ere I sat disconsolate in the deserted
schoolroom, and I went upstairs to the bedroom door to offer my
services. Doggy Bates, Pilkington, and Scotty Maclean had hied them
immediately after breakfast to the harbour, to beg, borrow, or steal
a boat and fish for mackerel; and Mrs. Stimcoe, worn out with
watching, set down my faithful presence to motives of which I was
shamefully innocent. In point of fact, I had lurked at home because
I could not bear company. I preferred the deserted schoolroom,
though Heaven knows what I would not have given for the dull
distraction of work--an hour of Rule of Three with Captain Branscome,
or Caesar's Commentaries with Mr. Stimcoe. But Mr. Stimcoe lay
upstairs chattering, and Captain Branscome appeared to be taking a
protracted holiday. It hardly occurred to me to wonder why.

It was borne in upon me later that during this interval of anarchy in
the Stimcoe establishment--it lasted two days, and may have lasted
longer for aught I know--I wasted little wonder on the continued
absence of Captain Branscome. I was indeed kept anxious by my own
fears, which did not decrease as the hours dragged by. From the
window of Mr. Stimcoe's sickroom I watched the St. Mawes packet
plying to and fro. I had a mind to steal down to the Market Strand
and interrogate her skipper. I had a mind--and laid more than one
plan for it--to follow up my first impulse of bolting for home, to
discover if Captain Coffin had arrived there. But Mrs. Stimcoe,
misinterpreting my eagerness to be employed, had by this time
enlisted me into full service in the sick-room. After the first hint
of surprised gratitude, she betrayed no feeling at all, but bound me
severely to my task. We took the watching turn and turn about, in
spells of three hours' duration. I was held committed, and could not
desert without a brand on my conscience. The disgusting feature of
this is that I was almost glad of it, at the same time longing to
run, and feeling that this, in a way, exonerated me.

At about seven o'clock on the evening of the second day, while I sat
by Mr. Stimcoe's bedside, there came a knock at the front door, and,
looking out of the window--for Mrs. Stimcoe had gone to bully another
sedative out of the doctor, and there was no one in the house to
admit a visitor--I saw Captain Branscome below me on the doorstep.

"Hallo!" said I, as cheerfully as I might, for Mr. Stimcoe was awake
and listening.

"Is--is that Ha