“Strange!” said his father, with a look of perplexity. “Ah, I see you are all laughing. Come, if you can explain Prince’s sudden power of speech, do so at once.”
Captain Raymond’s tones were perfectly pleasant; evidently he was not at all angry at the liberty taken with him.
He sat down again, and they crowded round him, Max answering, “Yes, sir”; the little girls, “Max can tell you, papa,” generously resigning to him the pleasure of revealing the secret.
The captain began to have an inkling of the truth. “Out with it, Max,” he said, pretending to be very stern; “so you’ve been playing tricks on your father, have you? I never expected such disrespectful treatment from you.”
Max had dropped his eyes and did not see the twinkle of fun in his father’s.
Coloring deeply, “Papa,” he said in a remorseful tone, “I—I wouldn’t for anything have been disrespectful to you; I didn’t mean it; there’s nobody else I so sincerely respect as I do you. Please forgive me, and—”
“My boy, don’t you see that I am only in jest?” the captain asked, taking his hand and holding it in a kindly pressure. “But come,” he added sportively, “make a clear breast of it now, and let me judge whether you have sinned beyond forgiveness.”
Max answered with a full confession and explanation, making them as brief as possible; and his sisters gave a mirthful account of the exhibitions of his power that he had given them.
“Well, my son,” the captain said, “this newly discovered talent may be made a source of innocent amusement to yourself and others, but I trust you will never use it to injure or annoy—unless the victim of a slight annoyance is to be more than recompensed for it by the after results,” he added in a playful tone, laying his hand affectionately on the boy’s head.
Max heaved a sigh of relief. “I’ll try not to, papa,” he said, with an arch look and smile up into his father’s face, “and you’ll forgive me for tricking you, won’t you?”