“Now, do not get excited,” said Mrs. Harrington soothingly. “Just come here and listen to me. Luke has behaved very badly. He has been idle and stubborn on board the Britannia. He has been rude and ungrateful to me.”
She found she had taken the boy’s hand, and she dropped it suddenly, as if ashamed of showing so much emotion.
“I am not going to have my house upset by the tantrums of a bad-tempered boy. It is nearly dinner time. Luke is sure to come back. If he is not back by the time we have finished dinner I will send one of the men out to look for him. He is probably sulking in some corner of the gardens.”
Seeing that Fitz was white with anxiety, she forgot herself so much as to draw him to her again.
“Now, Fitz,” she said, “you must obey me and leave me to manage Luke in my own way. I know best. Just go and dress for dinner. Luke will come back--never fear.”
But Luke did not come back.
CHAPTER III. A SEA DOG.
There is one that slippeth in his speech, but not from his heart.
The glass door of the dining-room of the Hotel of the Four Nations at Barcelona was opened softly, almost nervously, by a shock-headed little man, who peered into the room.
One of the waiters stepped forward and drew out a chair.