Page:An American Girl in India.djvu/22

 'We're going by the Arethusa,' said Lady Manifold promptly, again I thought with an undue show of interest. It was practically suggesting that he should take the same boat.

'Really, how strange,' said Lord Hendley, with his pleasant smile. 'I have decided to go by the Arethusa too.' 'Have you booked your passage?' asked Bob, pausing with a plate of cakes in his hand and a sinister gleam of mischief in his eyes.

Lord Hendley shot a murderous glance in his direction. 'No,' he said hurriedly; 'but there will be no difficulty.' 'The boats are very full, I believe,' I remarked, showing no particular interest. 'One can always get in somewhere,' he said, still with an eye on Bob, whom he also doubtless felt to be designing pitfalls for the unwary. The conversation seemed somehow to me to be fraught with danger, and I wondered if the others noticed it. I looked at the twinkle in Bob's eyes and felt that a brotherless state has its compensations. I began to have that uncomfortable feeling known as 'hot all over.' But there was a new danger advancing in the rear that I hadn't noticed up till then. Tony, after watching me with solemn eyes from a distance, had crawled along the floor and established himself beside my chair almost hidden from the rest of the group. 'Beetroot,' I heard him say suddenly in a sort of chuckling whisper.