e dark or desponding. Nothing of that! The grave
brow was unbent in every line of it; the grave lips had no hard set of
pain; the doctor read them well, both lips and brow! Mr. Linden was no
man to stand and look towards Pattaquasset if he had nothing there. And
with a twinge he now recollected the unwonted sound of that name from
the pilot's mouth as he took charge of the letters and went off. Ay!
and turning with the thought the doctor paced back again, as
unregardful now of the contents of the Vulcan, animate or inanimate, as
the man himself whom he had been watching.

What should he do? he must meet him and speak to him, though the doctor
desired nothing less in the whole broad earth. But he must do it, for
the maintenance of his own character and the safety of his own secret
and pride that hung thereby. That little piece of simplicity up there
in the country had managed to say him no without being directly asked
to say anything--thanks to her truthful honesty; and perhaps, a twinge
or two of another sort came to Dr. Harrison's mind as he thought of his
relations with her,--yes, and of his relations with _him_. Not
pleasant, but all the more, if possible, Dr. Harrison set his teeth and
resolved to speak to Mr. Linden the first opportunity. All the more,
that he was not certain Mr. Linden had received his letter,--it was
likely, yet Dr. Harrison had had no note of the fact. It might have
failed. And not withstanding all the conclusions to which his
meditations had come, curiosity lingered yet;--a morbid curiosity,
unreasonable, as he said to himself, yet uncontrollable, to see by eye
and ear witness, even in actual speech and conversation, whether all
was well with Mr. Linden or not. His own power of self-possession Dr.
Harrison could trust; he would try that of the other. Yet he took
tolerably good care that the opportunity of speaking should not be this
evening. The doctor did not come in to supper till all the passengers
were seated, or nearly so, and then carried himself to the end of the
apartment furthest from his friend; where he so bore his part that no
mortal could have supposed Dr. Harrison had suffered lately in mind,
body, or estate.

Mr. Linden's part that night was a quiet one, the voluntary part of it,
and strictly confined to the various little tea-table courtesies which
with him might indeed be called involuntary. But it so happened that
the Vulcan carried out quite a knot of his former friends--gen