"What
claim have you at my hands?"
"Decent burial, I suppose," I answered.
He got up and paced the room for a moment or two. I waited with some
anxiety, for life is worth something to a young man, even when things
look blackest, and I never was a hero.
"I make you this offer," he said at last. "Your boat lies there,
ready. Get into her and go, otherwise--"
"I see," said I. "And you will marry her?"
"Yes," he said.
"Against her will?"
He looked at me with something like pity.
"Who can tell what a woman's will will be in a week? In less than that
she will marry me cheerfully. I hope you may grieve as short a time as
she will."
In my inmost heart I knew it was true. I had staked everything, not
for a woman's love, but for the whim of a girl! For a moment it was
too hard for me, and I bowed my head on the table by me and hid my
face.
Then he came and put his hand on mine, and said:
"Yes, Martin; young and old, we are all alike. They're not worth
quarreling for. But Nature's too strong."
"May I see her before I go?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Alone?"
"Yes," he said once more. "Go now--if she can see you.
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