ran no small hazard in the way of discovery. But with Vito Viti he incurred little risk on this score; provincial credulity and a love of the marvellous coming in aid of his general ignorance, to render him a safe depositary of anything of this sort which the other might choose to advance. Vito Viti felt it to be an honour to converse with a man who, in his turn, had conversed with a king; and as he puffed his way up the steep ascent again, he did not fail to express some of the feelings which were glowing in his breast. "Is it not a happiness to serve such a prince?" he exclaimed, "nay to die for him!" "The latter is a service I have not yet performed," answered Raoul, innocently, "but which may one day well happen. Do you not think, podestà, that he who lays down his life for his prince merits canonization?" "That would fill the calendar too soon in these wars, Signor Smees; but I will concede you the generals and admirals, and other great personages. Si - a general or an admiral who dies for his sovereign, does deserve to be made a saint this would leave these miserable French republicans, Signore, without hope or honour!" "They are canaille, from the highest to the lowest, and can reasonably expect nothing better. If they wish to be canonized, let them restore the Bourbons, and put themselves lawfully in the way of such a blessing. The chase of this morning, Signor Vito Viti, must at least, have amused the town?" The podestà wanted but this opening to pour out a history of his own emotions, sensations and raptures. He expatiated in glowing terms on the service the lugger had rendered the place by leading off the rascally republicans, showing that he considered the manœuvre of passing the port, instead of entering it, as one of the most remarkable of which he had ever heard, or even read. "I defied the vice-governor to produce an example of a finer professional inspiration in the whole range of history, beginning with his Tacitus, and ending with your new English work on Roma. I doubt if the elder Pliny, or Mark Antony, or even Cæsar, ever did a finer thing, Signore; and I am not a man addicted to extravagance in compliments. Had it been a fleet of vessels of three decks, instead of a little lugger, Christendom would have rung with the glory of the achievement!" "Had it been but a frigate, my excellent friend, the manœuvre would have been unnecessary. Peste! it is not a single republican ship which can make a stout English frigate skulk along the rocks, and fly like a thief at night." "Ah, there is the vice-governor walking on his terrace, Sir Smees, and dying with impatience to greet you. We will drop the subject for another occasion, and a bottle of good Florence liquor." The reception which Andrea Barrofaldi gave Raoul, was far less warm than that he received from the podestà, though it was polite, and without any visible signs of distrust. "I have come, Signor Vice-governatore," said the privateersman, "in compliance with positive orders from my master, to pay my respects to you again, and to report my arrival once more in your bay; though the cruise made since my last departure has not been so long as an East-India voyage." "Short as it has been, we should have reason to regret your absence, Signore, were it not for the admirable proofs it has afforded us of your resources and seamanship," returned Andrea, with due complaisance. "To own the truth, when I saw you depart it was with the apprehension that we should never enjoy this satisfaction again. But, like your English Sir Cicero, the second coming may prove even more agreeable than the first." Raoul laughed, and he even had the grace to blush a little; after which he appeared to reflect intensely on some matter of moment. Smiles struggled round his handsome mouth, and then he suddenly assumed an air of sailor-like frankness, and disclosed his passing sensations in words. "Signor Vice-governatore, I ask the favour of one moment's private conference; Signor Vito Viti, give us leave a single moment, if you please. I perceive, Signore," continued Raoul, as he and Andrea walked a little aside, "that you have not easily forgotten my little fanfaronade about our English Cicero. But what will you have? we sailors are sent to sea children, and we know little of books. My excellent father, Milord Smeet, had me put in a frigate when I was only twelve, an age at which one knows very little of Ciceroes, or Dantes, or Corneilles, even as you will confess. Thus, when I found myself in the presence of a gentleman whose reputation for learning has reached far beyond the island he so admirably governs, a silly ambition has led me into a folly which he finds it hard to forgive. If I have talked of names of which I know nothing, it may be a weakness, such as young men will fall into; but surely it is no heinous crime?" "You allow, Signore, that there has been no English Sir Cicero?" "The truth compels me to say I know nothing about it. But it is hard for a very young man, and one, too, who feels his deficiencies of education, to admit all this to a philosopher on a first acquaintance. It becomes a different thing when natural modesty is encouraged by a familiar goodness of heart; and a day's acquaintance with the Signor Barrofaldi is as much as a year with an ordinary man." "If this be the case, Sir Smees, I can readily understand, and as willingly overlook, what has passed," returned the vice-governor, with a self-complacency which in nothing fell short of that which Vito Viti had so recently exhibited. "It must be painful to a sensitive mind to feel the