I shall never forgive myself if anything fatal actually take place!" "When one does all for the best, Captain Cuffe, his mind ought to be at ease, and you could not possibly foresee what has happened.

Might not--one wouldn't like either--but--necessity is a hard master----" "Out with it, Griffin--anything is better than suspense." "Well, sir, I was just thinking that possibly this young Italian girl might know something about the lugger, and, as she clearly loves the Frenchman, we should get a strong purchase on her tongue by means of her heart." Cuffe looked intently at his lieutenant for half a minute; then he shook his head in disapprobation.
"No, Griffin, no," he said, "to this I never can consent.

As for this quibbling, equivocating Yankee, if Yankee he be, one wouldn't feel many scruples of delicacy; but to probe the affections of a poor innocent girl in this way would be going too far.

The heart of a young girl should be sacred, under every circumstance." Griffin colored, and he bit his lip.

No one likes to be outdone, in the appearance of generosity, at least; and he felt vexed that he should have ventured on a proposition that his superior treated as unbecoming.
"Nevertheless, sir, she might think the lugger cheaply sold," he said, with emphasis, "provided her lover's life was what she got in exchange.
It would be a very different thing were we to ask her to sell her admirer, instead of a mere privateer." "No matter, Griffin.