"Well, won't you please approve of it?"
"Mr. Houghton, I'm not going to be timid and pusillanimous either. Since you are of age, and will take a perfectly honorable course, I will stand by you as a friend. I will still counsel you, if you so wish, for I fear that your troubles have only begun."
"I thank you from my heart," he said, seizing her hand and pressing it warmly. "I do need and wish your counsel, for I have very little tact. I can sail a boat better than I can manage an affair like this."
"Will you make me one solemn promise?"
"Yes, if I can."
"Then pledge me your word that you will not lose your temper with either
Captain Bodine or your father."
"Oh, I think I can easily do that," he said good-humoredly.
"You don't know, you can't imagine, how you may be tried."
"Well, it's a sensible thing you ask, and I've sense enough to know it. I pledge you my word. If I break it, it will be because I'm pushed beyond mortal endurance."
"Mr. Houghton," she said, almost sternly, "you must not break it, no matter what is said or what happens. You would jeopardize everything if you did. You might lose Ella's respect."