Carroll need not have answered his wife’s question then, for her attention was diverted from it, but he did.  “I was very busy, dear,” he said, rather gravely.  “You were no less in mind.  In fact, I never had you all any more in mind.”

“You must have had a hard night’s journey, papa,” Charlotte said, as they all sat down at the table, and Marie brought in the eggs.

“Yes, I had a very hard night,” Carroll replied, still with a curious gravity.

Charlotte regarded him anxiously.  “Why, papa,” she said, “aren’t you well?”

“Very well indeed, honey,” Carroll replied, and he smiled then.

The others looked at him.  “Why, papa, you do look sick!” cried Ina.

“Arthur, dear, you look as if you had been ill a month, and I never noticed it till now, I was so glad to see you,” cried Mrs. Carroll.  Suddenly she jumped from her seat and passed behind her husband’s chair and drew his head to her shoulder.  “Arthur, dearest, are you ill?”

“No, I am not, sweetheart.”

“But, Arthur, you have lost twenty pounds!”

“Nonsense, dear!”

“Haven’t you had anything to eat, papa?” Eddy asked, with sharp sidewise eyes on his father.

Then Anna Carroll spoke.  “Can’t you see that Arthur wants his breakfast?” said she, and in her tone was a certain impatience and pity for her brother.

Major Arms, however, was not a man to take a hint.  He also was scrutinizing Carroll.  “Arthur,” he suddenly exclaimed, “what on earth is the matter, lad?  You do look pretty well knocked up.”

Carroll loosened his wife’s arm and gave her an exceedingly gentle push.  He laughed constrainedly at the same time.  “Anna is about right,” he said.  “I am starved.  Wait until I have eaten my breakfast before you pass judgment on my appearance.”

“Haven’t you eaten anything since you left Chicago, papa?” asked Ina.

“Never mind, dear,” he replied, in an odd, curt tone, and she looked a little grieved.

“Did you come on the flyer, papa?” asked Eddy.  “What are you nudging me for, Charlotte?”

“Papa doesn’t want any more questions asked.  He wants his breakfast,” said Charlotte.

“No, I did not come on the flyer,” Carroll answered, in the same curt tone.  Then for a moment there was silence, and Carroll ate his breakfast.

It was Major Arms who broke the silence.  “You got in last night,” he said, with scarcely an inflection of interrogation.

But Carroll replied, “I was in the hotel at midnight.”

“We have been frightfully busy since you left, Arthur dear,” said Mrs. Carroll.  “It is a tremendous undertaking to make a wedding.”

“How do the preparations go on?” asked Carroll, while Ina bent over her plate with a half-annoyed, half-pleased expression.

“Very well,” replied Mrs. Carroll.  “Ina’s things are lovely, and the dressmaker is so pleased that we gave her the trousseau.  It will be a lovely wedding.”