More than all this, however, Kenneth had resolved to be a great landscape painter, and Italy and Sicily had done much, in the past year, to prepare him for this career.
The boy greeted his old friends with eager delight, not noticing for the moment their anxious faces and perturbed demeanor.

But the lawyer's sharp eyes saw at once that something was wrong.
"Where is John Merrick ?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm so glad you've come!" cried Patsy, clinging to his hand.
"We are in sore straits, indeed, Mr.Watson," said Louise.
"Uncle John is lost," explained Beth, "and we're afraid he is in the hands of brigands." Then she related as calmly as she could all that had happened.

The relation was clear and concise.

She told of their meeting with Valdi on the ship, of Count Ferralti's persistence in attaching himself to their party, and of Uncle John's discovery that the young man was posing under an assumed name.

She did not fail to mention Ferralti's timely assistance on the Amalfi drive, or his subsequent devoted attentions to Louise; but the latter Beth considered merely as an excuse for following them around.
"In my opinion," said she, "we have been watched ever since we left America, by these two spies, who had resolved to get Uncle John into some unfrequented place and then rob him.