“Yes, Aunt Elfrida; and I should ask your pardon for speaking of my hopes just now! And I should not presume to do so, only that I am going away so soon, and am to be gone so long,” faltered the lover, blushing more intensely than before.
“What have you to say of Odalite, then?” inquired the lady.
“Oh, Aunt Elfrida! Can you ask? I wish, first of all, your permission to correspond with her while I am away, just as I did before, you know! And then, most of all, I wish that it shall be understood—just as it was before—that when I return from my next voyage Odalite and I may be married. And—and, of course, I shall leave the navy then and settle down with Odalite at Greenbushes—just as it was understood and arranged that we should do before—before the stranger came to trouble us. That is what I want and hope and pray for, Aunt Elfrida!” pleaded the lover.
The lady’s head was dropped upon her hand while her elbow rested on the table. She was silent and thoughtful for a few moments, that seemed hours to Le’s anxiety, and then she asked:
“Do you think it right, dear boy, to approach a young girl on the subject of a second engagement so soon after the disruption of her marriage at the altar?”
The question was not unkindly put, yet the blush deepened on the youth’s cheek.
“I said that I would not mention the subject now but that I am going away in so few days, and for years! Nor would I, even under these circumstances, if it were not that”—he suddenly caught himself up and stopped. He had been on the brink of involuntarily betraying Odalite’s confidence and adding: “Odalite herself admits that she has no regret for her broken-off marriage, and never really cared for any one but her first lover;” for Le was all unaccustomed to having secrets to keep.
“What were you going to add, dear boy? ‘If it were not that’—what?” inquired the lady, who had observed his hesitation and embarrassment.
“If it were not that I know her to be quite free,” he answered, diplomatically.
“But is she quite free, Leonidas?” gravely questioned the lady.