"Undoubtedly."

"And handsome, and--"

"Hold, mother, you need not extend the catalogue. Captain Bramble can
never be my husband," she said, in a mild but determined tone that her
mother understood very well.

But Captain Bramble himself could not seem to understand this,
notwithstanding she was perfectly frank and open with him. He seemed to
be running away with the idea that if he could but get rid of Captain
Ratlin, in some way, he should then have a clear field, and be able to
win her hand under the peculiar circumstances surrounding her. Thus
moved, he redoubled his watchfulness touching the captain's movements,
satisfied that he should be able ere long to detect him in some
intrigue, as to running a cargo of slaves, and doubtless under such
circumstances that he could arrest and detain him, if not, by some lucky
chance, even have him tried and adjudged upon by the English commission
upon the coast.

To suppose that Captain Ratlin did not understand entirely the motives
and conduct of his enemy and would-be rival, would be to give him less
credit for discernment than he deserved. He understood the matter very
well, and, indeed, bore with assumed patience, for Miss Huntington's
sake, many impertinences that he would otherwise have instantly
asserted. But he marked out for himself a course, and he resolved to
adhere to it. Captain Bramble was not only a suitor of Miss
Huntington's, but an old and intimate friend, as he learned from her
family, and therefore he should avoid all quarrel whatever with him, and