"Have you remembered that your family will consider it a mésalliance?"
"I am independent of my family. I have ten thousand a year of my own, and am the heir to a baronetcy."
"But you are rash, De Vere. You never saw Leonora West until to-day. What do you know of her?"
"I know that she is the fairest, most fascinating creature I ever met, and that she has carried my heart by storm. I know that if she is to be won by mortal man, that man shall be Harry De Vere!" cried the young soldier, enthusiastically.
There was silence again. The great ship rose and fell with the heaving of the waves, and it seemed to Lancaster that its labored efforts were like the throbbing of a heart in pain. What was the matter with him? He shook off angrily the trance that held him.
"Since you mean so well, I wish you success," he said.
"Thanks, old fellow. I thought at first—" said De Vere, then paused.
"Thought—what?" impatiently.
"That you were—jealous, that you wanted her for yourself."