“You know how to sail a boat, don’t you?”

“Yes,” said Greenleaf, “I have frequently been out alone; but I thought I would not take the responsibility of a more precious freight.”

“It would be delightful to have a sail by ourselves.”

“Charming, truly!  Our salt-water friend may be a very estimable person, but we should be freer to talk in his absence.”

“Suppose you try it.  I will sit here, and you take his place.”

Greenleaf hesitated; the proposal was a tempting one, but he had no great confidence in his own skill.

“The sea is like a pond,” continued his companion.  “We can sail out a short distance, and then return for our pilot, if we like.”

Greenleaf allowed himself to be persuaded.  He shoved off the boat, hoisted sail, and they were soon lightly skimming the waters of the bay.  They rounded the rocky point and stood for the eastward.  Their boatman soon appeared on the shore and made frantic gestures to no purpose; they looked back and rather enjoyed his discomfiture.

Never did the sea have such a fascination for Greenleaf.  He held the rudder and drew the sheets with a feeling of proud mastery, deeper and more exciting than the horseman feels on the back of his steed.  These first emotions, however, gradually lost their intensity, and he resigned himself to the measureless content which the gentle motion, the bland air, and the sunny sky inspired.

What had been the character of Miss Sandford’s regard for Greenleaf hitherto would he a difficult question to answer; it is doubtful whether she knew, herself.  She had been pleased with his conversation and manners, flattered by his graceful and not too obsequious attentions, and proud of his success in his art.  Living upon the pleasures of the day, without a thought of the future, she had never seriously reflected upon the consequences of her flirtation, supposing that, as in every former case, there would come a time of ennui and coolness.  Besides, she had felt the force of her prudent sister-in-law’s suggestion, that a man without an estate would never be able to supply the necessities of a woman of fashion.  With all her quasi advances a degree of reserve was mingled, and she persuaded herself that she should never become entangled beyond the power of retreat.  But Greenleaf was not an easy conquest.  She was aware of her influence over him, and employed all her arts to win and secure his devotion; as long as the least indifference on his part remained, she was unsatisfied.  But in this protracted effort she had drifted unconsciously from her own firm anchorage.  Day by day his society had grown more and more necessary to her, and her habitual caution was more and more neglected.  The conduct of Greenleaf, without any design on his part, had been such as to draw her on irresistibly, until their positions had become reversed; she was now fascinated beyond self-control, and without a thought of the future, while he was merely agreeable, but inwardly cool and self-possessed.  Still at times the strange thrills returned as the soft light of her eyes fell upon him, and the intoxication he felt at his first meeting with her again drowned his senses in delight.