‘I don’t think I want it now.’
‘Let us share it together, and be shipmates.’
‘Very well.’
They broke and munched—or pretended to. They were both far too agitated to eat. ‘I have seen squawks, real squawks, since last we met,’ he said; and then suddenly, recalling the association the word conveyed, his eyes filled with gravity.
‘Now, tell me, Joan,’ he said, ‘why does this lady not love you?’
He sought to take her hand in his, but she would not let him.
‘I would not meet their wishes,’ she said, in a low voice. ‘That is one reason why.’
‘What wishes?’
She looked him full in the face without answering.
‘Ah!’ he cried: ‘the suitor failed?’