A simple question would determine his fate. Either she was
heart-whole, or not; at any rate, he would receive a straight answer.
So it was on the cards that Elsie would be the amazed recipient of two
proposals in one evening, which is a better average than most women are
favored with in a lifetime. Christobal had entered the chart-house
with the fixed intent of warning Boyle that he was going below for a
moment to ask Miss Maxwell to come on deck, when a hurried step on the
bridge companion caused the imminent words to be withheld.
It was Courtenay, who had run up from the saloon to procure those
fateful letters which had so nearly parted Elsie and himself. He had
laughingly refused to tell her their history. That would spoil their
effect, he said. She must take them to her state-room and read them at
her leisure. Then she would see their true inwardness, and his
feelings would be spared, as he could not deny that the majority of
them had been written by ladies.
On his way, he looked into the wheel-house. There was no light in the
interior. Boyle, wrapped in a heavy coat, was seated in the most
sheltered corner.
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