Aleck set his teeth and hung his head.

"That will do," said the old man, in deep, husky tones. "Go to your
room and get rid of as much of the traces of your encounter as you can
before going down to your dinner. You need not interrupt me here again
till I send for you. There--go."

The old man once more raised his hand to point towards the door, and,
unable to contain himself longer, Aleck rushed out, made for his room,
and shut and bolted himself in.

CHAPTER SIX.

It was some time before the boy could do anything but sit with elbows
upon knees, chin upon hands, gazing straight before him into vacancy.
His head throbbed so that he could not think consistently. In his
struggle on the pier he had been a good deal shaken, and that alone was
enough to produce a feverish kind of excitement. Then on the way back
his brain had been much troubled, while, worst of all, there had been
the scene with his uncle.

It was then no wonder that he could not arrange his thoughts so as to
sit in judgment upon his acts, especially that last one, in which he had
stubbornly, as it seemed, refused or declined to respond to his uncle's
question.

He tried, and tried hard, with a curious seething desire working in his
brain, to decide upon going straight to the old man and speaking out,
giving him frankly his reason for refusing to speak. But this always
came to the same conclusion: "I can't--I dare not--I can't."

At last, wearied out and confused more and more by his throbbing brain,
the boy rose and walked slowly to the looking-glass, where he started in
dismay at the image reflected there. For a few moments it seemed to be
part and parcel of some confused dream, but its truth gradually forced
itself upon him, and finally he burst out into a mocking, half
hysterical laugh.

"I don't wonder at uncle," he cried; "I don't wonder at his being in a
rage."

With a weary sigh he went to the washstand and half filled the basin.

"I'd no idea I looked such a sight," he muttered, as he began to bathe
his stiff and swollen features. "The brute!" he said, after a few
moments. "I wish I'd told uncle, though, that I beat him well. But,
oh, dear! what a muddle it all seems! I wish I'd hit him twice as
hard," he said, with angry vehemence, half aloud. "Yes?"

For there was a gentle tapping at the door.

"Aren't you coming down to dinner, Master Aleck?"

"No, Jane; not to-day."

"But it's all over-done, my dear--been ready