharply in the ribs. It was, after all, Simpkins' business to make some effort to retain Miss King.
"My real reason," he said, "though I didn't like to mention it before, is that there's a dead sheep on the other side of the island, just above the lobster bed. It's a good deal decayed, and the sea-gulls have been picking at it."
Miss King shuddered.