“Then why don’t you?” said Morny. “You have plenty of time,” he added, with a sigh, “for the repairs go on very slowly. One of the leaks is not stopped yet.”
“They are not going on slowly,” retorted Rodd. “I talked to Captain Chubb about it, and he said the work must be thoroughly done, so as to make the brig as good as ever she was.”
“Yes, they are doing it well,” said Morny sadly.
“He said—” continued Rodd, with a laugh; and then he stopped short.
“Well, why don’t you go on?”
“Oh, never mind. You wouldn’t like it. You are sensitive, and it might hurt your feelings.”
“I promise you it shall not. Tell me what the captain said.”
“Well, he said he wasn’t going to have any Frenchmen throw it in his teeth that he hadn’t done his best because it was a French boat, and that he was taking more pains over it than he should have done if it had been ours.”
Morny laughed.
“Oh yes,” he said, “I know he is doing his best, and I wouldn’t care, only my father is so anxious to get to sea again.”