’Hush, hush, Carlo! What if they heard you! But Harry Fenn is to go
too. He knows nothing of your father or of what has happened to him;
and, alack! poor Felipa, who was so glad and happy yesterday, is now
all-sorrowful again. Dear Carlo, when you are aboard try and bear their
raillery and stuff your ears, and---- But I dare not stay longer,
Catalina is so frightened lest I should be discovered here, or for fear
we should receive a visit from the Captain upstairs, and he would
assuredly ask what had become of me; so good-bye, dear Carlo! Do not be
rash; for, in truth, they may put you on the ship, but they cannot make
you speak, and you do not know the roads of the mainland, so you can
easily baffle these boors. Ah, now, I was forgetting to tell you that
Felipa wanted to come with me, but Catalina would not let her. She sent
you all her true love.’
So these two took leave, and Etta, drawing back the tiny door and
replacing the bolts, ran lightly upstairs, having put Catalina in a
great fright; for hardly had the door of the dark cupboard out of which
the turret stairs descended been shut when voices were heard close to
the door of the dwelling-room. The old woman was much excited as she
exclaimed--
’St. Teresa save us! Etta mi! What heart-palpitations you have given
me! Quick, child! lie down on the couch and hide all the cobwebs and
dust which are on your petticoat.’
Etta did so, trying to conceal her smiles; and Catalina threw a lace
shawl over her, Spanish fashion; so that when Captain Henry Morgan
entered, followed by a gentle-looking Frenchman, only the most natural
sight in the world met their eyes.
’Marry! see you, Sieur Maintenon, here is the dovecot I mentioned; but
the dovelets are not so young but that they can coo. Prithee here, my
English maid, and tell me anything thou canst of the mainland. Was thy
merchant father wont to trade there? If so, he must often have landed
at Panama, where rich stuffs are much _à la mode_ and prized.’
Etta was forced to get up; but Catalina, pretending to help her,
privately shook as much dirt as she could from her petticoat.
’No, Sir Captain, my father was an honest merchant who traded among the
English isles, Jamaica chiefly, and took trips to England, but he never
meddled with the Spanish settlements.’
’Was it so? My experience is that merchants are glad to trudge wherever
they can get gold coins. But you, Señorita, you have sometimes left
this island? Speak plainly, for I like not capricious or saucy
maidens,’ said the Frenchman in soft Spanish tones to Felipa.
’Never, Señor, except to go a visit to my uncle, the noble Don Alvarez,
Governor of the Castle of St. Lawrence, which some call the Castle of
Chagres because of the river of that name; and I wish heartily that I
could let him know now of our distress.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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