"This is too much for me!" Mrs. Thatcher cried suddenly, as if apologizing for the break in her voice. "If I don't get my mind on something else I shall burst into tears! I'm going forward with the others."
Merry and Huntington still lingered, hoping that they might catch one more glimpse of the solitary watcher; but in vain. When the girl turned toward him Huntington saw that tears glistened in her eyes.
"That is the most pathetic figure I have ever seen!"
Huntington made no answer, but at that moment he became conscious that he was holding a small hand tightly grasped within his own. Impulsively he raised it to his lips, then he as suddenly released it.
"To seal our friendship," he explained consciously, "at this crisis in the life of one who has been the means of bringing us together. I owe him much for that!"
XXI
The "Arcadian" rested lazily at anchor just outside the harbor, apparently as willing as other visitors to drift on the tide of peace and contentment. The coils of smoke, rising straight upward from its funnels, supplied the only sign of intended departure. The bustle and activity usually attendant upon a sailing seemed absent, and the boat lay there like a pleasure-yacht ready to take on board its master's guests.
This impression deepened as the passengers from the tender were transferred on board and moved about the spacious decks, visiting their state-rooms resplendent with inviting brass bedsteads in place of the discouraging berths, and inspecting the swimming-pool.