"Perhaps it is," he answered, too good-natured to be rude to her. "I will call you Louisa if you like; but Louisa or Miss Clay, whichever you are, I can't talk of this matter."
Louisa's great black eyes seemed to blaze like living fires. She gave Jim a long glance.
"Just you tell me one thing," she said, almost in a whisper.
"What is that?" he asked, surprised at her change of tone.
"Are you going to marry Alison Reed, Jim Hardy?"
"You have no right to ask me the question," he replied, "but as you have, I will for once answer you frankly. If I don't marry Alison Reed, no other girl shall be my wife."
"Is that a vow?" she asked.
"You can take it as such, if you like," he said.
"I wouldn't make it," she replied. "No man can tell how he will change."
"I'll never change," he replied. "I think I'll say 'good-night' now."