When, finally, he came to the place where the lady was lying on the settee, he stood there a moment holding the bowl in his hand, without speaking, as he thought the lady was asleep; for her eyes were shut. In a moment, however, she opened her eyes. Rollo then said to her,-
"Would not you like a bowl of broth, lady? I have brought some for you."
The lady gazed at Rollo a moment with a sort of bewildered look, and then, raising herself up upon the settee, she took the broth, and began to eat it with the spoon. At first, she seemed to take it cautiously and with doubt; but presently, finding that she liked it, she took spoonful after spoonful with evident pleasure. Rollo was extremely delighted at the success of his experiment. The lady said nothing to him all the time, though she looked up at him repeatedly with a very earnest gaze while she was taking the broth. At length she finished it, and then gave Rollo back the bowl, saying, as she did it,-
"Did my husband send you with that bowl of broth to me?"
"No," said Rollo, "I brought it myself."
"And what put it into your head to do that?" added the lady.
"Why, Maria brought some to me when I was sick," replied Rollo, "and it did me good; and so I thought it would do you good."
The lady looked at him a moment more with an earnest gaze, and then lay down again, and shut her eyes.
Presently she opened them a moment, and said,-
"Do you know my son Hilbert?"
"I have seen a boy about the ship," said Rollo, "not quite so big as I am. Is that he?"
"With a blue jacket?" said the lady.
"Yes," said Rollo, "and a bow and arrows."
"That's he," said the lady. "If you will go and find out where he is, and ask him to come to me, you will do me a great deal of good."
Rollo had seen this boy several times in different places about the ship; but as he seemed to be rather rude and boisterous in his manners, and very forward and free withal in his intercourse with the passengers who chanced to speak to him from time to time, Rollo had not felt much disposed to form an acquaintance with him. The boy had a bow and arrows, with which he had often amused himself in shooting about the decks. He did this with so little consideration, that at last, one of the officers of the ship told him that he must not shoot any more in those parts of the ship where the ladies were, but that he must go forward, among the sailors, if he wished to practise archery. So the boy went forward, and from that time he spent most of his time on the forward deck among the sailors, and in the midst of the ropes and the rigging.
Rollo now went in pursuit of him, and after looking for him in many places, both before and aft, he finally went down into the dining saloon, and there he found Hilbert seated at the table, eating dinner, with his father. His bows and arrows were on the seat by his side.
Rollo went up to the place where Hilbert was sitting, and in a timid and cautious manner informed him that his mother wished to see him.
"My mother!" repeated Hilbert, looking up surprised.
"Yes," replied Rollo; "she asked me to tell you. But I suppose that she can wait until you have finished your dinner."
"O, no," said Hilbert, "I can't go at all. Go tell her I can't come."
Rollo was greatly astonished at receiving such a message as this from a boy to his mother.
"Hilbert," said his father, in a very stern and threatening manner, "go to your mother directly."
"No," said Hilbert, in a sort of begging and whining tone. "No. If I do, she'll make me stay there all the afternoon."
"No matter for that," said his father; "go directly."
Hilbert did not move, but went on eating his dinner.
"At least," said his father, "you must go immediately when you have done your dinner."
Hilbert muttered something in reply, but Rollo did not hear what it was. In fact, he did not wish to hear any more of such a dialogue as this between a child and his father. So he went away. He was not at all inclined to go back to the lady and inform her what Hilbert had said; but he thought that he ought at least to go and tell her that he had found Hilbert, as he had been taught that it was always his duty to go back with a report when sent on a message. So he went back to the lady, and told her that he had found Hilbert, and that he was at dinner with his father.
"And what did he say about coming to me?" asked the lady.
"His father told him that he must come as soon as he had finished his dinner," replied Rollo.
"Very well," said the lady, "that will do."
So saying, she turned her head away and shut her eyes again, and so Rollo withdrew.
It would be a very nice and delicate point to determine whether Rollo's answer in this case was or was not as full as strict honesty required. He certainly did not state any thing that was not true; nor did he, in what he said, convey any false impression. He, however, withheld a very important part of what the lady must have desired to know. It is undoubtedly sometimes right for us to conceal or withhold the truth. Sometimes, indeed, it is our imperious duty to do so. Rollo's motive for doing as he did in this case was to avoid giving a sick mother pain, by reporting to her the undutiful conduct of her son. Whether it would or would not have been better for him to have communicated the whole truth, is a point which must be left for the readers of this book to discuss and settle among themselves.
After dinner, Hilbert, instead of going to his mother, went up upon the deck, leaving his bow and arrows, however, down in the cabin. As Rollo and Jennie were, at that time, seated near the after part of the promenade deck, he came and sat down near them. Rollo had a great desire to get up and go away, taking Jennie with him; but he feared that it would be impolite for him to do so; and while he was considering what he should do, the surgeon came along that way, and said to them,-
"Children, have you seen the little bird?"
"What bird?" exclaimed the children, all together.
"Why, there has a bird come on board," replied the surgeon. "He belongs in Nova Scotia, I suppose. That is the nearest land. He is forward, somewhere, among the sailors."
The children immediately hurried out to the most forward part of the promenade deck, near the great smoke pipe, to a place from which they could look down upon the forward deck. There they saw the little bird perched upon a coil of rigging. He was perfectly still. Some sailors were standing near, looking at him. The bird, however appeared to take no notice of them.
"Poor little thing!" said Rollo. "I expect he is tired flying so far. I wonder how far it is to Nova Scotia."
Rollo turned round as he said this, to see if the surgeon was near, in order to ask him how far the poor bird was from home. The surgeon was not there, but he saw that both Jennie and Hilbert had suddenly started together to go back toward the stairway, as if they were going below.
"Jennie," said Rollo, "where are you going?"
Jennie did not answer, but hurried on. Hilbert seemed equally eager. In fact, it was evident that they had both been seized with some new idea, though Rollo could not at first imagine what it was. At length, he said,-
"Ah! I know. They are going down where the bird is, to see it nearer. I'll go with them."
So saying, Rollo hurried away too.
He was mistaken, however, in supposing that Hilbert and Jennie were merely going to the forward deck so as to get nearer the bird. Jennie was going down into the cabin to shut up her kitten. The instant that she saw the bird she was reminded of Tiger, having sometimes seen Tiger run after little birds in the yards and gardens at home. They could escape from her by flying away, but this poor bird seemed so tired that Jennie was afraid the kitten would catch it and kill it, if she came near; and so she ran off very eagerly to shut the kitten up.
She found the kitten asleep on a sofa in the cabin. She immediately seized her, waking her up very suddenly by so doing, and hurried her off at once to her cage. Jennie put the kitten into the cage, and then shut and fastened the door.