ld me this much during our frequent conversations while he has
been superintending the shipment of the stores; and that Mr. Muir is to
offer for you, I know from the officer himself, who has told me as
much. By putting the two things together, I have come to the opinion
mentioned."

"May not my dear father, Jasper,"--Mabel's face glowed like fire
while she spoke, though her words escaped her slowly, and by a sort
of involuntary impulse,--"may not my dear father have been thinking of
another? It does not follow, from what you say, that Mr. Muir was in his
mind."

"Is it not probable, Mabel, from all that has passed? What brings the
Quartermaster here? He has never found it necessary before to accompany
the parties that have gone below. He thinks of you for his wife; and
your father has made up his own mind that you shall be so. You must see,
Mabel, that Mr. Muir follows _you?_"

Mabel made no answer. Her feminine instinct had, indeed, told her that
she was an object of admiration with the Quartermaster; though she had
hardly supposed to the extent that Jasper believed; and she, too, had
even gathered from the discourse of her father that he thought seriously
of having her disposed of in marriage; but by no process of reasoning
could she ever have arrived at the inference that Mr. Muir was to be the
man. She did not believe it now, though she was far from suspecting the
truth. Indeed, it was her own opinion that these casual remarks of her
father, which had struck her, had proceeded from a general wish to
have her settled, rather than from any desire to see her united to any
particular individual. These thoughts, however, she kept secret; for
self-respect and feminine reserve showed her the impropriety of making
them the subject of discussion with her present companion. By way of
changing the conversation, therefore, after the pause had lasted long
enough to be embarrassing to both parties, she said, "Of one thing
you may be certain, Jasper,--and that is all I wish to say on the
subject,--Lieutenant Muir, though he were a colonel, will never be the
husband of Mabel Dunham. And now, tell me of your voyage;--when will it
end?"

"That is uncertain. Once afloat, we are at the mercy of the winds and
waves. Pathfinder will tell you that he who begins to chase the deer in
the morning cannot tell where he will sleep at night."

"But we are not chasing a deer, nor is it morning: so Pathfinder's moral
is thrown away."

"Alt