'
'You can tell her ladyship what you please,' answered Maulevrier,
bluntly. 'I shall not gainsay you, so long as you do not slander my
sister; but as long as I live I shall regret that I, knowing something
of London society, did not interfere to prevent Lesbia being given over
to your keeping.'
'If I had known the kind of girl she is I would have had nothing to do
with her,' retorted Lady Kirkbank with exasperation; and so they parted.
The _Philomel_ had been lying off Cowes three days before Mr. Smithson
appeared upon the scene. He had got wind somehow from a sailor, who had
talked with one of the foreign crew, of the destination of the _Cayman_,
and he had crossed from Southampton to Havre on the steamer _Wolf_
during that night in which Lesbia had been carried back to Cowes on the
_Philomel_.
He was at Havre when the _Cayman_ arrived, with Montesma and his
tawny-visaged crew on board, no one else.
'You may examine every corner of your ship,' Montesma cried, scornfully,
when Smithson came on board and swore that Lesbia must be hidden
somewhere in the vessel.
Pages:
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880