"A man o' your age, and drunk, too," explained the damsel.
Mr. Wilks denied both charges. It appeared that he was much younger than
he looked, while, as for drink, he had forgotten the taste of it. A
question as to the reception Ann would have accorded a boyish teetotaler
remained unanswered.
In the sitting-room Mrs. Kingdom, the captain's widowed sister, put down
her crochet-work as her brother entered, and turned to him expectantly.
There was an expression of loving sympathy on her mild and rather foolish
face, and the captain stiffened at once.
"I was in the wrong," he said, harshly, as he dropped into a chair; "my
certificate has been suspended for six months, and my first officer has
been commended."
"Suspended?" gasped Mrs. Kingdom, pushing back the white streamer to the
cap which she wore in memory of the late Mr. Kingdom, and sitting
upright. You?"
"I think that's what I said," replied her brother.
Mrs. Kingdom gazed at him mournfully, and, putting her hand behind her,
began a wriggling search in her pocket for a handkerchief, with the idea
of paying a wholesome tribute of tears.
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