awhile ago, if there is no other way. But if it
can be helped, then not an hour, not a minute! Why should we let
happiness pass us by and not take it when we may and can? There is not
enough in the world, as it is; and you cannot even pretend that you
are generous if you do not take your share, since what fate means for
you is useless for any one else! No, dear, no! We will take the fruit
there is on the tree, and leave none to rot on the branch after we are
gone. Promise to marry me a year from to-day, and leave the rest to
me--will you?'

'Yes--but promise me one thing, too. Do not resign to-morrow, nor next
week, as I know you mean to do. Take a month to think it over, and to
look about you. You are so impulsive--well, so generous--that you are
capable of sending in your resignation to-morrow.'

'It is already written,' Giovanni answered. 'I was going to send it in
to-night.'

'I knew it! But you must not. Please, please, take a little time--it
will be so much wiser. I will wait for you for ever, or I will promise
to marry you a year from to-day, even if we have to live on bread and
water. Indeed I will! But, at least, be a little cautious! It will be
far better to marry on your pay--and you will surely get your captaincy
in a few months--than to be stranded without even that, in case you do
not find the work you hope for. Don't you see? I am sure it is good
advice.'

Giovanni knew that it was, if caution were ever worth practising
in human affairs; but that has often been doubted by brave and
light-hearted men. Giovanni yielded a little reluctantly. If she had
asked him to make it two months instead of one, he would have refused,
for it seemed to him intolerable to lose a moment between decision and
action, and his thoughts doubled their stride with every step, in a
geometrical progression; a moment hence, a minute would be an hour, an
hour a month, a month a lifetime. Men have won battles in that temper;
but it has sometimes cost them their life.

'I know you are sensible,' Giovanni said, taking Angela's hand between
his, 'but it is to please you that I agree to wait a month. It is not
because it looks wise, as it does. For one man who succeeds by wisdom,
ten win by daring. Who knows what may chance in a month, or what may
happen to put out of reach what I could do to-day?'

'Nothing!'

Angela gave her answer with the delicious little smile of superiority
which the youngest woman and even the merest girl