‘Yes,’ he went on quietly, without seeming to notice her little interruption, ‘though you haven’t yet seen anything in me to care for, I’m going to ask you, not whether you’ll give me any definite promise—it was foolish of me to expect one on so brief an acquaintance—but whether you’ll kindly bear in mind that I’ve told you I love you—yes, I said love you’—for Nora had clashed her little hand aside impatiently at the word. ‘And remember, I shall still hope, until I see you again, you may yet in future reconsider the question.—Don’t make me any promise, Miss Dupuy; and don’t repeat the answer you’ve already given me; but when you go to Trinidad, and are admired and courted as you needs must be, don’t wholly forget that some one in England once told you he loved you—loved you passionately.’
‘I’m not likely to forget it, Mr Noel,’ Nora answered with malicious calmness; ‘because nobody ever proposed to me before, you know; and one’s sure not to forget one’s first offer.’
‘Miss Dupuy, you are making game of me! It isn’t right of you—it isn’t generous.’
Nora paused and looked at him again. He was dark, but very handsome. He looked handsomer still when he bridled up a little. It was a very nice thing to look forward to being Lady Noel. How all the other girls at school would have just jumped at it! But no; he was too dark by half to meet her fancy. She couldn’t give him the slightest encouragement. ‘Mr Noel,’ she said, far more seriously this time, with a little sigh of impatience, ‘believe me, I didn’t really mean to offend you. I—I like you very much; and I’m sure I’m very much flattered indeed by what you’ve just been kind enough to say to me. I know it’s a great honour for you to ask me to—to ask me what you have asked me. But—you know, I don’t think of you in that light, exactly. You will understand what I mean when I say I can’t even leave the question open. I—I have nothing to reconsider.’
Harry waited a moment in internal reflection. He liked her all the better because she said no to him. He was man of the world enough to know that ninety-nine girls out of a hundred would have jumped at once at such an eligible offer. ‘In a few months,’ he said quietly, in an abstracted fashion, ‘I shall be paying a visit out in Trinidad.’
‘Oh, don’t, pray, don’t,’ Nora cried hastily. ‘It’ll be no use, Mr Noel, no use in any way. I’ve quite made up my mind; and I never change it. Don’t come out to Trinidad, I beg of you.’
‘I see,’ Harry said, smiling a little bitterly. ‘Some one else has been beforehand with me already. No wonder. I’m not at all surprised at him. How could he possibly see you and help it?’ And he looked with unmistakable admiration at Nora’s face, all the prettier now for its deep blushes.
‘No, Mr Noel,’ Nora answered simply. ‘There you are mistaken. There’s nobody—absolutely nobody. I’ve only just left school, you know, and I’ve seen no one so far that I care for in any way.’
‘In that case,’ Harry Noel said, in his decided manner, ‘the quest will still be worth pursuing. No matter what you say, Miss Dupuy, we shall meet again—before long—in Trinidad. A young lady who has just left school has plenty of time still to reconsider her determinations.’
‘Mr Noel! Please, don’t! It’ll be quite useless.’