She stared at him with utter horror, yet suffered him to place her hand upon his arm. The spirit was gone out of her, exhausted by the strain she had been subjected to. And I forgot my anger at sight of the agony of dumb fear mirrored in her lovely eyes. She was like a butterfly spiked on a thorn.
Something of the same sensation must have affected my relative, for he patted the limp hand on his arm with a truly paternal kindness.
"Come, come, did I not say the comedy was ended?" he chided her. "I have played the Aged Libertine, 'tis true, but the rôle is now abandoned. You are as safe here as in your Spanish convent. But the deck is too public for our revelations. We will seek the seclusion of the cabin, and there the complete tale shall be unfolded for your reassurance, with your father a witness to support it."
She shook her head.
"I—I—know not what you mean."
"To be sure," he agreed. "But you soon shall."
Peter, behind us, grunted to command Murray's attention.
"Does der colonel walk or ride?"
"Stap me!" exclaimed my great-uncle, "I was forgetting your father's present plight, mistress."
"I feel like a fool!" snarled the Irishman.