Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/44

34 I pressed her to my heart again and again. She looked into my face and then away from me, her sweet eyes suffused with tears, then suddenly her expression changed. I turned to see what ailed her, and to my discomfiture discovered her father stalking along the silent deck towards us.

Whispering to her to leave us, she sped away, and I was left alone with her angry parent. That he was angry I judged from his face; nor was I wrong.

"Mr. Hatteras," he said severely, "pray what does this mean? How is it I find you in this undignified position with my daughter?"

"Mr. Wetherell, I can see that an explanation is due to you. Just before you came up I was courageous enough to tell your daughter that I loved her. She has been generous enough to inform me that she returns my affection. And now the best course for me to pursue is to ask your permission to make her my wife."

"You presume, sir, upon the service you rendered my daughter in Sydney. I did not think you would follow it up in this fashion."

"Your daughter is free to love whom she pleases, I take it," I said, my temper, fanned by the tone he adopted, getting a little the better of my judgment. "She has been good enough to promise to marry me—if I can obtain your permission. Have you any objection to raise?"

"Only one, and that is insuperable! Understand me, I forbid it once and for all! In every particular without hope of change—I forbid it!"

"As you must see it is a matter which affects the happiness of my whole life, I feel sure you will be good enough to tell me why?"