Alice, you tell me, is on board the Foam--" "On board the _pirate schooner_!" cried Henry, almost fiercely; for the youth, although as much distressed as Mr.Mason, was not so resigned as he, and his spirit chafed at the thought of having been deceived so terribly by the pirate.
"She is on board the Foam," repeated the widow, in a tone so stern that her hearers looked at her in surprise, "and is therefore in the hands of Gascoyne, who will not injure a hair of her head.

I tell you, Mr.Mason, that she is _perfectly safe_ in the hands of Gascoyne." "Of the pirate Durward!" said Henry, in a deep, angry voice.
"What ground have you for saying so ?" asked the widow, quickly.

"You only know him as Gascoyne the sandal-wood trader,--the captain of the Foam.

He has been suspected, it is true; but suspicion is not proof.

His schooner has been fired into by a war-vessel; he has returned the fire: any passionate man might be tempted to do that.