On giving utterance to this mutual confession, the young husband and wife bent towards each other, and pressed lips as fervently as if they had never been married!
After this fond embrace, Herbert continued the reading of the letter.
“Oh!” exclaimed he, when he had perused another portion of the epistle; “your brother wants to know whether he can either become our tenant or purchase that piece of land that lies beyond the Jumbé Rock. The old king has given him a capital to start with, and he wants to turn coffee-planter.”
“I am glad he has such intentions. Then he will settle down, and be near us.”
“He must not be permitted to purchase it. We shall present it to him, since we have enough without it. What say you, Kate? It is yours, not mine to give.”
“Ah!” returned the young wife, in a tone of playful reproach, “do not distress me with those sad souvenirs. You know that I gave it to you when I might have believed myself its mistress; and—”
“Stay, dearest. Do not you distress me by such an appeal! You were its rightful owner, and should have been. Even had we not become joint proprietors, I could never have thought of dispossessing you. Say, then, that the land shall be Cubina’s!”
A repetition of that sweet embrace pronounced the consent of both to the proposal of Cubina.
Herbert resumed the reading of the letter. “Good heavens!” cried he, on finishing its perusal, “what a singular story! The captain of the slaver, who brought Yola’s brother over to Jamaica, has been back again to the coast. What a terrible retaliation!”
“What, dear Herbert?”