merated in the class. With a 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