“But am I and my innocent attendant then to be punished as pirates,” asked Ada, with a hysterical laugh.
“Scarcely so, lady; but you may be required to give evidence against them,” returned the Italian.
“I can give no evidence against them,” said Ada; “for, as you have been informed, I have been deprived of consciousness since I was found on board the English brig.”
“The observation you make, lady, is much in your favour,” remarked the Italian in a low tone.
“Then I am to understand,” continued Ada, not noticing it, “that I am, with an attendant, a prisoner in this cabin.”
“So I am compelled to confess, with much regret, is the case,” replied the surgeon.
“Then I understand it all,” she ejaculated, compressing her lips, and fixing her eyes upon the young man, who had advanced a few paces to the after part of the cabin. “From man I can expect no aid,—Heaven will not desert me.”
“Lady, God never deserts those who trust in him,” he replied, about to quit the cabin.
“Stay,” exclaimed Ada. “Those features, too, I have beheld before. Tell me where it was I saw you?”
“Lady, fancy often strangely deceives us,” returned the surgeon, in his former cold tone, and before she had time to ask another question, he had quitted the cabin.