Whether he had or not mattered not. He had saved her, and her life
was his. That strange rescue constituted a bond between them which
could not be dissolved. Their lives might run henceforth in lines
which should never meet, but still they belonged henceforth to one
another, though they might never possess one another. Out from among
these waters there came also sweeter memories--the memories of
voyages over calm seas, under the shadow of the hoary Alps, where
they passed away those golden hours, knowing that the end must come,
yet resolved to enjoy to the full the rapture of the present. These
were the thoughts that sustained her. No grief could rob her of
these; but in cherishing them her soul found peace.

Those into whose society she had been thrown respected her grief and
Her reticence. For the first day she had shut herself up in her room;
but the confinement became intolerable, and she was forced to go out
on deck. She somewhat dreaded lest Obed Chute, out of the very
kindness of his heart, would come and try to entertain her. She did
not feel in the mood for talking. Any attempt at entertaining her she
felt would be unendurable. But she did not know the perfect
refinement of sentiment that dwelt beneath the rough exterior of
Obed. He seemed at once to divine her state of mind. With the utmost
delicacy he found a place for her to sit, but said little or nothing
to her, and for all the remainder of the voyage treated her with a
silent deference of attention which was most grateful. She knew that
he was not neglectful. She saw a hundred times a day that Obed's mind
was filled with anxiety about her, and that to minister to her
comfort was his one idea. But it was not in words that this was
expressed. It was in helping her up and down from the cabin to the
deck, in fetching wraps, in speaking a cheerful word from time to
time, and, above all, in keeping his family away from her, that he
showed his watchful attention. Thus the time passed, and Zillah was
left to brood over her griefs, and to conjecture hopelessly and at
random about the future. What would that future bring forth? Would
the presence of Hilda console her in any way? She did not see how it
could. After the first joy of meeting, she felt that she would
relapse into her usual sadness. Time only could relieve her, and her
only hope was patience.

At last they landed at Naples. Obed took the party to a handsome
house on the Strada Nuova, where he had lodg