hat
Master Jacobus is well. I know he's in his study as the odor of his pipe
comes floating to me, a pleasant odor too, Caterina; I've missed it."

"Aye! Aye!" said Caterina. It was all she could manage to say, but
suddenly she seized his hand, and fell to kissing it.

"Don't do that, Caterina!" exclaimed Robert, pulling his hand away.
"You're glad to see me and I'm glad to see you. I'm no ghost. I'm solid
and substantial, at least ten pounds heavier than I was when I went away
suddenly at the invitation of others. And now, Caterina, since you've
lost your voice I'll go in and have a talk with Master Jacobus."

Caterina's mouth and eyes were still opening wider and wider, but as
Robert gave her an affectionate pat on the shoulder she managed to gasp:

"You haf come back! you wass dead, but you wouldn't stay dead."

"Yes, that's it, Caterina, I wouldn't stay dead, or rather I was lost,
but I wouldn't stay lost. I'll go in now and see Master Jacobus."

He walked past her toward the odor of the pipe that came from the study
and library of Mr. Huysman, and Caterina stood by the door, still
staring at him, her mouth opening wider and wider. No such extraordinary
thing had ever happened before in the life of Caterina, and yet it was a
happy marvel, one that filled her with gratitude.

The door of Mr. Huysman's room was open and Robert saw him very clearly
before he entered, seated in a great chair of mahogany and hair cloth,
smoking his long hooked pipe and looking thoughtfully now and then at
some closely written sheets of foolscap that he held in his hand. He was
a solid man of the most solid Dutch ancestry, solid physically and
mentally, and he looked it. Nothing could shake his calm soul, and it
was a waste of time to try to break anything to him gently. Good news or
bad news, it was well to be out with it, and Robert knew it. So he
stepped into the room, sat down in a chair near that of Mr. Huysman and
said:

"I hope, sir, that I've not caused you any inconvenience. I didn't mean
to keep you waiting so long."

Master Jacobus turned and regarded him thoughtfully. Then he took one
long puff at his pipe, removed it from his mouth, and blew the smoke in
spirals towards the ceiling.

"Robert," he said, after an inspection of a full minute, "why were you
in such a hurry about coming back? Are you sure you did everything you
should before you came? You wass sometimes a hasty lad."

"I can't recall, sir, anything tha