why not risk his fate?
He resolved to speak to her that very day if opportunity favored him,--and, having thus decided, felt quite masterful and heroic about it.
This feeling of proud and tender elation increased when Thelma stepped on deck that morning and laid her hands in his.

For, as he greeted her and her father, he saw at a glance that she was slightly changed.

Some restless dream must have haunted her--or his hurried words beneath the porch, when he parted from her the previous evening, had startled her and troubled her mind.

Her blue eyes were no longer raised to his in absolute candor,--her voice was timid, and she had lost something of her usual buoyant and graceful self-possession.

But she looked lovelier than ever with that air of shy hesitation and appealing sweetness.