“Yes, Le, I heard so from your uncle, and was very sorry to hear it, dear boy.”
“I suppose my uncle told you why—just as I had come into a rich inheritance—I applied for sailing orders?”
“Yes, Le.”
“And why, though now I would like to resign, I cannot, in honor, do so?”
“I shall be gone for three years, Aunt Elfrida.”
“I know it, and I am very sorry.”
“I—I shall leave you all on the second of January—and—and before I go I would like to have an understanding with you about—about Odalite,” said Le, stammering and blushing as if he had been asking for the hand of his sweetheart for the first time; but, then, it was so soon after her broken marriage, and his act seemed so audacious.
The lady turned pale and gripped the edge of the table for support. It had come, then, the ordeal she had dreaded so much.
“Odalite!” she faltered.