He could hardly count upon McKinstry, with his heavy,
blind devotion to Cressy, being as indifferent. On the contrary, he had
acquired the impression, without caring to examine it closely, that
her father would not be displeased at his marrying Cressy, for it would
really amount to that. But here again he was forced to contemplate
what he had always avoided, the possible meaning and result of their
intimacy. In the reckless, thoughtless, extravagant--yet thus far
innocent--indulgence of their mutual passion, he had never spoken of
marriage, nor--and it struck him now with the same incongruous mingling
of relief and uneasiness--had SHE! Perhaps this might have arisen from
some superstitious or sensitive recollection on her part of her previous
engagement to Seth, but he remembered now that they had not even
exchanged the usual vows of eternal constancy. It may seem strange that,
in the half-dozen stolen and rapturous interviews which had taken place
between these young lovers, there had been no suggestion of the future,
nor any of those glowing projects for a united destiny peculiar to their
years and inexperience.
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