“Not seriously?” she asked with sudden anxiety.
“Perhaps not yet, but we can’t take any chances.”
The girl took his hand in a trembling clasp.
“Don’t let anything happen to the captain!” she exclaimed, her rain-wet face very beautiful in its anxiety. “Oh, doctor, he’s the most wonderful old man in the world, the finest, the noblest! Nothing, nothing must happen to him!”
“Nothing shall, if I can help it. If I can stand between him and—and—”
“And Hal?” she queried. “Yes, I understand. What a terrible curse to love a man like that!”
“The captain must soon find it so,” said Filhiol. “Every one who loves that boy has got to suffer grievously. You, too, Laura,” he added. “You must steel your heart to many things. The captain will soon need all your strength and consolation.”
“You know the bad news, too?”
“I know much bad news. But if you’ve got any more, tell me!”
“You know about the fight he had this afternoon and about his buying Gordon’s boat, the Kittiwink?”