Part 29 (1/2)
His left arm was noell established that his hand touched her cheek, and he found it ith tears
”What wild conceit has crept into your pretty little head?” he cried in a his voice sohtforo, I assure you
Never a line has she written to me which could bear any construction such as seee has often chaffed ht to matrimony”
”It is horrid of me to persist, but I owe it to you to tell you what I saw She alluded to your 'affianced wife,' and said that 'under no other circumstances,' whatever they were, would she receive her”
Then Courtenay laughed again, and Elsie found it was absolutely essential, if Joey were not to be crushed, that her head should bend a little forward, with the obvious result that it rested on Courtenay's shoulder
”I must show you the whole of that letter,” he cried, ”and the others which are tied up in the same bundle You will see me blush, I admit, but it will not be frootten, Elsie--” and his voice dropped to a tense whisper again--”In telling iven me my answer Your heart must have crept out a little way to meet mine, dear, or my sister's words would not have perplexed you So that is why you have avoidedthe past few days! But there! Now, indeed, I a quite fairly It is unfair to ask you to confess when I want you to wait until in clear of our present difficulties before you decide whether or not you can find it to your liking to hly acco under certain conditions He had curled up so complacently that Elsie found she could hold him quite easily with one arm So the other went out in the darkness until it rested tied shoulder
”It is easy to confess that which is already known,” she murmured
”Whether we are fated to live one day or fifty years, it will be all the saain to his, and would have returned the kisses he gave her were it not that they lost their one-sided character this ti, this darkened nook on the deck of a disabled and beleaguered shi+p But a man and a woman reck little of ti-tiic summons can be heard but once, and it is ith the world, for those two at least, while its ecstasy floods the soul
There was a chance that Joey h, to all appearance, hemartyr--had not Suarez leaned over the upper rail, and asked, in his grating accents, if he heard the senor captain's voice below
Elsie, all tremulous and rosy, and profoundly thankful for the darkness, withdrew herself froentine
”Ah,” said Suarez, ”I alad you are there too, senorita Will you tell hiry, and that I have not been relieved at the proper ti half an hour orElsie's ar so ht to have adopted the recognized Jack Tar rabbed you round the waist without ceremony I wonder where Boyle is He and Christobal take the first watch, and it must be two bells, or later I will hunt them up
Good-by, sweetheart Meet you at supper in ten e and peculiar fact that Boyle had cornered Christobal in the saloon, and had insisted on telling hied skipper of the _Flower of the Ocean_ brig It was still more odd that when Christobal yielded to a fit of unwonted andfro to the senorita for a very long ti
The chief officer's hest, and his repertory was archaic But there must be so He always spoke of Elsie with the utmost admiration, and it was no secret that he rendered Courtenay a sort of hero-worshi+p hidden under the guise of an exaggerated belief in the good luck which followed the captain of the _Kansas_ in all his doings And then, with a chilling inspiration, Christobal knehy the chief officer had caused hi the watch
Boyle had seen those two together, and had planned to leave thenifiedsense of hu between the few survivors on board the Kansas should be disturbed by reason of any failure on his part to acquiesce in Elsie's right to bestow her affections where she listed He wondered if the girl had come on deck after supper; her habit was to retire early, as she rose soon after the sun He had seen her for aout of the saloon, and there was a suspicious brightness in her eyes for which solicitude on the dog's behalf would hardly account Why not put his fortunes to the test that night and have done with it? Yes, that was the right course He would cease this petty watchfulness, this ca lest others should monopolize more of her smiles and pleasant words than he
A simple question would determine his fate Either she was heart-whole, or not; at any rate, he would receive a straight answer
So it was on the cards that Elsie would be the a, which is a better average than most women are favored with in a lifetime Christobal had entered the chart-house with the fixed intent of warning Boyle that he was going below for a moment to ask Miss Maxwell to coe companion caused the imminent words to be withheld
It was Courtenay, who had run up from the saloon to procure those fateful letters which had so nearly parted Elsie and hily refused to tell her their history That would spoil their effect, he said She must take them to her state-room and read them at her leisure Then she would see their true inwardness, and his feelings would be spared, as he could not deny that the majority of them had been written by ladies
On his way, he looked into the wheel-house There was no light in the interior Boyle, wrapped in a heavy coat, was seated in the most sheltered corner
”All quiet?” asked the captain, in his brisk way
”Nothin' doin', sir,” answered Boyle
”I expect you are both feeling pretty tired Tollemache and I propose to relieve you at six bells”
”But why?” de day I auard until dawn Tolleht to be in bed”
”I' here because lanced at the soainst the deep blue of the seaward arc
”Suarez has retired to roost,” he said ”He seems to be quite assured that the Indians will never deliver a night attack”