'You think so—but you are wrong.'
'Ah! I know these waited for ships rarely do.'
'I have read somewhere that ships of the kind rarely do come home in this prosaic and disappointing world; that some get wrecked almost within sight of land; others go down without the flapping of a sail, and sometimes after long and firm battling with adverse winds and tides; but my ship is a sure craft, Dulcie,' he added, as he thought of the packet in his possession—that precious packet on which all his hopes rested and his daring ambition was founded.
Dulcie looked at him wistfully and distrustfully, and thought—
'Why is he so sure? But his ideas were always selfish and evil. Tide what may,' she added aloud, 'I shall wait twenty years and more for Florian.'
'The more fool you, then! And so die an old maid?'
'I am, perhaps, cut out for an old maid.'
'And if he never can marry you—or marries some one else when he can?' asked Shafto viciously.
'Oh, then I'll take to æstheticism, or women's rights, and all that sort of thing,' said the poor girl, with a ghastly and defiant attempt at a jest, which ended in tears, while Shafto eyed her angrily.
'How fond you are of that silver locket—you never wear any other!'