deficiencies which unavoidably accompany the want of opportunities for study; and I, at least, can now say how delightful it is to witness the ingenuousness which admits it. Then, if England has never possessed a Cicero in name, doubtless she has had many in qualifications, after allowing for the halo which time ever throws around a reputation. Should your duty often call you this way, Signore, during this summer, it will add to the pleasure I experience in enjoying the advantage of your acquaintance, to be permitted, in some slight degree, to direct your reading to such works as, with a mind like yours, will be certain to lead to profit and pleasure." Raoul made a suitable acknowledgment for this offer, and from that moment the best understanding existed between the parties. The privateersman, who had received a much better education than he pretended to, and who was a consummate actor, as well as, on certain occasions, a practised flatterer, determined to be more cautious in future, sparing his literary conjectures, whatever liberties he might take with other subjects. And yet this reckless and daring mariner never flattered nor deceived Ghita in anything! With her he had been all sincerity, the influence he had obtained over the feelings of that pure-minded girl, being as much the result of the nature and real feeling he had manifested, as of his manly appearance and general powers of pleasing. It would have been, indeed, matter of interesting observation, for one curious in the study of human nature, to note how completely the girl's innocence and simplicity of character had extended itself over every act of the young man, that was any way connected with her, preventing his even feigning that religion which he certainly did not feel, and the want of which was the sole obstacle to the union he had now solicited for nearly a twelvemonth, and which, of all others, was the object by far the closest to his heart. With Andrea Barrofaldi and Vito Viti, and most especially with the hated English, it was a very different thing, however; and seldom was Raoul happier than when he was employed in precisely such a scene of mystification as that in which he was at that moment engaged. The vice-governor having established relations so completely amicable with the 'Signor Smees, could do no less than invite his guest to enter the palazzo, along with himself and the podestà. As it was yet too light for the sailor to seek an interview with Ghita, he cheerfully accepted the offer; making a careful examination of the whole of the northern margin of the sea, from his elevated position, however, before he crossed the threshold. This little delay, on Raoul's part, enabled the podestà to have a passing word with his friend unobserved. "You have found 'Sir Smees," said Vito Viti, with earnestness, "all that your wisdom and prudence could desire, I trust? For my part, I consider him a most interesting youth; one destined at some future time to lead fleets and dispose of the fortunes of nations." "He is more amiable and even better informed than I had thought, neighbour Vito Viti. He gives up his Sir Cicero with a grace which causes one regret that it was necessary; and, like yourself, I make no doubt of his becoming an illustrious admiral in time. It is true, his father, 'Milordo Smees,' has not done justice to his education; but it is not too late, yet, to repair that evil. Go, desire him to enter; for I am impatient to draw his attention to certain works which may be useful to one in his line of life." At this suggestion the podestà returned to the door, in order to usher the imaginary Guernsey-man into the residence. He found Raoul still standing on the entrance, examining the sea. There were two or three coasters, feluccas, as usual, stealing along the coast, in the Italian fashion, equally afraid of the barbarians of the south shore, and of the French of the north. All these would have been good prizes; but, to do the privateersman justice, he was little in the habit of molesting mariners of so low a class. There was one felucca, however, which was just rounding the promontory, coming in from the north; and with the people of this craft he determined to have some communication as soon as he returned to the port, with a view to ascertain if she had fallen in with the frigate. Just as he had come to this resolution, the podestà joined him, and he was ushered into the house. It is unnecessary to give the discourse which succeeded. It related more to literature and matters in general, than to anything connected with our tale, the worthy vice-governor being disposed to reward the ingenuousness of the young sailor by furnishing him with as much instruction as the time and circumstances would allow. Raoul bore this very well, waiting patiently for the light to disappear, when he felt a perfect confidence of again meeting Ghita on the promenade. As he had discovered how much more safety there was in diffidence than in pretension, he found his task of deception comparatively easy; and by letting the vice-governor have his own way, he not only succeeded in gaining that functionary over to a full belief in his assumed nationality, but in persuading him to believe the 'Signor Smees' a young man of even more erudition than he had at first supposed. By means as simple and natural as these, Raoul made more progress in the good graces of Andrea Barrofaldi in the next two hours, than he could have done in a year by setting up his own knowledge and reading as authority. There is little doubt that the vice-governor found this interview |