and have them ready for me the next morning, shortly after Evalani would have sailed. Evalani was to board the boat early and remain in her state-room throughout the entire voyage under the plea of sea-sickness, in order to avoid all possibility of recognition.
"And strange as it may seem, the plan actually worked out. As soon as I got back to town I called up David on the telephone and told him that I had been to see Evalani and that she had agreed to stay on and marry him. And then I told him that Evalani had really loved him all the time but had kept it hidden because of her loyalty to me, but that now that it was out, she was willing to marry him at once. And I advised him to put it through immediately, lest she change her mind, and said that she had set the following evening, if he was agreed; and that he might see her for a few minutes that same night, if he chose, for confirmation.
"I suppose that all of this deception seems very dreadful to you; but remember, we were only seventeen and full of romance and both of us wildly infatuated, she with the possibilities of a career, and I with an overmastering and consuming love which, to me, justified the deception, upon the plea that it was I whom he really loved and that when we were married he would fully realize it; and then, at last, I might tell him and beg his forgiveness in my proper person. It looked like such a beautiful
