nest to
deceive long, whatever thou may'st do on an occasion like this, and in a
pressing emergency."

"Why?--but no matter. This Andrea Barrofaldi and this Vito Viti will one
day know why. And now to our business, Ghita, since le Feu-Follet cannot
always decorate the bay of Porto Ferrajo."

"True," interrupted the girl, "and I have come for no other purpose than
to say as much myself. My dear uncle has arrived, and he intends to
sail for the Torri with the first felucca."

"There!--this has done more to make me believe in a Providence than all
the preaching of all the padri of Italy! Here is the lugger to take the
place of the felucca, and we can sail this very night. My cabin shall be
yours entirely, and with your uncle for a protector no one can raise an
evil tongue against the step."

Ghita, to own the truth, expected this very offer, which, agreeable as
it was, her sense of propriety would certainly have prevented her from
accepting, but for one consideration: it might be made the means of
getting Raoul out of an enemy's port and, in so much, out of harm's way.
This, with one of her affectionate heart, was an object to which she
would have sacrificed appearances of even a graver character. We do not
wish the reader, however, to get a false impression of this girl's
habits and education. Although the latter, in many particulars, was
superior to that received by most young women of her class in life, the
former were simple, and suited to her station, as well as to the usages
of her country. She had not been brought up with that severe restraint
which regulates the deportment of the young Italian females of
condition, perhaps in a degree just as much too severely, as it leaves
the young American too little restrained; but she had been taught all
that decorum and delicacy required, either for the beautiful or the
safe, and her notions inculcated the inexpediency, if not the
impropriety, of one in her situation taking a passage in a privateer at
all, and particularly so one commanded by an avowed lover. But, on the
other hand, the distance between Porto Ferrajo and the Towers was only
about fifty miles, and a few hours would suffice to place her in safety
beneath her own roof, and, what was of more importance in her view just
then, Raoul in safety along with her. On all this had she pondered, and
she was consequently prepared with an answer to the proposal that had
just been made.

"If my uncle and myself could ac