have an angel for his niece?" said he recklessly, for he was reckless
as men often are in sudden penitence.

"You wouldn't, of course. I shouldn't think you often guess aright."
Having withered him with that and her glance, she turned to her
negro and the basket that he carried. From this she lifted now the
fruits and delicacies with which it was laden, and piled them in
such heaps upon the beds of the six Spaniards that by the time she
had so served the last of them her basket was empty, and there was
nothing left for her own fellow-countrymen. These, indeed, stood
in no need of her bounty - as she no doubt observed - since they
were being plentifully supplied by others.

Having thus emptied her basket, she called her negro, and without
another word or so much as another glance at Peter Blood, swept out
of the place with her head high and chin thrust forward.

Peter watched her departure. Then he fetched a sigh.

It startled him to discover that the thought that he had incurred
her anger gave him concern. It could not have been so yesterday.
It became so only since he had been vouchsafed this revelation of
her true nature. "Bad cess to it now, it serves me right. It
seems I know nothing at all of human nature. But how the devil was
I to guess that a family that can breed a devil like Colonel Bishop
should also breed a saint like this?"



CHAPTER VI