He looked about the cabin, and examined every one of the dozen berths it contained, and went into the other stateroom; but Scoble was nowhere to be seen. As he was not near his mother he did not care to look for him any farther. He returned to his mother’s room. Though the motion of the vessel became more and more uneasy, the sick lady had ceased to be affected by it. Louis had been out in the Blanche enough to learn something about the moods of the ocean, and had once been caught in a smart gale; and it seemed to him that the Maud was running into a storm. He had never been sea-sick himself, and he believed he should not be affected in that way, whatever the weather. “I am afraid we are going to have bad weather, mother; for the vessel pitches and rolls more and more every minute,” said Louis, as he seated himself at the side of her berth. “I don’t think I shall be sick any more; after I once get better, I don’t have any more trouble,” she replied; and Louis was astonished to see how self-possessed and even cheerful she was. There are many women who are timid and nervous under ordinary circumstances, and given to borrowing trouble, who become firm, patient, and self-commanding in the presence of great trials, who are resolute in the face of danger and in the midst of affliction; and Mrs. Belgrave was demonstrating that she was one of them. “I hope you will get over it now, for I am afraid you will have other and more serious trials to encounter,” added her son. “I am going to be frank and candid with you, my dear mother, in this terrible trial.” “I hope you are always so, my son.” “No, mother, I have not always been so; for you are nervous and timid, and I have tried to save you from all mental suffering. I have not told you that I met Scoble face to face nearly a month ago, and that I struck him down with a club, so that he fell senseless at my feet.” “You meant kindly to me, Louis; but I am not sure that you did the best thing in concealing the truth from me,” she replied. “Mr. Woolridge and Uncle Moses thought I did; but we will not talk about that now. It was the first time we went out in the Blanche. I will tell you the whole story now,” said Louis; and he proceeded to do so. “But is this the same vessel?” asked Mrs. Belgrave. “It does not look like her; that one was black.” “Her captain and owner has evidently taken her to some small place to the southward, and painted her white; but it is the same vessel. Now, mother, the only thing of which I have any decided dread in this adventure is that you will permit Scoble to influence you to the extent of restoring former relations between you. That would be the worst calamity that could happen to both of us.”