"You know it would, ma'am, without asking me."
"Now we come to the question. He cannot leave his work to come to you.
Is your regard for him enough to make you go to Fiji?"
"Not without asking, aunt Caxton," Eleanor said, turning away.
"Suppose he has asked you."
"But dear aunt Caxton," Eleanor said in a troubled voice, "he never said one word to me of his liking for me, nor to draw out my feeling towards him."
"Suppose he has said it."
"How, ma'am? By word, or in writing?"
"In writing."
Eleanor was silent a little, with her head turned away; then she said in a subdued way, "May I have it, aunt Caxton?"
"My dear, I was not to give them to you except I found that you were favourably disposed towards the object of them. If you ask me for them again, it must be upon that understanding."