“Don’t think of me. I am all right here, where I have a good home and kind friends.”
“Bart——”
“It will be better for him than it would be if he found himself tied to an invalid wife. It is my love for him that has led me to this resolution. I have written him, explaining as well as possible the situation, although I have not told him that I am putting off our union for his sake. Promise me, Inza, that you will not tell him this. Let him think, if he will, that it is on my own account that I ask the delay.”
Again Inza flung her arms round Elsie.
“You are the dearest, sweetest girl in all the world!” she exclaimed; “but I cannot believe that your fears for your own health have any foundation. You have been so strong and well! It will all come out right in time, and we will be together again, you as Bart’s wife and I as Frank’s. We’ll have jolly times, as we have had in the past. Oh, but we have had such splendid times, haven’t we, Elsie?”
“Surely we have. No matter what may happen to me now, I shall always remember the past with unspeakable pleasure and be glad I have lived.”
They fell to talking over old times and the many scenes and adventures through which they had passed since the wild night when Captain Bellwood’s vessel was wrecked on Tiger Tooth Ledge, near Fardale. They laughed lightly as they spoke of misunderstandings and jealousies, now happily forever at an end.
Then, as was natural, they began to talk of Inza’s trousseau and plan it, and both were very deeply engaged in this and very happy over it. Finally they paused from sheer exhaustion.
“One thing has made me a bit unhappy,” Elsie finally observed.
Inza looked at her quickly.