"Why will you not sail with me, Marie?" Len would sometimes ask her.
"You are in the employ of Mr. Winslow now," she would perhaps reply.
"If you think I should do so, I will tell him you want to go sailing. He will not refuse it."
"No, no! Don't ask him," Marie would exclaim; "it is not necessary."
"Perhaps, some time," Marie would say, glad of a chance to escape.
After a few such scenes Len's anger would break forth, and she would abruptly leave him, while he would cry after her that she was afraid of Winslow.
It was really the case after awhile. Marie feared both Len and Winslow.
In this way Marie was driven to the extremity of disliking Len and avoiding him as much as she could possibly do so.
All this made it more difficult for her to assume an easy and natural manner in the presence of Winslow. The restraint it put upon her made it impossible for her to receive him into her daily life as she might otherwise have done. It also affected her position with regard to him, and left him without a true estimate of her character, attractive as she was in feature and in the charm of her fresh youth. He was to a certain extent influenced by the halo of romance surrounding her as the daughter of his venerable friend Pierre. He was, moreover, bound to her by the bond of duty voluntarily accepted, which he was anxious to perform. As yet no woman had entered his life. His studies had been his passion both from choice and favorable opportunity.
In this way the young love of Marie began for her self-appointed guardian and the friend of her father.
"Dark was thy coming and with fire and dearth; Internal shudderings and voiceless throes; When from the burning depths thy form arose To lie all black and shapeless on the earth."
Frank Winslow was now in the midst of his work, fully recovered from the effect of his accident, and in the enthusiasm of his investigations, with the ardor and strength of his young manhood, he kept himself actively engaged. Sometimes with Pierre and Len, and often with Pierre alone, he made excursions to regions of important geological formations on the numerous islands that studded the waters of the Basin of Minas. He often kept Len afloat for several days, much to the vexation of that young man.