"I didn't think the captain would be so artful.

Mark my word, girls, he behaved like that just as a blind to put his old mother off the scent." But as Mrs.Bell spoke her heart sank within her.

She remembered again how Beatrice had looked that evening in the green boat, and she saw once more Matty's tossed locks and sunburnt hands.
After a time she went upstairs, and without any ceremony entered her daughter's room.
Matty had tossed off the gaudy silk, and was lying on her bed.

Her poor little face was blistered with tears, and, as Mrs.Bell expressed it, it "gave me a heart-ache even to look at her." She was not a woman, however, to own to defeat.

She pretended not to see Matty's tears, and she made her tone purposely very cheerful.
"Come, come, child," she said, "what are you stretched on the bed for, as if you were delicate?
Now, I wouldn't let this get to Captain Bertram's ears for the world." "What do you mean, mother ?" asked the astonished daughter.
"What I say, my love.