صفحة 398 من 416

"Perhaps not, but I will tell you. In the first place, I

deliberately managed so that Nat Burns and Nellie could never be

married. I know now that they have separated for good. I hated

Burns for his part in my sister's life, and I resolved to wreck

his happiness if his engagement to Nellie was happiness. So now

she is free and you can have her, I think, for the asking."

"But," cried Schofield in protest, "I have never said--"

"You did not need to say that you loved some one," she told him,

with a faint smile. "That night at dinner on the schooner with me

proved it. I have talked to your mother since I came home, and

she told me what Nat's engagement meant to you, so that I know

Nellie is the girl you have always loved. Isn't it so?"

"Yes," he replied gently.