"You are upon a long voyage?" I ventured.
"You may well say so," she cried. "From here to the Floridas, and after that on to the Havana and the cities of the Main."
"You will soon have no need to regret a lack of adventures," I said. "There are few men, let alone maids, who fare so far afield."
"Ah, sir, that is what I like to think upon! I was near mad with delight when my father came to the convent and took me from the sisters. Until the ship's decks were under my feet I could not believe it was true that I was really free."
"But you are never Spanish!" I said. "I ask not in idle curiosity, though——"
Her laughter was like a chime of bells.
"Sure, they say I am as Irish as the pigs in the Wicklow hills where I was born."
And all of a sudden she was grave again.
"I am not knowing your politics, sir, but there's maybe no harm in just telling you my father was of those who opposed the Hanoverian and fought for King James and Bonnie Charlie. And because his own King can not employ him, he serves Spain."
"It is not pleasant for an Englishman to think of all the brave gentlemen must serve foreign monarchs," I acknowledged. "But I hope you will be happy in the Indies, mistress."