rs inboard with easy skill, Seymour sat motionless while
the boat glided swiftly down toward the landing-steps, and the silence
was broken only by the soft, delicious lip, lip, lip of the water,
which seemed to cling to and caress the bow of the skiff until it
finally came to rest. The man waited until the girl looked up at him.
She saw in his resolute mien the outward and visible sign of his inward
determination, and she realized that the game so bravely and piquantly
played since she met him was lost. They had nearly arrived at the
foregone conclusion.

"Well, Mr. Seymour," she said finally, "we are here at last; for what
are you waiting?"

"Waiting for you."

"For me?"

"Ay, only for you."

"I--I--do not understand you."

"You understand nothing apparently, but I will explain." He stepped
out on the landing-stage, and after taking a turn or two with the
painter to secure the boat, he turned toward his captive with a
ceremonious bow.

"Permit me to help you ashore."

"Oh, thank you, Lieutenant Seymour; if I only could, in this little
boat, I would courtesy in return for that effort," she answered with
tremulous and transparent bravery. But when the little palm met his
own brown one, it seemed to steal away some of the bitterness of the
moment. After he had assisted her upon the shore and up the steps into
the boathouse, he held her hand tight within his own, and with that
promptitude which characterized him he made the plunge.

"Oh, Miss Wilton--Katharine--it is true I have known you only a little
while, but all that time--ever since I saw you, in fact, and even
before, when your father showed me your picture--I have loved you.
Nay, hear me out." There was an unusual sternness in his voice. My
lord appeared to be in the imperative mood,--something to which she had
not been accustomed. He meant to be heard, and with beating heart
perforce she listened. "Quiet that spirit of mockery but a moment, and
attend my words, I pray you. No, I will not release you until I have
spoken. These are troublous times. I may leave at any moment--must
leave when my orders come, and I expect them every day, and before I go
I must tell you this."

Her downcast eyes could still see him blush and then pale a little
under the sunburn and windburn of his face, as he went on speaking.

"I have no one; never had I a sister, I can remember no mother; believe
me, I entreat you, when I tell you that to no woman have I eve