'Nor will I go,' replied Cecilia, 'but I will write a note, and we will have our breakfast here.' Cecilia wrote a note in pencil as follows:—
'Miss Ossulton's compliments to Lord B., and, as the ladies feel rather indisposed after the alarm of this morning, they trust that his lordship will excuse their coming to breakfast; but hope to meet his lordship at dinner, if not before that time on deck.'
The answer was propitious, and the steward soon appeared with the breakfast in the ladies' cabin.
'Well, Maddox,' said Cecilia, 'how do you get on with your new master?'
The steward looked at the door, to see if it was closed, shook his head, and then said, with a look of despair, 'He has ordered a haunch of venison for dinner, miss, and he has twice threatened to toss me overboard.'
'You must obey him, Maddox, or he certainly will. These pirates are dreadful fellows. Be attentive, and serve him just as if he was my father.'
'Yes, yes, ma'am, I will; but our time may come. It's burglary on the high seas, and I'll go fifty miles to see him hanged.'
'Steward!' cried Pickersgill, from the cabin.
'O Lord! he can't have heard me—d'ye think he did, miss?'
'The partitions are very thin, and you spoke very loud,' said Mrs. Lascelles; 'at all events, go to him quickly.'