Having, as he considered, satisfactorily attended to the presumptuous
lover, Captain Zelotes returned to the school and to what he believed
would be the comparatively easy task, the bringing of his daughter to
reason. Jane had always been an obedient girl, she was devoted to her
parents. Of course, although she might feel rather disappointed at
first, she would soon get over it. The idea that she might flatly
refuse to get over it, that she might have a will of her own, and a
determination equal to that of the father from whom she inherited it,
did not occur to the captain at all.

But his enlightenment was prompt and complete. Jane did not rage or
become hysterical, she did not even weep in his presence. But, quietly,
with a set of her square little chin, she informed Captain Zelotes that
she loved Speranza, that she meant to marry him and that she should
marry him, some day or other. The captain raged, commanded, pleaded,
begged. What was the matter with her? What had come over her? Didn't she
love her father and mother any more that she should set out to act this
way? Yes, she declared that she loved them as much as ever, but that
she loved her lover more than all the world, and no one--not even her
parents--should separate them.

Captain Zelotes gave it up at last. That is, he gave up the appeal to
reason and the pleadings. But he did not give up the idea of having his
own way in the matter; being Zelotes Snow, he certainly did not give
that up. Instead he took his daughter home with him to South Harniss,
where a tearful and heart-broken Olive added her persuasions to his.
But, when she found Jane obdurate, Mrs. Snow might have surrendered.
Not her husband, however. Instead he conceived a brilliant idea. He was
about to start on a voyage to Rio Janeiro; he would take his wife and
daughter with him. Under their immediate observation and far removed