My temper went with this, and with it the blood out of my face.
‘What do you want me to say, aunt?’ I exclaimed in a faint voice.
‘Would you be content to marry Captain Butler?’
I looked down upon the ground and said softly:
‘I love him.’
‘He loves you. Do you know that?’
‘He has not told me so.’
‘He is a man of very gentlemanlike feelings, far above the average merchant sea-captain.’
‘Oh, don’t I know it!’ I cried.
‘Well, he loves you, and would be very glad to marry you. And I dare say he would,’ said my aunt, looking up and down my figure and then round the room, ‘but he’ll not offer marriage unless he is certain you’ll accept him. He spent last evening with us, and had a very long and serious talk with your uncle and me on the subject. He declines to recognise your stepfather, which is quite proper under the circumstances, and regards me and your uncle as taking the place of your parents. Now, my dear, he is very much in love with you, and his diffidence comes from your being well off. We had a very long and serious talk, and I am here to have a serious talk with you, if not a long one.’