"Oh, that isn't such a very bad word," returned Max, laughing; "but I can tell you, from sad experience, that the thing is bad enough sometimes; I'd be quaking in my shoes if I thought papa had any reason to consider me deserving of one."
"I don't see what you mean by talking so to me," exclaimed Lulu, passionately; "but I think you are a Pharisee—making yourself out so much better than I am!"
The call to supper interrupted them just there, and perhaps saved them from a down-right quarrel.
Lulu had no appetite for the meal, and it seemed to her that the others would never have done eating; then that they lingered unusually long about the house before starting for their accustomed evening rendezvous—the beach; for she was on thorns all the time.
At last some one made a move, and catching a look from her father which she alone saw or understood, she slipped unobserved into her bedroom and waited there with a fast beating heart.
She heard him say to Violet, "Don't wait for me, my love; I have a little matter to attend to here, and will follow you in the course of half an hour."
"Anything I can help you with?" Violet asked.
"Oh, no, thank you," he said, "I need no assistance."
"A business letter to write, I presume," she returned laughingly. "Well, don't make it too long, for I grudge every moment of your time."
With that she followed the others, and all was quiet except for the captain's measured tread, for he was slowly pacing the room to and fro.