Andrew looked up at him in astonishment, but only to frown the next moment and turn his head away again.
Frank went to the window and stood looking out, one corner commanding a view of the Park; and after watching the people come and go for some time, he suddenly turned to his companion:
“Here are the Horse Guards coming, Drew. Want to see them?”
“No. Will you have the goodness to leave me in peace?”
“No,” said Frank quietly. “How can I? We’re shut up together here perhaps for ever so long, and we can’t keep up that miserable quarrel now. Hadn’t we better shake hands?”
“What do you suppose I’m made of?” said Andrew fiercely.
“Same stuff as I am,” replied Frank almost as sharply; “and as I’ve shown myself ready to forgive and forget what has happened, you ought to do the same.”
But it was of no use. Try how he would to draw Andrew into conversation, the latter refused to speak; and at last the boy gave up in despair, and began to look about the captain’s room for something out of which he could drag some amusement. This last he had to extract from one of the books on a shelf; but it proved dry and uninteresting, though it is doubtful whether one of the most cheery nature would have held his attention long. For he had so much to think about that his mind refused to grasp the meaning of the different sentences, and one minute he was wondering whether his father would venture to the house, the next he was going over the scene of the quarrel in the antechamber. Then he thought sadly about his interview with his mother, but only to feel elated and happy, though it was mingled with sorrow at having given her so much pain.
A little resentment began to spring up, too, against Andrew, as the true cause of it all, but it did not last; he felt far too much at rest for that, and the anger gave way to pity for the high-spirited, excitable lad seated there in the deepest dejection, and he began to wish now that he had not called him a liar and struck him.
“I shall go melancholy mad,” muttered Frank at last, “if they keep us shut up long, and Drew goes on like this. But I wonder whether there will really be a rising against the King?”