"Look out!" Blair said; "trim a little, will you?"
She sat up quickly: "I wonder if it is easy to drown?"
"Mighty easy—if you lean too hard on the gunwale," he said, good-naturedly.
"Does it take very long?"
"To drown? I never tried it, but I believe not; though I understand that it's unpleasant while it lasts." He watched her wistfully; if he could only make her smile!
"I suppose dying is generally unpleasant," she said, and glanced down into the black oily water with a shiver.
It was quite dark by this time, and Blair was keeping close to the shore to avoid the current narrowing between the piers of the old bridge. When they reached Mrs. Todd's wharf Elizabeth was still staring into the water.
"It is so black here, so dirty! I wouldn't like to have it touch me. It's cleaner down at Willis's," she said, thoughtfully. Blair, making fast at the landing, agreed: "Yes, if I wanted a watery grave I'd prefer the river at Willis's to this." Then he offered her a pleading hand; but she sat looking at the water. "How clean the ocean is, compared to a river," she said; then noticed his hand. She took it calmly enough, and stepped out of the boat. She had forgotten, he thought, her displeasure about the money; there was only the usual detachment. When he said it was too early to go to Nannie's,—"it isn't seven yet, and Mrs. Richie won't leave the house until a quarter past;" she agreed that they had better go to the hotel.
"What do you say to the theater to-night?" he asked. But she shook her head.
"You go; I would rather be alone."