Chapter 17 - Page 2

lightly impugn a lady's lightest word, but
I surmised that, possibly, you might suspect the object of my call, in
which case it would be the most excusable thing in the world for you to
seek to shelter from my knowledge the presence of the Earl on the isle."

"I do not dream what you mean by all this," said the lady with a decided
alarm, yet even in her panic courageously maintaining her dignity, as
she retired, rather than retreated, nearer the door.

"Madame," said Paul, hereupon waving his hand imploringly, and then
tenderly playing with his bonnet with the golden band, while an
expression poetically sad and sentimental stole over his tawny face; "it
cannot be too poignantly lamented that, in the profession of arms, the
officer of fine feelings and genuine sensibility should be sometimes
necessitated to public actions which his own private heart cannot
approve. This hard case is mine. The Earl, Madame, you say is absent. I
believe those words. Far be it from my soul, enchantress, to ascribe a
fault to syllables which have proceeded from so faultless a source."

This probably he said in reference to the lady's mouth, which was
beautiful in the extreme.

He bowed very lowly, while the lady eyed him with conflicting and
troubled emotions, but as yet all in darkness as to his ultimate
meaning. But her more immediate alarm had subsided, seeing now that the
sailor-like extravagance of Paul's homage was entirely unaccompanied
with any touch of intentional disrespect. Indeed, hyperbolical as were
his phrases, his gestures and whole carriage were most heedfully
deferential.

Paul continued: "The Earl, Madame, being absent, and he being the sole
object of my call, you cannot labor under the least apprehension, when I
now inform you, that I have the honor of being an officer in the
American Navy, who, having stopped at this isle to secure the person of
the Earl of Selkirk as a hostage for the American cause, am, by your
assurances, turned away from that intent; pleased, even in
disappointment, since that disappointment has served to prolong my
interview with the noble lady before me, as well as to leave her
domestic tranquillity unimpaired."

"Can you really speak true?" said the lady in undismayed wonderment.

"Madame, through your window you will catch a little peep of the
American colonial ship-of-war, Banger, which I have the honor to
command. With my best respects to your lord, and sincere regrets at not
finding him at home, permit me to salute your ladyship's hand and
withdraw."

But feigning not to notice this Parisian proposition, and artfully
entrenching her hand, without seeming to do so, the lady, in a