cept this generous offer, when would it
be convenient for you to sail, Raoul?" the girl demanded; "we have now
been absent longer than we intended, and longer than we ought."

"Within an hour, if there were any wind. But you see how it is, Ghita;
the zephyr has done blowing, and it now seems as if every fan of Italy
had gone to sleep. You can depend on our sailing the instant it shall be
in our power. At need, we will use the sweeps."

"I will then see my uncle and mention to him that there is a vessel
about to sail, in which we had better embark. Is it not odd, Raoul, that
he is profoundly ignorant of your being in the bay? He gets more and
more lost to things around him every day, and I do believe he does not
recollect that you command an enemy's vessel half the time."

"Let him trust to me; he shall never have occasion to know it, Ghita."

"We are assured of that, Raoul. The generous manner in which you
interposed to save us from the corsair of the Algerines, which began our
acquaintance, and for which we shall always have occasion to bless you,
has made peace between you and _us_ for ever. But for your timely
succor, last summer, my uncle and myself would now have been slaves with
barbarians!"

"That is another thing that inclines me to believe in a Providence,
Ghita! Little did I know, when rescuing you and your good kinsman from
the boat of the Algerine, who I was saving. And yet you see how all has
come to pass, and that in serving you I have merely been
serving myself."

"Would thou could'st learn to serve that God who disposes of us all at
his holy pleasure!" murmured Ghita, tears forcing themselves to her
eyes, and a convulsive effort alone suppressing the deep emotion with
which she uttered the words: "but we thank thee again and again, Raoul,
as the instrument of his mercy in the affair of the Algerine, and are
willing to trust to thee now and always. It will be easy to induce my
uncle to embark; but, as he knows thy real character when he chooses to
recollect it, I hardly think it will do to say with _whom_. We must
arrange an hour and a place to meet, when I will see to his being there
and in readiness."

Raoul and Ghita next discussed the little details; a place of rendezvous
without the town, a short distance below the wine-house of Benedetta,
being selected, in preference to choosing one that would necessarily
subject them to observation. This portion of the arrangements was soon
settled, and th