“You ask me why I am here. I am here because I love you, have faith in you, and hope to win you as my wife.”
“As your slave, you mean! How dare you!” exclaimed the marriage renouncer, with burning cheeks and flashing eyes.
“No, no, Britomarte; but as my wife and equal; and if not so, as my wife and liege lady, for if one must serve, let it be the stronger. I have said all this to you before.”
“So this, then, is the ‘distant duty’ you were to go upon when you were ordained and went from home,” said Miss Conyers, sarcastically.
“Yes.”
“And Erminie never explained! It was not like her to be so reserved with me.”
“My sister was in honor bound to keep my secret.”
“But why should your action in this matter have been kept a secret? It seems to me that honorable actions need never be kept so.”
“That is a mistake. Sometimes they must. My intended voyage was kept a secret because I thought, if you discovered that I was to be your fellow-voyager, you would never embark on this enterprise.”
“That I never should have done.”