“I have found it out. They are first to be boiled in vinegar, then fried in batter, and served up with a sauce of anchovy and Malaga raisins!”
“First fried in vinegar, then boiled in batter, and served up with almonds and raisins.”
“No—no!” Mrs Lascelles repeated the injunction to the frightened steward, and then returned aft, and re-entered into a conversation with Pickersgill, in which for the first time, Corbett now joined. Corbett had sense enough to feel, that the less he came forward until his superior had established himself in the good graces of the ladies, the more favourable would be the result.
In the meantime Cecilia had gone down to her aunt, who still continued to wail and lament. The young lady tried all she could to console her, and to persuade her that if they were civil and obedient they had nothing to fear.
“Civil and obedient, indeed!” cried Miss Ossulton, “to a fellow who is a smuggler and a pirate! I, the sister of Lord B—! Never! The presumption of the wretch!”
“That is all very well, aunt; but recollect, we must submit to circumstances. These men insist upon our dining with them; and we must go, or we shall have no dinner.”
“I, sit down with a pirate! Never! I’ll have no dinner—I’ll starve—I’ll die!”
“But, my dear aunt, it’s the only chance we have of obtaining our release; and if you do not do it Mrs Lascelles will think that you wish to remain with them.”
“Mrs Lascelles judges of other people by herself.”
“The captain is certainly a very well-behaved, handsome man. He looks like a nobleman in disguise. What an odd thing it would be, aunt, if this should be all a hoax!”