"Perhaps you would like to sail around the course in one of the yachts?" suggested the skipper.
"I should be delighted to do so," she replied, eagerly; and she glanced at Donald, as if to ascertain if such a thing were possible.
"I should be pleased to have you sail in the Juno," added Laud, with an extra smirk.
"Thank you, Mr. Cavendish; you are very kind; but perhaps I had better not go."
"I should be delighted to have you go with me."
"I don't think you would enjoy it, Nellie," said Donald. "It blows fresh, and the Juno is rather wet in a heavy sea."
Laud looked at him with an angry expression, and when Nellie turned away from him, he made significant gestures to induce Donald to unsay what he had said, and persuade her to go with him.
"I am sure you will be delighted with the sail, Miss Patterdale. You will be perfectly dry where you are sitting; or, if not, I have a rubber coat, which will protect you."
"I think I will not go," she replied, so coldly that her tones would have frozen any one but a simpleton like Laud.
The passage was of brief duration, and Donald assisted Nellie up the accommodation steps of the Penobscot, stepping forward in season to deprive Laud of this pleasant office.