The evening before they sailed, Mrs.Conyers had a long talk with Captain Davenant, while the two young people had slipped off for a last walk together.
"Of course, Captain Davenant," she began, "you have seen, as well as I have, how things stand between Claire and Walter.

They are both very young, but the strange circumstances of the times, and the manner in which they have been thrown together, have combined to render their position peculiar, and I believe, nay, I am sure, that on both sides their affection is deep and will be lasting." "I quite agree with you, Mrs.Conyers, at any rate as far as my son is concerned.

Walter has never spoken to me on the subject.

I suppose fathers and sons are less given to confidences of this sort than mothers and daughters.

But that Walter is deeply and earnestly attached to your daughter is unquestionable, and, indeed, it would be singular were it otherwise.