“Beatrice,” he said, “I ask you once more, only differently. Will you marry me now? I'll find some work, I'll make enough money for us. Do you remember,” he went on, “how I used to talk, how I used to feel that I had only to put forth my strength and I could win anything? I'll feel like that again, Beatrice, if you'll come to me.”
She shook her head slowly. She looked away from him with a sigh. She had the air of one who has sought for something which she has failed to find.
“You mustn't think of that again, Leonard,” she told him. “It would be quite impossible. This is the only way I can save my father. We have a tour that will take us the best part of another year.”
“But you are sacrificing yourself!” he declared. “I will keep your father.”
“It isn't that only,” she replied. “For one thing, I couldn't let you; and for another, it isn't only the money, it's the work. As long as he's made to think that the public expect him every night, he keeps off drinking too much. There is nothing else in the whole world which would keep him steady. Don't look as though you didn't understand, Leonard. He is my father, you know, and there isn't anything more terrible than to see any one who has a claim on us give way to anything like that. You mayn't quite approve, but please believe that I am doing what I feel to be right.”
The little fire had gone out. Beatrice glanced at the clock and put on her jacket again.
“I am sorry, Leonard,” she said, “but I think I must go and fetch father now. You can walk with me there, if you will. It has been very good to see you again. For the rest I don't know what to say to you. Do you think that it is quite what you were meant for—to build boats?”
“I don't seem to have any other ambition,” he answered, wearily. “When I read in the paper this morning that you and your father were here, things seemed suddenly different. I came at once. I didn't know what I wanted until I saw you, but I know now, and it isn't any good.”
“No good at all,” she declared cheerfully. “It won't be very long, Leonard, before something else comes along to stir you. I don't think you were meant to build boats all your life.”
He rose and took up his hat. She was waiting for him at the door. Again they passed down the narrow street.