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the preceding night, in the same indirect manner as had distinguished the
dialogue during the whole interview. I shall not be unreasonable, young
gentleman, and here is the pavilion of my niece; I wish I could add, and here
also is its mistress!
And is la belle Barbérie no longer a tenant of la Cour des Fées! demanded
Ludlow, in a surprise too natural to be feigned.
Alderman Van Beverout regarded the young man in wonder; pondered a moment, to
consider how far denying a knowledge of the absence of his niece might benefit
the officer, in the pending negotiation; and then he dryly observed, Boats
passed on the water, during the night. If the men of Captain Ludlow were at
first imprisoned, I presume they were set at liberty at the proper time.
They are carried I know not whither--the boat itself is gone, and I am here
alone.
Am I to understand, Captain Ludlow, that Alida Barbérie has not fled my
house, during the past night, to seek a refuge in your ship?
Fled! echoed the young man, in a voice of horror. Has Alida de Barbérie
fled from the house of her uncle, at all?
Captain Ludlow, this is not acting. On the honor of a gentleman, are you
ignorant of my niece s absence?
The young commander did not answer; but, striking his head fiercely, he
smothered words that were unintelligible to his companion. When this momentary
burst of feeling was past, he sunk into a chair, and gazed about him in stupid
amazement. All this pantomime was inexplicable to the Alderman, who, however,
began to see that more of the conditions of the arrangement in hand were
beyond the control of his companion, than he had at first believed. Still the
plot thickened, rather than grew clear; and he was afraid to speak, lest he
might utter more than was prudent. The silence, therefore, continued for quite
a minute; during which time, the parties sat gazing at each other in dull
wonder.
I shall not deny, Captain Ludlow, that I believed you had prevailed on my
niece to fly aboard the Coquette; for, though a man who has always kept his
feelings in his own command, as the safest manner of managing particular
interests, yet I am not to learn that rash youth is often guilty of folly. I
am now equally at a loss with yourself, to know what has become of her, since
here she is not.
Hold! eagerly interrupted Ludlow. A boat left your wharf, for the city, in
the earlier hours of the morning. Is it not possible that she may have taken a
passage in it?
It is not possible. I have reasons to know--in short, Sir, she is not
there.
Then is the unfortunate--the lovely--the indiscreet girl for ever lost to
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herself and us! exclaimed the young sailor, actually groaning under his
mental agony. Rash, mercenary man! to what an act of madness has this thirst
of gold driven one so fair-- would I could say, so pure and so innocent!
But while the distress of the lover was thus violent, and caused him to be so
little measured in his terms of reproach, the uncle of the fair offender
appeared to be lost in surprise. Though la belle Barbérie had so well
preserved the decorum and reserve of her sex, as to leave even her suitors in
doubt of the way her inclinations tended, the watchful Alderman had long
suspected that the more ardent, open, and manly commander of the Coquette was
likely to triumph over one so cold in exterior, and so cautious in his
advances, as the Patroon of Kinderhook. When, therefore, it became apparent
Alida had disappeared, he quite naturally inferred that she had taken the
simplest manner of defeating all his plans for favoring the suit of the
latter, by throwing herself, at once, into the arms of the young sailor. The
laws of the colonies offered few obstacles to the legality of their union; and
when Ludlow appeared that morning, he firmly believed that he beheld one, who,
if he were not so already, was inevitably soon to become his nephew. But the
suffering of the disappointed youth could not be counterfeited; and, prevented
from adhering to his first opinion, the perplexed Alderman seemed utterly at a
loss to conjecture what could have become of his niece. Wonder, rather than
pain, possessed him; and when he suffered his ample chin to repose on the
finger and thumb of one hand, it was with the air of a man that revolved, in
his mind, all the plausible points of some knotty question.
Holes and corners! he muttered, after a long silence; the wilful minx
cannot be playing at hide-and-seek with her friends! The hussy had ever too
much of la famille de Barbérie, and her high Norman blood about her, as that
silly old valet has it, to stoop to such childish trifling. Gone she certainly
is, he continued, looking, again, into the empty drawers and closets, and
with her the valuables have disappeared. The guitar is missing--the lute I
sent across the ocean to purchase, an excellently-toned Dutch lute, that cost
every stiver of one hundred guilders, is also wanting, and all the--hem--the
recent accessions have disappeared. And there, too, are my sister s jewels,
that I persuaded her to bring along, to guard against accidents while our
backs are turned, they are not to be seen. Francois! Francois! Thou long-tried
servitor of Etienne Barbérie, what the devil has become of thy mistress?
Mais, Monsieur, returned the disconsolate valet, whose decent features
exhibited all the signs of unequivocal suffering, she no tell le pauvre
François! En supposant, que Monsieur ask le capitaine, he shall probablement
know.
The burgher cast a quick suspicious glance at Ludlow, and shook his head, to
express his belief that the young man was true.
Go; desire Mr. Van Staats of Kinderhook to favor us with his company.
Hold, cried Ludlow, motioning to the valet to withdraw. Mr. Beverout, an
uncle should be tender of the errors of one so dear as this cruel,
unreflecting girl. You cannot think of abandoning her to so frightful a
fortune!
I am not addicted to abandoning any thing, Sir, to which my title is just
and legal. But you speak in enigmas. If you are acquainted with the place
where my niece is secreted, avow it frankly, and permit me to take those
measures which the case requires.
Ludlow reddened to his forehead, and he struggled powerfully with his pride
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and his regrets.
It is useless to attempt concealing the step which Alida Barbérie has been
pleased to take, he said, a smile so bitter passing over his features, as to
lend them the expression of severe mockery; she has chosen more worthily than
either of us could have believed; she has found a companion more suited to her
station, her character, and her sex, than Van Staats of Kinderhook, or a poor
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