s a courageous girl, and at length she replied:--

"Provided what you desire me to keep secret will not be injurious to any
one, or compromise me in my peculiar situation, I consent."

"I would not hurt a fly, Miss Ossulton, but in self-defence; and I have
too much respect for you, from your conduct during our short meeting, to
compromise you. Allow me now to be very candid; and then, perhaps, you
will acknowledge that in my situation others would do the same, and,
perhaps, not show half so much forbearance. Your father, without any
right whatever, interferes with me and my calling: he attempts to make
me a prisoner, to have me thrown into jail, heavily fined, and, perhaps,
sent out of the country. I will not enter into any defence of
smuggling; it is sufficient to say that there are pains and penalties
attached to the infraction of certain laws, and that I choose to risk
them. But Lord B--- was not empowered by Government to attack me; it
was a gratuitous act; and had I thrown him and all his crew into the
sea, I should have been justified; for it was, in short, an act of
piracy on their part. Now, as your father has thought to turn a yacht
into a revenue-cutter, you cannot be surprised at my retaliating, in
turning her into a smuggler; and as he has mixed up looking after the
revenue with yachting, he cannot be surprised if I retaliate, by mixing
up a little yachting with smuggling. I have dressed your male
companions as smugglers, and have sent them in the smuggling vessel to
Cherbourg, where they will be safely landed; and I have dressed myself,
and the only person whom I could join with me in this frolic, as
gentlemen in their places. My object is twofold; one is to land my
cargo, which I have now on board, and which is very valuable; the other
is, to retaliate upon your father and his companions for their attempt
upon me, by stepping into their shoes, and enjoying, for a day or two,
their luxuries. It is my intention to make free with nothing but his
lordship's wines and eatables--that you may be assured of; but I shall
have no pleasure if the ladies do not sit down to the dinner-table with
us, as they did before with your father and his friends."

"You can hardly expect that, sir," said Cecilia.

"Yes, I do; and that will be not only the price of the early release of
the yacht and themselves, but it will also be the only means by which
they will obtain anything to eat. You observe, Miss Ossulton, the s