"
"It may have been merely a light case of--tropical enthusiasm, let us
say. I have seen others, a little milder because the air was more
temperate."
"Tropical--balderdash," he exploded. "If you are not the most
exasperating, unfeeling man alive--"
"I merely wanted to know if you wished to marry Mademoiselle de St. Gre,"
I interrupted.
He gave me a look of infinite tolerance.
"Have I not made it plain that I cannot live without her?" he said; "if
not, I will go over it all again."
"That will not be necessary," I said hastily.
"The trouble may be," he continued, "that they have already made one of
their matrimonial contracts with a Granpre, a Beausejour, a Bernard."
"Monsieur de St. Gre is a very sensible man," I answered. "He loves his
daughter, and I doubt if he would force her to marry against her will.
Tell me, Nick," I asked, laying my hand upon his shoulder, "do you love
this girl so much that you would let nothing come between you and her?"
"I tell you, I do; and again I tell you, I do," he replied. He paused,
suddenly glancing at my face, and added, "Why do you ask, Davy?"
I stood irresolute, now that the time had come not daring to give voice
to my suspicions. He had not spoken to me of his mother save that once,
and I had no means of knowing whether his feeling for the girl might not
soften his anger against her.
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