Occasionally a vivid
flash of lightning would break forth and illuminate the black
and boiling surges that surrounded the vessel, which was now
scudding before the blast under bare poles.
After five days of most intensely stormy weather, the sea settled
down into a dead calm, and the passengers flocked on deck.
During the last three days of the storm, Clotelle had been
so unwell as to be unable to raise her head. Her pale face and
quivering lips and languid appearance made her look as if every
pulsation had ceased. Her magnificent large and soft eyes,
fringed with lashes as dark as night, gave her an angelic appearance.
The unreserved attention of Devenant, even when sea-sick himself,
did much to increase the little love that the at first distrustful
girl had placed in him. The heart must always have some object
on which to centre its affections, and Clotelle having lost all hope
of ever again seeing Jerome, it was but natural that she should
now transfer her love to one who was so greatly befriending her.
At first she respected Devenant for the love he manifested for her,
and for his apparent willingness to make any sacrifice for her welfare.
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