"You!"
"I am in love, and engaged to be married to one of the sweetest girls in Cornwall. If I am detained here, and unable to write, she may think me dead--and--and--well, anything might happen."
"Pah, Mr. Peter! I won't say I don't believe you, but instead of your little romance appealing to me, it simply disgusts me. I tell you straight, sir, you don't look like a man to fall in love with anything except gold; but if the young lady is really fond of you, she will lose neither hope nor heart, even if she does not hear of you or from you for a year or more."
Then, seeing that he seemed to wound this strange man's feelings:
"Pardon my brusqueness, Mr. Peter," he added more kindly. "I really do not mean to hurt you. Come, cheer up, and if I can help you--I will."
Peter held out his hand.
Dick simply touched it.
He could not get himself even to like the man.
————
The signal-tree was but a few yards distant from the spot where they sat.