being privy to their talk again.

"Well, it may be old, Kitty, but I don't think it's lively."

"It _is_n't exactly a whirl of excitement, I must confess."

"It's the deadliest place I ever saw. Is that a swing in front of that
cottage? No, it's a gibbet. Why, they've all got 'em! I suppose they're
for the summer tenants at the close of the season. What a rush there
would be for them if the boat should happen to go off and leave her
passengers!"

Mr. Arbuton thought this rather a coarse kind of drolling, and
strengthened himself anew in his resolution to avoid those people.

They now came in sight of the steamer, where in the cove she lay
illumined with all her lamps, and through every window and door and
crevice was bursting with the ruddy light. Her brilliancy contrasted
vividly with the obscurity and loneliness of the shore where a few
lights glimmered in the village houses, and under the porch of the
village store some desolate idlers--_habitans_ and half-breeds--had
clubbed their miserable leisure. Beyond the steamer yawned the wide
vacancy of the greater river, and out of this gloomed the course of the
Saguenay.

"O, I hate to go on board!" said the young lady. "Do you think he's got
back yet? It's perfect misery to meet him."

"Never mind, Kitty. He probably thinks you didn't mean anything by it.
_I_ don't believe you would have taken his arm if you hadn't supposed it