“Quit your kidding,” he replied. “Yes, he is there. I’ve half a mind to go out and ask him why’s he hanging around.”
“I guess that would be assuming a little too much,” laughed Frank; and as the summons to supper came just then the matter was dropped.
“I hope you enjoyed your holiday today,” remarked Mrs. Edsall, when they were seated at the table.
“Very much,” Frank answered. “Luxemburg is a charming city. We only wish we were going to be in it longer.”
“It is a nice place,” said Mrs. Edsall. “But we shall be glad to leave it just the same.”
“Are you going to leave it?” asked Billy in some surprise.
“Yes,” replied his hostess. “We are going back to Coblenz. My father’s property was seized there by the Germans when we left, and we are anxious to go back to reclaim it, now that the city is going to be under American control.”
Tom and Billy did not attempt to disguise their pleasure at the news, but Frank, although he politely expressed himself to the same effect, was not without a certain uneasiness. All his doubts of the night before came back to him.
Was business the real reason why the family were returning? Or was it because their sympathies and affections called them back to German soil? It was certain that the old man, whatever he may have been when he left Coblenz four years before, was now in no shape to carry on business. Still, of course, the family would naturally want to get back their property, even if only to sell it and afterward go to America.
He stole a glance at the old man. The latter had brightened visibly when Coblenz had been mentioned, but he soon relapsed into his usual silence broken only by muttered references to “the cellar.”