“Yes, Hilda,” said I, “but not the soul of kissing.”
“Great Heavens!” I exclaimed, “surely that was mere pretence on her part; sheer bravado.”
“Not altogether. It was grim determination to do the thing that would immediately hurt her father, and I do not know what would have happened if she had escaped from us. It had the instant effect of subduing him, bringing him practically to his knees before her. So she sulked all the way to Chemulpo, and I expected that the brief assumption of authority had ended; but while we were rowing out to the yacht he spoke very sharply to her, and I saw with regret that his determination was at least equal to hers. Therefore I spoke to him after she had gone to her room, and he said very little one way or the other. Now he appears to think that as he has got her safely on his yacht once more he can bend her to his will, and I am terrified at the outlook.”
“Well, it doesn’t look enticing, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t, so won’t you please talk with him for his own sake?”
“I’d rather face the Emperor of Corea again, or his amiable subjects in mass meeting assembled, but I’ll do it for your sake. Oh, yes, and for his sake, too; I would do anything I could to make matters easy for Mr. Hemster.”
“Thank you so much,” said the girl simply, leaning back in her chair with a sigh of contentment. “Now let us talk of something else.”
“With all my heart, Hilda. I’ve been wanting to talk of something else ever since your very abrupt departure last night. Now am I over-confident in taking your last brief action there as equivalent to the monosyllable ‘Yes’?”