For him, doubts were never very long nor painful affairs.  Forward march!  Let every one get out of such matters as best he could.  And one evening when Cinta was going from the parlor to her aunt’s bedroom in order to bring her a devotional book, she collided with Ulysses in the passageway.

If she had not known him, she might have trembled for her existence.  She felt herself grasped by a pair of powerful hands that lifted her up from the floor.  Then an avid mouth stamped upon hers two aggressive kisses.  “Take that and that!"...  Ferragut repented on seeing his cousin trembling against the wall, as pale as death, her eyes filled with tears.

“I have hurt you.  I am a brute ... a brute!”

He almost fell on his knees, imploring her pardon; he clenched his fists as if he were going to strike himself, punishing himself for his audacity.  But she would not let him continue....  “No, No!...”  And while she was moaning this protest, her arms were forming a ring around Ulysses’ neck.  Her head drooped toward his, seeking the shelter of his shoulder.  A little mouth united itself modestly to that of the sailor, and at the same time his beard was moistened with a shower of tears.

And they said no more about it.

When, weeks afterward, Dona Cristina heard her son’s petition, her first movement was one of protest.  A mother listens with benevolent appreciation to any request for the hand of her daughter, but she is ambitious and exacting where her son is concerned.  She had dreamed of something so much more brilliant; but her indecision was short.  That timid girl was perhaps the best companion for Ulysses, after all.  Furthermore the child was well suited to be the wife of a man of the sea, having seen its life from her infancy....  Good-by Professor!

They were married.  Soon afterwards Ferragut, who was not able to lead an inactive life, returned to the sea, but as first officer of a transatlantic steamer that made regular trips to South America.  To him this seemed like being employed in a floating office, visiting the same ports and invariably repeating the same duties.  His mother was extremely proud to see him in uniform.  Cinta fixed her gaze on the almanac as the wife of a clerk fixes it on the clock.  She had the certainty that when three months should have passed by she would see him reappear, coming from the other side of the world laden down with exotic gifts, just as a husband who returns from the office with a bouquet bought in the street.

Upon his return from his first two voyages, she went to meet him on the wharf, her eager glance searching for his blue coat and his cap with its band of gold among the transatlantic passengers fluttering about the decks, rejoicing at their arrival in Europe.