Under the influence of these latent prejudices, then, John Effingham
replied to the remarks of his cousin, and the discourse soon partook of
the discursive character of all arguments, in which the parties are not
singularly clear-headed, and free from any other bias than that of truth,
Nearly all joined in it, and half an hour was soon passed in settling the
law of nations, and the particular merits or demerits of the instance
before them.

It was a lovely night, and Mademoiselle Viefville and Eve walked the deck
for exercise, the smoothness of the water rendering the moment every way
favourable. As has been already said, the common feeling in the escape of
the new-married couple had broken the ice, and less restraint existed
between the passengers, at the moment when Mr. Grab left the ship, than
would have been the case at the end of a week, under ordinary
circumstances. Eve Effingham had passed her time since her eleventh year
principally on the continent of Europe, and in the mixed intercourse that
is common to strangers in that part of the world; or, in other words,
equally without the severe restraint that is usually imposed there on the
young of her own sex, or without the extreme license that is granted to
them at home. She came of a family too well toned to run into the
extravagant freedoms that sometimes pass for easy manners in America, had
she never quitted her father's house even: but her associations abroad had
unavoidably imparted greater reserve to her ordinary deportment than the
simplicity of cis-Atlantic usages would have rendered indispensable in the
most, fastidious circles. With the usual womanly reserves, she was natural
and unembarrassed in her intercourse with the world, and she had been
allowed to see so many different nations, that she had obtained a
self-confidence that did her no injury, under the influence of an
exemplary education, and great natural dignity of mind. Still,
Mademoiselle Viefville, notwithstanding she had lost some of her own