She appeared as unchanged as he; and while he knew that he hid his real feelings, he was firm in his belief that she hid nothing.

And yet the germ he had implanted must be at work; he was confident of that, though he was without confidence as to the result.
There was no forecasting this strange girl's processes.

She might awaken, it was true; and on the other hand, and with equal chance, he might be the wrong man for her, and his declaration of love might only more firmly set her in her views on single blessedness.
While he devoted more and more of his time to the plantation itself, she took over the house and its multitudinous affairs; and she took hold firmly, in sailor fashion, revolutionizing the system and discipline.

The labour situation on Berande was improving.

The _Martha_ had carried away fifty of the blacks whose time was up, and they had been among the worst on the plantation--five-year men recruited by Billy Be-blowed, men who had gone through the old days of terrorism when the original owners of Berande had been driven away.