"I thank you, sir, for so gentle a term," replied the young lady,
recollecting herself, and recovering her presence of mind in the same
instant; "the imagination of Mr. Dillon is so apt to conjure the worst,
that he is entitled to our praise for so far humoring our weakness, as
not to alarm us with the apprehensions of their being pirates."
"Nay, madam, they may yet deserve that name," returned the other,
coolly; "but my education has instructed me to hear the testimony before
I pronounce sentence."
"Ah! that the boy has found in his Coke upon Littleton," cried the
Colonel; "the law is a salutary corrective to human infirmities, Miss
Alice; and among other things, it teaches patience to a hasty
temperament. But for this cursed, unnatural rebellion, madam, the young
man would at this moment have been diffusing its blessings from a
judicial chair in one of the colonies--ay! and I pledge myself, to all
alike, black and white, red and yellow, with such proper distinctions as
nature has made between the officer and the private. Keep a good heart,
kinsman; we shall yet find a time! the royal arms have many hands and
things look better at the last advices. But come, we will proceed to the
guard-room and put these stragglers to the question; runaways, I'll
venture to predict, from one of his majesty's cruisers, or perhaps
honest subjects engaged in supplying the service with men. Come, Kit,
come, let us go, and----"
"Are we then to lose the company of Colonel Howard so soon?" said
Katherine, advancing to her guardian, with an air of blandishment and
pleasantry.
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