"Eh?" cried the captain, rubbing it.
"I don"t want you to die for me," said Joan with a little laugh, "but I was thinking over things the other day, and I got an idea of how you could help me if you would. I gave it up, however. I felt sure you wouldn"t do it, but if you say you would die for me-
"When I said "die"-" began the captain, uneasily.
"I"m not going to ask you to do anything as dreadful as that," continued Joan; "at least, I don"t think it is; but the beauty of it is it is something you can do. I am going back to Salthaven, but to make everybody comfortable and happy I thought of going back under a new name. That"s the idea."
"New name?" repeated the puzzled captain.
Joan nodded and turned a somewhat flushed face in his direction.
"A new name," she repeated. "My father will be left undisturbed, Mr.
John Vyner will be satisfied, and Mr. Robert-"
"Yes?" said the captain, after a pause.
"Nothing," said the girl.
"But I don"t understand," said the captain, "What good will changing your name do?"
"Wait till you hear it," retorted the girl, with an amused glance at him.
"I am waiting," said the other, somewhat shortly.
"You"ll see at once when I tell you," said Joan; "and I"m sure you won"t mind. I am going back to Salthaven under the name of Mrs. Trimblett."
The captain stopped suddenly in his stride, and with a bewildered air strove to rally his disordered faculties. Alarm and consternation choked his utterance.
"Poor dear!" said Joan, with another giggle. "Don"t be alarmed. It"s the best thing that could happen to you; it will prevent all other attempts on your freedom."
"I can take a joke," said the captain, finding his speech at last; "I can take a joke as well as most men, but this is going a trifle too far."
"But I"m not joking," said the girl. "I"m going back as Mrs. Trimblett; I am, indeed. Don"t look so frightened; I"m not going to marry you, really. Only pretend, as the children say."
"You don"t know what you"re talking about!" exclaimed the astonished captain.
"Putting aside your feelings-and mine," said Joan, "it"s a good thing for everybody else, isn"t it? We mustn"t consider ourselves-that would be selfish."
The captain shook his head in angry amazement.
"I suppose, when you said just now that you would do anything for father, you didn"t mean it, then?" said Joan. "And when you said you"d die for me, you-"
"I tell you," interrupted the captain, violently, "it"s impossible. I never heard of such a thing."
"It"s quite possible," declared the girl. "I shall go back home, and you must get back to Salthaven just in time to sail. Mr. Vyner will be so pleased at the news, he will let you stay away as long as you like, I am sure."
"And what about when I come back?" demanded the captain.
"When you come back," said Joan, slowly-"just before, in fact-I shall tell the truth and give people to understand that I did it to oblige you-to prevent somebody else marrying you against your will."
"Oh!" said the captain, struggling n.o.bly with his feelings. "Oh, you will!"
"To-morrow," continued Joan, "I will buy the wedding-ring. I know that that ought to be your business, but I"ll get it, because I know where I can get one cheap. I saw some the other day. Rolled gold they are called. Eighteenpence each."
The captain choked.
"Have you considered," he said, loftily, as soon as he was capable of speech, "that it would be a lie?"
Joan nodded, carelessly.
"A lie!" repeated Captain Trimblett, in a thrilling voice.
"Yes," said Joan. "I remember I heard you tell father once that if you had a sovereign for every lie you had told you would be able to give up the sea. So you had better do it. You can do it better than I can."
Captain Trimblett threw his hands apart with a sudden supreme gesture.
"I won"t listen to another word!" he said, hotly. "I should never hear the end of it. Where are those omnibuses?"
"We are not near them yet," was the reply. "We have been walking away from them. When you have listened to reason I will take you to them."
The captain closed his lips obstinately. He would have closed his ears, too, if he could, but, unable to do that, quickened his pace in a forlorn attempt to outdistance her. She plied him with arguments and entreaties, but in vain. He was immovable. Finally, in a trembling voice, she said that it didn"t matter, and apologized for troubling him with her concerns.
"I would do anything in reason, my dear," said the mollified captain.
"It doesn"t matter," repeated the girl.
"It"s quite impossible," said the captain, gently. "It"s really an outrageous idea. You"ll see it yourself by and by."
Miss Hartley thanked him, and taking out a handkerchief dabbed her eyes gently and made a pathetic attempt to smile.
"Don"t say any more about it," she pleaded. "I have no doubt you are right. Only when you said you would do anything for us I-I thought you meant it. I see how uncomfortable it might be for you. I ought to have thought of that before."
The unfortunate captain turned crimson, but, glancing at the spectacle of resignation by his side, managed to keep his temper under restraint.
"I"m not thinking of myself at all," he growled.
"Perhaps you are without knowing it," suggested Miss Hartley, in a voice free from all trace of personal feeling. "I thought that you would have done a little thing like that for me-and father. I"m sorry I was mistaken. However, I shall go back to Salthaven in any case."
She dabbed a perfectly dry eye again, and watched the captain closely with the other.
"I suppose there will be trouble," she continued, meditatively; "still, that will be your fault. I have done all I could do."
She walked on in pained silence and paid no heed to the explanations and arguments by which the captain sought to justify his refusal. He began to get confused and rambling in his defence, and finally, to terminate an embarra.s.sing interview, grunted out something about thinking it over.
A moment later a radiant and admiring young woman was flattering him up to the skies.
"Mind, I only said I would think it over," said the captain, regarding her indignantly.
"Of course," said Joan, "I quite understand that; and you will write and break the news to father, won"t you?"