are until we know what your experience amounted to. Before relying
upon you we ought to know how far that reliance can go--not that I
lack confidence in you, my dear madam, but that in an hour of peril
one must take care, to rely upon the oak, not upon the reed."

"The point is properly taken," said Elizabeth, "and I wish to say
here that I am easier in my mind when I realize that we have with us
so level-headed a person as the lady who has just spoken. She has
spoken truly and to the point. If I were to become queen again, I
should make her my attorney-general. We must not go ahead
impulsively, but look at all things in a calm, judicial manner."

"Which is pretty hard work with a sea like this on," remarked
Ophelia, faintly, for she was getting a trifle sallow, as indeed she
might, for the House-boat was beginning to roll tremendously with no
alleviation save an occasional pitch, which was an alleviation only
in the sense that it gave variety to their discomfort. "I don't
believe a chief-justice could look at things calmly and in a judicial
manner if he felt as I do."

"Poor dear!" said the matronly Mrs. Noah, sympathetically. "I know
exactly how you feel. I have been there myself. The fourth day out
I and my whole family were in the same condition, except that Noah,
my husband, was so very far gone that I could not afford to yield. I
nursed him for six days before he got his sea-legs on, and then
succumbed myself."

"But," gasped Ophelia, "that doesn't help me -

"It did my husband," said Mrs. Noah.