"No, do not rise," he said, kneeling down beside her as she made a nervous movement, "I do not wish to startle you."
He held out his hand and she laid hers silently within it for a moment.
"I have been traveling all over my native land with my friend, Mr. Muller," he said, "and we talk of returning to Europe soon; but I could not go, Bonnibel, till I came down here to thank you for—that day when you saved my life at such a sacrifice."
"It is a canceled debt," she answered, quietly. "Do not forget that you were about to give your life to save my secret."
There was silence for a moment. She was looking out at the ocean with troubled, blue eyes, and a faint quiver on the tender lips. He was looking at her as he looked long ago with his heart in his eyes. Suddenly he caught both hands in his and held them tightly.
"It was a dreadful mistake I made that night when I thought I had bound you so truly my own," he said. "Bonnibel, I wonder whether you are glad or sorry now that it happened so?"
"Perhaps it was for the best," she answered, gently, "the way things fell out."
A shade of disappointment crossed his handsome features.
"Then, Bonnibel, my darling, loved through it all," he cried, "you would not be willing to give yourself to me now?"
She smiled and lifted her eyes to his. In their blue and tender depths he saw shining on him the unchangeable love of a lifetime.