Chapter 17 - Page 2

readiness that belonged to her sex, therefore, she preferred
changing the discourse to permitting it to proceed any further in
a manner so awkward and so unsatisfactory.

"Tell me one thing, Jasper, and I shall be content," said she,
speaking now with a firmness which denoted confidence, not only
in herself, but in her companion: "you do not deserve this cruel
suspicion which rests upon you?"

"I do not, Mabel!" answered Jasper, looking into her full blue eyes
with an openness and simplicity that might have shaken stronger
distrust. "As I hope for mercy hereafter, I do not!"

"I knew it -- I could have sworn it!" returned the girl warmly.
"And yet my father means well; -- but do not let this matter disturb
you, Jasper."

"There is so much more to apprehend from another quarter just now,
that I scarcely think of it."

"Jasper!"

"I do not wish to alarm you, Mabel; but if your uncle could be
persuaded to change his notions about handling the _Scud_: and yet
he is so much more experienced than I am, that he ought, perhaps,
to place more reliance on his own judgment than on mine."

"Do you think the cutter in any danger?" demanded Mabel, quick as
thought.

"I fear so; at least she would have been thought in great danger by
us of the lake; perhaps an old seaman of the ocean may have means
of his own to take care of her."

"Jasper, all agree in giving you credit for skill in managing the
_Scud_. You know the lake, you know the cutter; you _must_ be
the best judge of our real situation."

"My concern for you, Mabel, may make me more cowardly than common;
but, to be frank, I see but one method of keeping the cutter from
being wrecked in the course of the next two or three hours, and that
your uncle refuses to take. After all, this may be my ignorance;
for, as he says, Ontario is merely fresh water."

"You cannot believe this will make any difference. Think of my dear
father, Jasper! Think of yourself; of all the lives that depend
on a timely word from you to save them."

"I think of you, Mabel, and that is more, much more, than all the
rest put together!" returned the young man, with a strength of
expression and an earnestness of look that uttered infinitely more
than the words themselves.

Mabel's heart beat quickly, and a gleam of grateful satisfaction
shot across her blushing features; but the alarm was too vivid and
too serious to admit of much relief from happier thoughts. She did
not attempt to repress a look of gratitude, and then she returned
to the feeling which was naturally uppermost.