"Certainly, at the proper time."
"Suppose you find him utterly opposed to it all?"
"I do not think I shall; not when he sees my happiness is at stake. He may fume over it for a time, but when he comes to know Ella she'll disarm him. Why, it's just as clear to me as that I see you, that she could make the old gentleman happier than he has been for over a quarter of a century."
"My poor young friend! I wish I could share in your sanguine feelings."
"Oh, I'm not so very sanguine about her. What she will do worries me far more than what the old people will do."
"Well, you are right there. The old people are the outworks, she the citadel, which you can never capture unless she chooses to surrender."
"That's true, but I don't believe she ever would surrender to a man who was afraid to approach even the outworks."
Mrs. Willoughby laughed softly as she admitted, "Perhaps you are right."
"If I'm not, my whole manhood is at fault," he replied earnestly. "Please tell me, haven't I decided on the right, honorable course—on what would seem honorable to Captain Bodine and to Ella also?"
"Yes, if you will act now you can take no other."