eady dressed
for dinner, remaining in the drawing-room. Paul still stood before
her, and, like herself, he seemed embarrassed.

"There are men who would be delighted to hear even the little that
has fallen from your lips in this trifling," he said, as soon as Mrs.
Bloomfield was out of hearing. "To be an American and a seaman, then,
are not serious defects in your eyes?"

"Am I to be made responsible for Mrs. Bloomfield's caprices and
pleasantries?"

"By no means; but I do think you hold yourself responsible for Miss
Effingham's truth and sincerity I can conceive of your silence, when
questioned too far, but scarcely of any direct declaration, that
shall not possess both these high qualities."

Eve looked up gratefully, for she saw that profound respect for her
character dictated the remark; but rising, she observed--

"This is making a little _badinage_ about our honest, lion-hearted,
old captain, a very serious affair. And now, to show you that I am
conscious of, and thankful for, your own compliment, I shall place
you on the footing of a friend to both the parties, and request you
will take Captain Truck into your especial care, while he remains
here. My father and cousin are both sincerely his friends, but their
habits are not so much those of their guests, as yours will probably
be; and to you, then, I commit him, with a request that he may miss
his ship and the ocean as little as possible."

"I would I knew how to take this charge, Miss Effingham!--To be a
seaman is not always a recommendation with the polished, intelligent,
and refined."

"But when one is polished, intelligent, and refined, to be a seaman
is to add one other particular and useful branch of knowledge to
those which are more familiar. I feel certain Captain Truck will be
in good hands, and now I will go and do my devoirs to my own especial
charges, the ladies."

Eve bowed as she passed the young man, and she left the room with as
much haste as at all became her. Paul stood motionless quite a minute
after she had vanished, nor did he awaken from his reverie, until
aroused by an appeal from Captain Truck, to sustain him, in some of
his matter-of-fact opinions concerning England, against the visionary
and bookish notions of Mr. Howel.

"Who is this Mr. Powis?" asked Mrs. Bloomfield of Eve, when the
latter appeared in her dressing-room, with an unusual impatience of
manner.

"You know, my dear Mrs. Bloomfield, that he was our fellow-passe