"And so," she said, when he had ceased speaking, "you advise me, Captain Lancaster, to follow up the good impression I have made on your friend, and to—to fall into his arms as soon as he asks me?"
He gave a gasp as if she had thrown cold water over him.
"Pray do not understand me as advising anything!" he cried, hastily. "I merely showed you the advantages of such a marriage; but, of course, I have no personal interest in the matter. I am no match-maker."
"No, of course not," curtly; then, with a sudden total change of the subject, she said: "Aren't we very near the end of our trip, Captain Lancaster?"
"You are tired?" he asked.
"Yes. It grows monotonous after the first day or two out," she replied.
"You might have had a better time if you had let De Vere and me amuse you," he said.
"Oh, I have been amused," she replied, frankly; and he wondered within himself what had amused her, but did not ask. She had a trick of saying things that chagrined him, because he did not understand them, and had a lingering suspicion that she was laughing at him.
"We shall see the end of our journey to-morrow, if we have good luck," he said, and she uttered an exclamation of pleasure.