"Not while I loved that other. But if that love had met no return, or afterward were crushed and blighted by adverse circumstances, then my heart would have turned to this gentle, devoted, heroic maiden, whose love had been so strong as to lead her to idolize me, and follow me in disguise even over the sea."
"Wouldst thou have done this?"
"By my troth! would I. I half love the maiden now, of whose devotedness you speak so eloquently. If it were my case, Kate would have a dangerous rival. I never could resist so much womanly devotion. Not I, Edwin."
"Would you not rather despise her?"
"No. True love is sacred and honourable ever."
"When it o'ersteps the bounds of maidenly propriety?"
"Yes, Edwin, in a case like this of which you speak."
At this instant the officer of the deck reported that the strange sail had suddenly changed her course from the southeast, and was standing towards them.
The captain seized his glass, and, examining her, said with animation,
"Her hull has lifted, and she shows a tier of ports. A red riband running around her bends! polacca rigged, and courses up, with a bow as sharp as a canoe! It is 'the Kyd,'" he cried, with joyful surprise.