fellow! And I should not even know him if I saw him."

Mr. Hazel observed, in a low voice, that Mr. Seaton's conduct did not
seem wonderful to him. "Still," said he, "one is glad to find there is
some good left even in a criminal."

"A criminal!" cried Helen Rolleston, firing up. "Pray, who says he was a
criminal? Mr. Hazel, once for all, no friend of mine ever deserves such a
name as that. A friend of mine may commit some great error or imprudence;
but that is all. The poor grateful soul was never guilty of any downright
wickedness. _That stands to reason."_

Mr. Hazel did not encounter this feminine logic with his usual ability;
he muttered something or other, with a trembling lip, and left her so
abruptly that she asked herself whether she had inadvertently said
anything that could have offended him; and awaited an explanation. But
none came. The topic was never revived by Mr. Hazel; and his manner, at
their next meeting, showed he liked her none the worse that she stood up
for her friends.


The wind steady from the west for two whole days, and the _Proserpine_
showed her best sailing qualities, and ran four hundred and fifty miles
in that time.

Then came a dead calm, and the sails flapped lazily and the masts
described an arc; and the sun broiled; and the sailors whistled; and the
captain drank; and the mate encouraged him.

During this calm Miss Rolleston fell downright ill, and quitted the deck.