iff.

"Hold on, Don John. I want to talk with you a little."

"What about?"

"Two or three things. I am going off on a long cruise in a day or two. I
think I shall go as far as Portland, and try to get a situation in a
store there."

"I don't believe you will have a chance to go to Portland, or anywhere
else, unless it's Thomaston, where the state prison is located."

"I didn't think you would be so rough on me, Don John. I didn't set your
boat afire; but I can see that it may go hard with me, because I
happened to be near the wharf at the time."

"You will find that isn't the worst of it," added Donald.

"What is the worst of it?"

"Never mind; I'll tell Squire Peters to-morrow, when we come together."

"Don't go to law about it, Don John; for though I didn't do it, I don't
want to be hauled up for it. Even a suspicion is sometimes damaging to
the honor of a gentleman."

"You had better come down from that high horse, and own up that you set
the Maud afire."

"Will you agree not to prosecute, if I do?" asked Laud.

Donald, after his anger subsided, thought more about the "white cross of
Denmark" than he did about the fire; for the latter had done him no
damage, while the former might injure his character which he valued more
than his property.

"I will agree not to prosecute, if you will answer all my questions," he
replied; but I confess that it was an error on the part of the young
man.

Donald fastened the painter of his skiff at the stern, and took a seat
in the standing-room of the Juno.

"I will tell you all I know, if you will keep me out of the courts,"
added Laud, promptly.

"Why did you set the Maud afire?"

"Because I was mad, and meant to get even with you for what you did at
Rodman's this afternoon. You might do me a great service, Don John, if
you would. I like Nellie Patterdale; I mean, I'm in love with her. I
don't believe I can live without her."

"I'll bet you'll have to," interposed Donald, indignantly.

"You don't know what it is to love, Don John."

"I don't want to know yet awhile; and I think you had better live on a
different sort of grub. What a stupid idea, for a fellow like you to
think of such a girl as Nellie Patterdale!"

"Is it any worse for me to think of her, than it is for you to do so?"
asked Laud.

"I never thought of her in any such way as that. We went to school
together, and have always been good friends; that's all."

"That's enough," sighed Laud. "