"Oh!"

Sophie could not say more. Reuben had left her side, and was talking
and laughing with Stango as though he loved him.

"Your sweetheart, then, this cock o' the game?" said the captain
to Sophie, as he approached her once more.

"Yes."

"'I had need wish you much joy, for I see but little toward it,'
as the poet says," he remarked, bluntly. "He will not make you a
good husband."

"You cannot say that."

"It's a hard face that will look into yours, mistress, and when
trouble comes, it will not look pleasantly. You are going to sing
again? I am glad."

"You promised to go away--long since."

"I did. But the host has returned, and I distrust him. I am waiting
now to see the end of it."

"No--no--I hope not. Pray go, sir."

"Is there danger?"

"Yes."