"My safety, lady? do you then consider that worth your anxiety?" he asked, with unmistakable earnestness in his voice.
"You have been more than kind to us, sir," she continued, "you have been preserver, protector, and friend, and it were strange if I did not feel an interest for your welfare."
This she uttered so ingenuously, so frankly, that it seemed not in the least indelicate or forward, while it thrilled the young commander's heart.
"Lady, since the moment you came on board, and I heard the tones of your voice, a strange interest sprang up in my heart, an indescribable one, and now that you express an interest in a poor wanderer's fate, you attach to it a value that he himself has never regarded it as possessing. But I read your suspicions, you have feared the worst—your looks have betrayed it, and you were ready to believe that I am a—"
"Pirate!" almost groaned his companion, "You are not, pray say you are not."
"Not so bad as that, lady."
"But you are then—"
"A slaver!" said the young commander, turning from her and moodily walking the deck; with a contracted brow and uneven step.