“At school?”

“Of course; nothing else would satisfy father.  Maryland is only a Colony, you know.”

“Yes, I understand.  A great many over there send back their sons and daughters to be educated.  Your home is at Saint Mary’s?”

“Lower down the Potomac.  Have you ever been there?”

“Twice; once as mate, and the last time as master of a ship.  My latest voyage in these waters was made nearly two years ago.”

She was silent for several moments, her face turned away from me, her eyes gazing out across the waste of waters which were already growing dark.  Her clear-cut profile against the yellow light of the cabin windows appeared most attractive.

“It is not so strange then, is it, that I should have felt interested in you?” she asked suddenly, as though justifying herself.  “When Uncle Roger first told me who you were, and then explained what had occurred at your trial, naturally you became to me something entirely different from the others.”

“Certainly I am not inclined to condemn.”

“I never once thought of speaking to you—­truly I did not,” she went on simply.  “But when I saw you sitting here all alone, the impulse came suddenly to tell you how sorry I was.  You see,” and she paused doubtfully, “girls brought up in the Colonies, as I have been, are—­are not quite so careful about whom they talk with as in England—­you know what I mean; we always have indentured servants, and become accustomed to them.  It—­it is quite different out there.”

I laughed, thinking only to relieve her embarrassment.

“Believe me, Miss Dorothy, there is no thought in my mind that you have done wrong,” I insisted swiftly.  “That would be very ungrateful, for you have brought me new heart and hope.”

“Then I am not sorry.  Were you actually with Monmouth?”

“In sympathy, yes; but I had no hand in the actual fighting.  I was not even ashore until it was all over with.  Still I shall pay my share of the bill.”

“And you know what that means, do you not?  What will happen when we reach Virginia?”

“Perfectly; I have no illusions.  I have seen just such ships as this come in.  We are to be advertised, and sold to the highest bidder.  A week from now I shall probably be out in the tobacco fields, under the whip of an overseer, who will call me Jeff.  All I can hope for is a kind-hearted master, and an early opportunity to escape.”

“Oh, no!” and in her eagerness her hands actually clasped mine, where they clung to the rope between us.  “It is not going to be quite so bad as that.  That is what I wanted to tell you.  That is what gave me boldness to come across here to you tonight.  It has all been arranged.”

“Arranged?”

“Yes—­everything.  You are not going to be sold on the block with those others.  Uncle Roger has already contracted with the Captain for your services.  You are going north with us to Maryland.”