"I should not wonder but she was false,indeed,"thought he."Why else should she be so cast down at my release?But I will show her I am not the man to be fooled.I will catch her in the act."Accordingly,when they were back in town,Keawe bade the boatswain wait for him at the corner,by the old calaboose,and went forward up the avenue alone to the door of his house.The night had come again;there was a light within,but never a sound;and Keawe crept about the corner,opened the back door softly,and looked in.
There was Kokua on the floor,the lamp at her side;before her was a milk-white bottle,with a round belly and a long neck;and as she viewed it,Kokua wrung her hands.
A long time Keawe stood and looked in the doorway.At first he was struck stupid;and then fear fell upon him that the bargain had been made amiss,and the bottle had come back to him as it came at San Francisco;and at that his knees were loosened,and the fumes of the wine departed from his head like mists off a river in the morning.And then he had another thought;and it was a strange one,that made his cheeks to burn.
"I must make sure of this,"thought he.
So he closed the door,and went softly round the corner again,and then came noisily in,as though he were but now returned.And,lo!