"But, Frank, I shall be doubly, trebly perjured, and grieve and shame my father beyond endurance."
"Say 'I love you, Frank,'" I insisted.
At last she did, and hid her blushing face against my breast. Then I told her—what I shall not repeat. And in a great trembling, I gave her a blundering, clumsy kiss. How long I should have talked in my rapture, trying to hearten my love, I know not, but the sun set without our perceiving it, until the deepening dusk made Anna exclaim about the time. So I took the oars and rowed away from the loveliest islet in the world. Martha stood at the door, watching for our coming, and as we entered the house, she seized my hand and lifted it to her lips.
CHAPTER XIII
The doctor had been summoned to a conference with his chief, so I had hope we might have a long evening to ourselves, but Anna nipped it in the bud.
"Fortune is kind," said she. "I will give you something to eat, and then you must away home."
"Away home? Why?" I demanded.
"Because my father will be very angry when he knows what we have done."
"The more reason I should stay with you."