She tiptoed across the room, her long hair waving and shimmering again, softly opened, and shut the door behind her, and slowly mounted the stairs to her own quarters, on the fourth floor.

[Illustration:  CHAPTER FIVE]

ROSEMARY IN SEARCH OF A FATHER

[Illustration:  S]

She had a doll and a picture book there, but she had looked at the picture book hundreds of times; and though her doll was a faithful friend, somehow they had nothing to say to each other now.  Rosemary flitted about like a will o’ the wisp, and finally went to the window, where she stood looking wistfully out.

Supposing that Jane were right, and her father came back out of the ocean like the fathers of little girls in story books, this might be a very likely place for him to land, because there was such lots of sea, beautiful, sparkling, blue sea.  Of course, he couldn’t know that Angel and she were in this town, because it was only about a month since they came.  It must be difficult to hear things in ships; and he might go away, to look for them somewhere else, without ever finding them here.

Little thrills of excitement running from Rosemary’s fingers to her toes felt like vibrating wires.  What could she do?  Jane had said, if he came at all, he was sure to come on Christmas Eve, according to the habit of fathers, and it was Christmas Eve now.  By and bye it would be too late, anyhow for a whole year, which was just the same as forever and ever.  Oh, she must go out, this very minute!

The child had put on her hat and coat, before she remembered that Angel had told her she must never stir beyond the hotel garden alone.  But then, Angel probably did not know this important fact about fathers lost at sea, returning on Christmas Eve, and not at any other time.

If she waited until Angel came in, it might be after sunset, as it had been yesterday; and then even if they hurried into the street to search, they could not recognize him in the dark.

“I do think Angel would surely want me to go, if she knew,” thought Rosemary.

Her heart was beating fast, under the little dark blue coat.  What a glorious surprise for Angel, if she could bring a tall, handsome man into this room, and say, “Dearest, now you won’t have to work any more, or cry in the night when you think I’ve gone to sleep.  Here’s father, come back out of the sea.”

“Oh, oh!” she cried, and ran from the room, afraid of wasting another instant.

The sallow young concierge had often seen the child go out alone to disappear round the path that circled the hotel, and play in the dusty square of grass which, on the strength of two orange trees and a palm, was called a garden.  He thought nothing of it now, when she nodded in her polite little way, and opened the door for herself.  Five minutes later, he was reading of a delicious jewel robbery, which had happened in a tunnel near Nice, and had forgotten all about Rosemary’s existence.