“I have never done anything dishonorable. I can prove that to Doña Josefa at any time. But”—he broke off, and after a paused, added: “Oh! Mercedes! how wretched I shall be, thinking that you might love some one else. Is not your refusal to give me any encouragement a proof that you feel you never can care for me?”
“Please don't say that. I do care for you. That is, I mean, I ought not to tell you so, but—but”—she did not finish, for the rash young man had again seized her little hands, and was covering them with kisses, forgetting that any passenger had the right to come and sit there on the same bench to enjoy the silvery moonlight, sailing over the broad, sublime Pacific.
“Oh! Mr. Darrell! Don't do that. Please let us go now to call Elvira. She thinks George is with me,” she said, rising.
“We don't want Elvira, we don't want George. Let them be. Why do you grudge me this happiness of being alone with you for the first and, perhaps, for the last time in my life? Please sit down. I will behave myself. I will not kiss your hands, I promise; but won't you reward my self-restraint by answering one question?”
“What is the question?” said she, sitting down again, only a little further off; “tell me, and then we must go to find Elvira.”
“I want you to tell me—I mean, I beg and entreat you to tell me this—if I can prove that I have never done anything dishonorable, and your mother ceases to object to my marrying you, will you then consent to be my wife?”
The question gave Mercedes exquisite pleasure, for she loved him with all her heart. The word wife soundly so sweetly coming from his lips, but she had promised her mother “not to encourage him.” So she must not. It would be dishonorable to break her word. What could she say, not to make him unhappy, and yet not commit the sin of disobedience to her mother's command?
She looked down, and her expressive features again showed that she was troubled.
“Oh! I was mistaken. Your silence tells me I cannot hope.”
“Do not be impatient, please. I was trying to think how I could explain to you my position.”