"I am deeply grateful to you, Mr. Roper," responded Jed earnestly. "I certainly stumbled into luck when I boarded your yacht."
"I don't know how it is," said Roper, as he eyed Jed thoughtfully, "you didn't seem a stranger to me even when I first saw you. It seemed natural for me to look after you. I am an only son, and you never knew what it was to have a brother. I begin to think that I have lost a great deal in being so much alone."
"You may be deceived in me, Mr. Roper. You know very little of me, and that is not at all to my advantage."
"Well, I admit that, Jed. Considering that I caught you in the act of robbing me, I may be said to have known you at your worst."
"You know nothing of my past life."
"You shall tell me all about it after a while, when we are not so busy."
Meanwhile Jed became familiar with his duties on board the yacht, and during the absence of Mr. Roper was regarded by the men as his representative.
No one could have treated him with more generous confidence than his new friend. Jed was intrusted at times with considerable sums for disbursements, and was proud of the confidence reposed in him. Of Mr. Roper, except that he appeared to be a rich young man, he knew next to nothing, till one day he fell in with his watering-place friend, Howell Foster.
"You are still with Schuyler?" he asked.
"Oh yes, sir. I am going with him to Bar Harbor."