that his attachment to her was robust enough to bear the test and to that test she was determined to submit him she consented to an engagement on one condition that he was to take a long voyage if he returned in the same mind she would be sufficiently sure of his constancy to marry him as soon as he wished if he did not her would be amply justified there was very little sentiment about she took a practical and philosophical view of the marriage union as became a of i like you peter she told him frankly sl e yon have many that yon to me bnt i don t feel that i can depend npon yon at present and from what i know of yon i fear it is only too probable that absence and the attractive society of a passenger ship may lead yon to discover that yon have mistaken the depth of the feeling yon entertain for me bnt look here he had if yon re afraid of that why do yon make me go because she had replied with her admirable common sense because if my fears should prove to be unhappily only too i shall at least have made the discovery before it is too late and in spite of all his peter had to go sought to reconcile him to this necessity by pointing out the advantages of travel the effect it would have upon his mind and the opportunities a long sea voyage afforded for regular and study on the lines she had already out for him but despite these he went away in low spirits when the moment came for parting even the strong s � � minded was seized with a kind of something tells me peter she said that the ordeal will prove too much for you in spite of your good resolutions you will sooner or later be drawn into some which will make you forget me i know you so well peter i wish you could show a little more confidence in me he had answered in a wounded tone since i met you i have ceased to be the butterfly i was but as you seem to doubt me it may relieve your mind if i promise faithfully that while i am away from you i will never under any allow myself to the limits of the most ordinary civility toward any woman with whom i may be brought in contact i swear it are you satisfied now perhaps he had a secret that a time might come when this oath would prove a restraint upon his fancy and it certainly had an immediate and most effect upon had gone out to had seen something of the country during his stay si e in the colony and was now as we have seen on his return and during the whole time his oath to his great credit had been literally and faithfully kept during the voyage out he had been too persistently to be inclined to with sentiment but in his subsequent wanderings he had avoided or rather escaped all intercourse with any ladies who might by any possibility his to whose image consequently still held possession of his heart in case he should feel himself wavering at any time he had been careful to provide with a in the shape of a photograph the mere sight of which would be instantly effectual but somehow since he had been on board the the occasions on which he had been driven to refer to this photograph had been growing more and more frequent while at the same time he had a consciousness that it took an longer time to work he brought it out now and studied it attentively it was the likeness of a girl without any great pretensions to beauty with dark ll hair rolled neatly back from a massive brow that shone with penetrating eyes whose was generally tempered by folding glasses a large firm mouth and a square chin altogether the face of a young woman who would stand no trifling he put it back respectfully in his pocket but the impulse to go across and drop in an accidental fashion into a vacant seat near one of those two girls was still he was feeling so dull he had got such a very little way into the history of civilization a work which he was reading rather for s satisfaction than his own and there was such a lot more of it might he not allow himself a brief holiday and the long weary morning with a little cheerful conversation it was most unlikely strict etiquette being by general consent suspended on board ship that either young lady would resent a remark � at all events he could but try but then his oath � rash and voluntary oath to � what of that he had not it was true himself from ordinary civility but could he be sure of keeping r l always within those bounds if the was once established he had reasons for doubting this very seriously and besides had not more than hinted in her last letter that as a reward for his fidelity she might join the ship at with her mother and so put an earlier end to his term of he could not be too careful after holding out so long it would be madness to his precautions now no he would resist these like a modem though in the latter s case the were not actually on board and even then the hero had to be lashed to the mast but felt confident notwithstanding that he would prove at least as as the greek he was not a strong minded man but he had one quality which is almost as valuable a against temptation as strength of mind � namely timidity his love for his was by a considerable dash of awe and 