d to the port and see that the forms are complied with? Then
glean such useful circumstances as you can."

The crowd was now in motion toward the lower part of the town to meet
the lugger; and at this suggestion the podesta hurried down in the
throng, to be in readiness to receive the "Signor Smees" as soon as he
should land. It was thought more dignified and proper for the
vice-governatore to remain, and await to hear the report of the supposed
English officer where he was. Ghita was one of the few also who remained
on the heights, her heart now beating with renewed apprehensions of the
dangers that her lover had again braved on her account, and now nearly
overflowing with tenderness, as she admitted the agreeable conviction
that, had she not been in Porto Ferrajo, Raoul Yvard would never have
incurred such risks.

Ghita delle Torri, or Ghita of the Towers, as the girl was ordinarily
termed by those who knew her, from a circumstance in her situation that
will appear as we advance in the tale, or Ghita Caraccioli, as was her
real name, had been an orphan from infancy. She had imbibed a strength
of character and a self-reliance from her condition, that might
otherwise have been wanting in one so young, and of a native disposition
so truly gentle. An aunt had impressed on her mind the lessons of female
decorum; and her uncle, who had abandoned the world on account of a
strong religious sentiment, had aided in making her deeply devout and
keenly conscientious. The truth of her character rendered her indisposed
to the deception which Raoul was practising, while feminine weakness
inclined her to forgive the offence in the motive. She had shuddered
again and again, as she remembered how deeply the young sailor was
becoming involved in frauds,--and frauds, too, that might so easily
terminate in violence and bloodshed; and then she had trembled under the
influence of a gentler emotion as she remembered that all these risks
were run for her. Her reason had long since admonished her that Raoul
Yvard and Ghita Caraccioli ought to be strangers to each other; but her
heart told a different story. The present was an occasion suited to
keeping these conflicting feelings keenly alive, and, as has been said,
when most of the others hastened down toward the port to be present when
the Wing-and-Wing came in, she remained on the hill, brooding over her
own thoughts, much of the time bathed in tears.

But Raoul had no intention of trustin