his inside-pocket, while the other pushed forward his hat, so that it concealed even the eye, and sat rigid and still in his corner. "You have not named the fare to Paris." The tall man only breathed short and hard. "Don't you recollect?" "No!" "I have a 'Galignani' here; perhaps it is advertised. But hallo, Andy!" The exclamation was loud and abrupt, but the silent person did not move. "The Confederate Privateer Planter will sail from Dieppe on Tuesday—(that is, to-morrow evening)—she will cruise in the Indian Ocean, if report be true." The tall man started suddenly and uncovered his face with a quick gesture. It was flushed and earnest now, and he clutched the journal almost nervously, though his voice was yet calm and suppressed. "To-morrow night, did you say? A cruise on the broad sea—glory without peril, gold without work; I would to God that I were on the Planter's deck, Hugenot!" "Why not do something for ou-ah cause, Andy?" "I am to return to Paris for what? To be dunned by creditors, to be marked for a parasite at the hotels, to be despised by men whom I serve, and pitied by men whom I hate. This pirate career suits me. What is society to me, whom it has ostracised? I was a gentleman once—quick at books, pleasing in company,[Pg 72] shrewd in business. They say that I have power still, but lack integrity. Be it so! Better a freebooter at sea than upon the land. I have half made up my mind to evil. Hugenot, listen to me! I believe that were I to do one bad, dark deed, it would restore me courage, resolution, energy." [Pg 72] The little gentleman examined the other with some alarm; but just now the teams commenced the ascent of a steep hill, and as he beheld the guard a little way in advance, he forgot the other's earnestness, and raised his lunette. "Andy," he said, "by my great ancestry! I have seen that man before. Look! the height, the style, the carriage, are
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