“Oh, I wish you could, I wish you could,” said Annis, looking at him over her shoulder.
“I suppose Mr. Glover is trying all he can?” said Wilson.
“I want my father!” said Annis with sudden passion—“I want him badly, but I would sooner anybody than Mr. Glover found him!”
“But you are to be married when he is found,” said the puzzled Wilson.
“If Mr. Glover finds him,” said Annis in a low voice.
“Do you mean to say,” said the skipper (in his excitement he caught her by the arm, and she did not release it)—“do you mean to say that you are not going to marry this Glover unless he finds your father?”
“Yes,” said Annis, “that is the arrangement. Mother fretted so, and I thought nothing mattered much if we could only find my father. So I promised.”
“And I suppose if anybody else finds him?” faltered Wilson, as with a ruthless disregard of growing crops he walked beside her.
“In that case,” said Annis, looking at him pleasantly, “I sha’n’t marry. Is that what you mean?”
“I didn’t mean quite that,” said Wilson. “I was going to say—”