The boat-builder had not the courage to offer her his arm, though some of the sons of the nabobs had done so to the ladies; but he kept at her side. Laud was desperate, for Nellie seemed to be the key of destiny to him. If he could win her heart and hand, or even her hand without the heart, his fortune would be made, and the wealth and social position of which cruel fate had thus far robbed him would be obtained. Though she snubbed him, he could not see it, and would not accept the situation. If Donald had not been there, she would not have declined his offered arm; and he regarded the boat-builder as the only obstacle in his path.
"I wish you had not invited that puppy, Don John," said Nellie, as they moved towards the tables; and there was a snap in her tones which emphasized the remark.
"I didn't invite him," replied Donald, warmly.
"He came in with you, and Mr. Rodman said you must have asked him."
"Indeed, I did not; I had no right to invite him," protested Donald.
Nellie immediately told this to the host of the occasion, and in doing so she left Donald for a moment.
"Why don't you get out of the way, Don John, when you see what I am up to?" said Laud, in a low tone, but earnestly and indignantly, as though Donald had stepped between him and the cheerful destiny in which his imagination revelled.
"What are you up to?"
"I told you before that I liked Nellie, and you are all the time coming between me and her. She would have taken my arm if you had stepped aside."
"I don't choose to step aside," added Donald.