This was opened, and in a voluble whisper the housekeeper began:
“Oh, Master Aleck, I’ve been in sech a way about you! I made sure you’d been and drownded yourself, and here have I been sitting hours, fully expecting to see your white ghost coming up the dark path from off the sea.”
“Don’t be disappointed,” said Aleck, merrily; “but, tell me,” he whispered, “has uncle gone to bed?”
“Hours ago, my dear.”
“Was he very angry because I hadn’t come back?”
“He didn’t say so, Master Aleck.”
“But he asked if I’d come home?”
“Nay, he didn’t.”
“He went down into the boat harbour?”
“That he didn’t, Master Aleck.”