“Please don’t put it that way! You will make me seem rude, and it seems that I have proved that I am ready to do almost anything for you—even get wet. I shall be forced to appear at a decided disadvantage if you urge me.”
“You are obstinate!” she cried.
“No; simply determined.”
“It’s the same thing. I am sorry you came here—yes, sorry, though this has been a pleasant hour!”
She uttered the words in a desperate way, and then she leaned toward Frank till she was very close to him, her handsome face upturned pleadingly, and made a last appeal.
As she was thus, speaking swiftly in a low tone, Elder Jones, who had been sulking by himself ever since she had given him the cold shoulder after the rescue, came around from the stern, and stopped, looking straight at them.
To him it must have seemed that Frank and the girl were astonishingly intimate on short acquaintance, for their postures were almost lover-like, the girl’s being especially so. He did not understand her words, but he knew she was pleading with Frank.
The face of the minister grew livid with rage, and he seemed to shake in every limb. He stood there staring some seconds, and then he turned about and walked away. As he disappeared, what sounded like an oath came to Frank’s ears.
“It’s too bad!” exclaimed Merry. “Now he is furious!”