She bows her head; he pauses a while, and when he speaks again, it is in a softer tone.
"Minnie, do you know that Dan loved you?"
"Loved me!"
"Ay, with all the strength of his constant heart."
"I did not know it. I thought he liked me, but I had no idea it was as you say."
"He told me in confidence some time before I left. My heart bleeds as I recall that conversation. No girl could hope to be more fondly, more faithfully loved. When the 'Merry Andrew' left Gravesend, I said to myself, 'When I return, Minnie will be Dan's wife,' for I could not but believe that you would have learned to appreciate the worth of such a love as his. But it was not to be."
"No, it was not to be," says Minnie sadly. "If I had known, it could not have been; if I had remained at home, it could not have been. You, who knew Dan so well, do you not know something of me also? I understand the motive that impels you to speak to me of these things, and I honor you the more for it. It is another proof of your goodness and generosity"--
"Minnie, Minnie!" he cries, "do not speak to me like that!"
"I must; I cannot help myself. Have you so poor an opinion of me--do you know so little of me--as to think I would marry a man I did not love? Rather than that, I would choose for him I loved the bitterest lot that life can offer--misery, shame, humiliation--and be content. Dan is all that you say; but I did not love him, did not deceive him. If he told you so, he told you what is false."
"He did not tell me so, but said that from your manner to him sometimes, he hoped to win your love."