glance of the
eye, from a wilful fair, means admiration of broad lands and rich meadows;
and the lord of the manor distrusts the romance of warlike service, and
the power of an imagination which roams the sea. Still may I ask, what is
there here, to tempt a proud and courted beauty to forget station, sex,
and friends?"

"Caprice and vanity! There is no answering for a woman's mind! Here we
bring articles, at great risk and heavy charges, from the farther Indies,
to please their fancies, and they change their modes easier than the
beaver casts his coat. Their conceits sadly unsettle trade, and I know not
why they may not cause a wilful girl to do any other act of folly."

"This reasoning seems conclusive with the uncle. Do the suitors assent to
its justice?"

The Patroon of Kinderhook had stood gazing, long and earnestly, at the
countenance of the extraordinary being who asked this question. A
movement, which bespoke, equally, his conviction and his regret, escaped
him, but he continued silent. Not so Ludlow. Of a more ardent temperament,
though equally sensible of the temptation which had caused Alida to err,
and as keenly alive to all the consequences to herself, as well as to
others, there was something of professional rivalry, and of an official
right to investigate, which still mingled with his feelings. He had found
time to examine more closely the articles that the cabin contained, and
when their singular host put his question, he pointed, with an ironical
but mournful smile, to a footstool richly wrought in flowers of tints and
shades so just as to seem natural.

"This is no work of a sail-maker's needle!" said the captain of the
Coquette. "Other beauties have been induced to pass an idle hour in your
gay residence, hardy mariner; but, sooner or later, judgment will overtake
the light-heeled craft."

"On the wind, or off, she must some day lag, as we seamen have it! Captain
Ludlow, I excuse some harshness of construction, that your language might
imply; for it becomes a commissioned servant of the crown, to use freedom
with one who, like the lawless companion of the princely Hal, is but too
apt to propose to 'rob me the King's Exchequer.' But, Sir, this brigantine
and her character are little known to you. We have no need of truant
damsels, to let us into the mystery of the sex's taste; for a female
spirit guides all our humors, and imparts something of her delicacy to
all our acts, even though it be the fas