"Perhaps?" he echoed, with a smile, then added, teasingly, "Are you afraid?"
"Afraid?—I dare anything—to-night!"
"Then come!"
"I will—if I feel like this when the time comes. But," and she gave him a tantalizing glance from under her long lashes, "don't expect me!"
Paul tried to look disappointed, but he felt sure that she would come.
And she did! But not till he had given up all hope, and was pacing the deck in an agony of impatience. He had felt so certain that he knew his beloved! She came, swiftly, silently, almost before he was aware.
"Well, ... I'm here," she said.
"I see you are, Opal and—thank you."
He extended his hand, but she clasped hers behind her back and looked at him defiantly. Truly she was in a most perverse mood!
"Aren't we haughty!" he laughed.