“Our passengers come on board this afternoon, bag and baggage, and to-morrow morning early we loose off, and steam out to sea—if it be a day on which gulls can fly.”
“Thanks, a thousand times. And now I won’t hinder you.”
“Have a drop of rum before you go, and take a cigar with you.”
Reginald’s heart needed keeping up, so he did both.
“When I am on the sea,” he said, “I shall feel more happy. Ay, but Annie, I never can forget you.”
More cheerily now, he walked briskly off to the hotel to meet his patients. There were two, Mr and Mrs Hall, wealthy Americans; besides, there were, as before mentioned, Miss Hall and the child Matty. They were all very glad to see Reginald.
“You are very young,” said Mr Hall, offering him a cigar.
“I think,” he answered, “I am very fit and fresh, and you will find me very attentive.”
“I’m sure of it,” said Mrs Hall.
Little Matty took his hand shyly between her own two tiny ones.