"
"Has it placed her above human errors, John? Punishment is the natural
and inevitable consequence of sin; and unless she can say more than has
ever fallen to the lot of humanity to say truly, she may yet be made to
feel the chastening arm of One, to whose eyes all her pageantry and
power are as vacant as the air she breathes--so insignificant must it
seem when compared to his own just rule! But if you vaunt that you have
been permitted to kiss the hem of the robes of the French queen, and
have been the companion of high-born and flaunting ladies, clad in their
richest array, can ye yet say to yourself, that amid them all ye have
found one whose tongue has been bold to tell you the truth, or whose
heart has sincerely joined in her false professions?"
"Certainly none have met me with the reproaches that I have this night
received from Alice Dunscombe, after a separation of six long years,"
returned the Pilot.
"If I have spoken to you the words of holy truth, John, let them not be
the less welcome, because they are strangers to your ears. Oh! think
that she who has thus dared to use the language of reproach to one whose
name is terrible to all who live on the border of this island, is led to
the rash act by no other motive than interest in your eternal welfare."
"Alice! Alice! you madden me with these foolish speeches! Am I a monster
to frighten unprotected women and helpless children? What mean these
epithets, as coupled with my name? Have you, too, lent a credulous ear
to the vile calumnies with which the policy of your rulers has ever
attempted to destroy the fair fame of those who oppose them, and those
chiefly who oppose them with success? My name may be terrible to the
officers of the royal fleet, but where and how have I earned a claim to
be considered formidable to the helpless and unoffending?"
Alice Dunscombe cast a furtive and timid glance at the Pilot, which
spoke even stronger than her words, as she replied:
"I know not that all which is said of you and your deeds is true.
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