Jean pondered and prayed, and very shyly and diffidently began to bear witness for her Master amongst the art students with whom she associated once again. She was hard at work now, for she realised as she never had before, that she must be in future a working woman. She had not a big balance in the bank, and she knew that she would miss her yearly income intensely. So she began to economise in matter of food and clothing, and inquired amongst her friends whether they could get her any commissions for portraits. Then suddenly one afternoon, Charlie Oxton appeared at her lodgings.
"Yes," he said when he had shaken hands with her, "I'm back again. I hurried up my business and took the first boat home, after I heard of the governor's death. Poor old chap! He was very good to me. Why did you come away? That house ought to be yours, you know. But we'll make that all right, I hope. You're a sensible girl, aren't you, Jean? I won't beat about the bush, but ever since I first saw you, I knew we were cut out for each other. I believe if I searched the whole earth, I couldn't find another your equal. And you like me, don't you? I know you do in a sneaking, underhand fashion, though you're too proud to confess it! You see, I couldn't walk in and take the whole of your inheritance because you happen to have offended the old man; but if we go shares, we shall both be happy and comfortable, and have the old man's blessing. He told me he wished it, though he said—" here the twinkle of humour crept into his eye—"you didn't deserve it. That was the money, of course, not me. Well, what do you say, Jean? Are you willing to take me 'for better for worse?' I'm sure I am, with all my heart and soul, and I promise to be a model husband."
He stopped from sheer breathlessness, and perhaps there was a tinge of nervousness in his tone at this epoch.
Jean gazed at him as one petrified. Then she found her voice.
"I am sorry, Charlie—very. I like you immensely as a friend, but we can be nothing more to each other, never!"
Very clear and determined was her voice.
Charlie had been standing by the window as he talked and she sitting at her tea-table. He came over to her.
"Of course I expected you to say something of this sort; but, Jean, I won't take 'no.' I'm not going to be dismissed. You belong to me, I consider. Why, your grandfather bequeathed you to me with his money. I said I wouldn't take one without the other, and you know which I value most. And I've had some experience with girls—don't look so furious! Not in the way you imagine; but I know that if I'm not built as a hero, I'm built for a jolly good husband, and I haven't a vice about me. Don't smile! I'm in dead earnest. We shall be as happy as turtle-doves together. You don't know your own mind, but let me make it up for you. If we were only living a century or two ago, I would run away with you—carry you off by force—and it would be a complete success. Now, honestly, have you any real dislike to me?"
"I like you very much," faltered Jean, edging away from him as she spoke, "but not as a possible husband, Charlie."
"Then it's only a question of time. I'm sure of it. I won't worry you, but you won't get rid of me very easily. You'll find yourself in quite a different mind one of these days. I won't stay longer now, but remember I'm not a rejected lover, I'm a postponed one."