his greeting. Madge's embrace was every whit as loving
as that given to her sisters; for Barney had forgotten that he had left
her in anger, forgotten her bitter words, as, alas! he seemed to have
forgotten his own folly and wrong-doing.

There was no need for Theo's elaborate precautions; the truant was as
absolutely, transparently at his ease as if he had been out for
half-an-hour's stroll, instead of a voyage across the world. It was his
sisters who sat silent and embarrassed through the meal which followed,
while he ate three helpings of chicken and pudding, and discoursed in
picturesque fashion on a life on the ocean wave. Steve, always anxious
to improve an occasion, had many questions to ask concerning the distant
lands which had been visited; but though Barney could converse fluently
enough on the iniquities of the sailors or the idiosyncrasies of the
passengers on whom he had waited, he was but a poor hand at useful
information. What he approved was "ripping," what he disliked was
"tommy rot," but these descriptions were hardly satisfactory from a
geographic or climatic point of view.

By nine o'clock Philippa was wan and spent, and went off to bed, trying
in vain to reason away the ache at her heart. It was all so different--
so very different from what she had expected! She did not want to see
her boy broken in spirit, but this unabashed assurance frightened her,
as indicating a deeper carelessness and lack of moral fibre than she had
suspected. It seemed incredible that Barney should show no sign of
regret for the anxiety which he had caused; yet, on the other hand, what
was the sense of writing that bygones were bygones, and all offences
forgiven and forgotten, and then of lamenting because she was taken at
her word! Philippa tossed restlessly on her pillow, and being weak and
tired, cried steadily from the time she lay down until some one came
into the room with her next dose of medicine, and turned up the gas over
the mantelpiece.

"Don't, Hope," she cried weakly; but it was not Hope, but Barney
himself, who raised her head on his arm and held the glass to her lips.

"Now then, old lady! I'm no end of a good nurse nowadays, so I thought
I had better come and look after you myself. There was an old Johnny
coming home from the Cape, in one of the deck-cabins." He stopped
suddenly, and Philippa knew that he had noticed her tear-stained eyes.
"He was very bad, and I had to dose him every hour,"