"A thousand thanks. I thought you would relent," he said. "And will you be ready to sail with me to-morrow?" "Oh, yes, quite ready. My trunks have been packed several weeks, and I have been only waiting for you to come," she answered, promptly. And then she slipped her small hand into the folds of her dress and drew out a netted silk purse, through whose meshes he caught the glitter of gold pieces. She counted out a number of shining coins into his hand with quite a business-like air. "That is the price of my ticket. Will you please buy it for me? I will have my luggage sent down all right," she said. He took the money mechanically and rose, thinking this a dismissal. Then something that had been on his mind all the time rose to his lips. "I want to ask a great favor of you, Miss West." She looked at him with a slight air of wonder, and answered: "Yes." "You will meet with my friend, Lieutenant De Vere, on board the steamer. He is a very nice youth indeed. He will be good friends with you directly." "In-deed?" said Leonora, in a slow, inquiring voice that implied a distinct doubt on the subject. "Yes, indeed. You need not look so incredulous. You will be sure to like him. The ladies all adore him." She looked up at him with the dimples coming into roguish play around her mouth. [Pg 39] [Pg 39] "And you wish to warn me not to fall a victim to his manifold perfections?" she said. "Oh, dear, no, not at all. I never thought of such a thing. You see, Miss West, my friend intensely enjoys a joke." "Yes?" she gazed at him with an air of thorough mystification. "He intensely enjoys a joke," repeated Lancaster. "I want you to promise me now, upon your honor, that you will not tell him how unmercifully you quizzed me awhile ago. He would never have done chaffing me if he knew, and he would tell the whole regiment once we landed in England."
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