"My yacht, my Duncan! She must be here, in these regions, plowing these seas, in that dreadful employment of a pirate. She is here, I tell you, John, on this course between Australia and New Zealand! I have a presentiment that we shall meet her!"
"God preserve us from such a meeting, my lord!"
"Why, John?"
"Your lordship forgets our situation. What could we do on this brig, if the Duncan should give us chase? We could not escape."
"Escape, John?"
"Yes, my lord. We should try in vain. We should be captured, at the mercy of the wretches. Ben Joyce has shown that he does not hesitate at a crime. I should sell my life dearly. We would defend ourselves to the last extremity. Well! But, then, think of Lady Helena and Mary Grant!"
"Poor women!" murmured Glenarvan. "John, my heart is broken, and sometimes I feel as if despair had invaded it. It seems to me as if new calamities awaited us, as if Heaven had decreed against us! I am afraid!"
"You, my lord?"
"Not for myself, John, but for those whom I love, and whom you love also."