I have
only to put my hands under my coat tails and walk away, and his throat
would be cut before the evening."
"Yes, Mr. Northmour," returned Clara, with great spirit; "but that is what
you will never do. You made a bargain that was unworthy of a gentleman;
but you are a gentleman for all that, and you will never desert a man whom
you have begun to help."
"Aha!" said he. "You think I will give my yacht for nothing? You think I
will risk my life and liberty for love of the old gentleman; and then, I
suppose, be best man at the wedding, to wind up? Well," he added, with an
odd smile, "perhaps you are not altogether wrong. But ask Cassilis here.
_He_ knows me. Am I a man to trust? Am I safe and scrupulous? Am I kind?"
"I know you talk a great deal, and sometimes, I think, very foolishly,"
replied Clara, "but I know you are a gentleman, and I am not the least
afraid."
He looked at her with a peculiar approval and admiration; then, turning to
me, "Do you think I would give her up without a struggle, Frank?" said he.
"I tell you plainly, you look out. The next time we come to blows--"
"Will make the third," I interrupted, smiling.
"Aye, true; so it will," he said. "I had forgotten. Well, the third time's
lucky."
"The third time, you mean, you will have the crew of the 'Red Earl' to
help," I said.
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