ts she grasped at any
possible help or stay. The excitement of the minute lifted her quite
out of ordinary considerations; if Rupert was a Christian, he might be
a stand-by to her, and anyhow would understand her. So she asked. But
he looked at her and shook his head. The thought crossed him that he
was _her_ servant, and her service was all that he was distinctly
pledged to in his own mind. He shook his head.

"Then what do you do when you are in trouble?" she asked.

"Never been there," said Rupert. "Always find some way out, when I get
into a fix. Why, are you in trouble?" he asked sympathetically.

"Oh," cried Dolly, "I am in trouble to death, because father hasn't
come with us!" She could bear it no longer; even seventeen years old
gives out sometimes; she burst into tears and sat down on a box and
sobbed. All her hopes dashed to pieces; all her prospects dark and
confused; nothing but disappointment and perplexity before her. What
should she do with her mother, she alone? What should she do with Mr.
St. Leger? a still more vexatious question. And what would become of
her father, left to himself, and at what possible time in the future
might she hope that he would break away from his ties and temptations
and come to rejoin his family? Dolly sobbed in sorrow and bitterness of
heart. Rupert Babbage stood and looked on wofully; and then delicately
went out and closed the door.

Dolly's tears did her good. I think it was a help to her too, to know
that she had so efficient and faithful a servant in the despised Rupert
Babbage. At any rate, after a half hour or so, she made her appearance
on deck and met Mr. St. Leger with a calm apparent unconcern, which
showed her again equal to the occasion. Circumstances were making a
woman of Dolly fast.

Mr. St. Leger's talk had in the meantime quieted Mrs. Copley. He
assured her that her husband would soon come after and catch up with
them. Now he turned his attention to Dolly and Rupert.

"Who is that fellow?" he asked Dolly, when Rupert had left them for a
minute.

"He is a young man in my father's office. Did you never see him there?"

"But what is he doing _here?_ We do not want him, it strikes me."

"He is very useful, and able."

"Well--aw--but cannot he keep his good qualities to their proper
sphere? He is not an addition of much value to our society."

"Take care, Mr. St. Leger! He is an American; he cannot be set down
with the servants."

"Why not, if his