Hazel smiled impishly.
"I gave her a fine chance to turn up her nose just now; I winked at her."
Evan laughed until his companion caught the contagion.
"They're well mated, Hazel—Castle and she."
"Yes, indeed."
When they were skimming through the bay in a canoe, Miss Morton's mind again reverted to Castle.
"Hasn't he always been a snob?" she asked.
"Don't mention him—it makes me sick to think of him. He takes it after his uncle, I think."
Nevertheless, Evan kept on thinking about the Castles, as he faced Hazel in the canoe, until at last and by degrees his story came out.
"Oh, the criminals!" cried Hazel. "Why do so many boys put up with it!.... Evan," she said earnestly, after a pause, "you have confided in me, now I want to confide in you." A canoe, it is said, affects people like that.