head," she said, a trifle impatient at his delay.

"I love to think of the success of Berande," he said; "but that is
secondary. It is subordinate to the dearest wish, which is that some day
you will share Berande with me in a completer way than that of mere
business partnership. It is for you, some day, when you are ready, to be
my wife."

She started back from him as if she had been stung. Her face went white
on the instant, not from maidenly embarrassment, but from the anger which
he could see flaming in her eyes.

"This taking for granted!--this when I am ready!" she cried passionately.
Then her voice swiftly became cold and steady, and she talked in the way
he imagined she must have talked business with Morgan and Raff at Guvutu.
"Listen to me, Mr. Sheldon. I like you very well, though you are slow
and a muddler; but I want you to understand, once and for all, that I did
not come to the Solomons to get married. That is an affliction I could
have accumulated at home, without sailing ten thousand miles after it. I
have my own way to make in the world, and I came to the Solomons to do
it. Getting married is not making _my_ way in the world. It may do for
some women, but not for me, thank you. When I sit down to talk over the
freight on copra, I don't care to have proposals of marriage sandwiched
in. Besides--besides--"

Her voice broke for the moment, and when she went on there was a note of
appeal in it that well-nigh convicted him to himself of being a brute.

"Don't you see?--it spoils everything; it makes the whole situation
impossible . . . and . . . and I so loved our partnership, and was proud
of it. Don't you see?--I can't go on being your partner if you make love
to me. And I was so happy."

Tears of disappointment were in her eyes, and she caught a swift sob in
her throat.

"I warned you," he said gravely. "Such unusual situations between men
and women cannot endure. I told you so at the beginning."

"Oh, yes; it is quite clear to me what you did." She was angry again,
and the feminine appeal had disappeared. "You were very discreet in your
warning. You took good care to warn me against every other man in the
Solomons except yourself."

It was a blow in the face to Sheldon. He smarted with the truth of it,
and at the same time he smarted with what he was convinced was the
injustice of it. A gleam of triumph that flickered in her eye because of
the hit she had made decided him.