The others turned hastily in time to see several heads vanish from the window. Captain Crippen was the first to speak.
“Jem!” said Mrs. Pepper severely, before he had finished.
“Captain Budd!” said Miss Winthrop, flushing.
The incensed captain rose to his feet and paced up and down the room. He looked at the ex-pilot, and that small schemer shivered.
“Easy does it, cap’n,” he murmured, with a wink which he meant to be comforting.
“I’m going out a little way,” said the captain, after the rector’s daughter had gone. “Just to cool my head.”
Mrs. Pepper took her bonnet from its peg behind the door, and, surveying herself in the glass, tied it beneath her chin.
“Alone,” said Crippen nervously. “I want to do a little thinking.”
“Never again, Jem,” said Mrs. Pepper firmly. “My place is by your side. If you’re ashamed of people looking at you, I’m not. I’m proud of you. Come along. Come and show yourself, and tell them who you are. You shall never go out of my sight again as long as I live. Never.”
She began to whimper.