CHAPTER V.

MELANIE'S DREAMS

Midnight and the relaxation of slumber could subtract nothing from the
high-browed dignity of the club officials, and the message that was
waiting for Mr. Van Camp was delivered in the most correct manner.
"Mr. Hambleton sends word to Mr. Van Camp that he has gone away on the
_Jeanne D'Arc_. Mr. Hambleton may not be back for some time, and
requests Mr. Van Camp to look after the _Sea Gull_."

"Very well, thank you," replied Aleck, rather absent-mindedly. He was
unable to see, immediately, just what change in his own plans this
sudden turn of Jim's would cause; and he was for the moment too deeply
preoccupied with his own personal affairs to speculate much about it.
His thoughts went back to the events of the evening, recalled the
picture of his Diana and her teasing ways, and dwelt especially upon
the honest, friendly, wholly bewitching look that had flown to him at
the end of the evening. Absurd as his own attempt at a declaration had
been, he somehow felt that he himself was not absurd in Mélanie's eyes,
though he was far from certain whether she was inclined to marry him.

Aleck, on his part, had not come to his decision suddenly or
impulsively; nor, having arrived there, was he to be turned from it
easily. True as it was that he sincerely and affectionately desired
Mélanie Reynier for a wife, yet on the whole he was a very cool Romeo.