"
"Then look among the girls of Languedoc for a wife," answered Ghita,
with a smile so melancholy that it contradicted her words. "Better to
take one of your own nation and opinions, Raoul, than risk your
happiness with a stranger, who might not answer all your hopes when you
came to know her better."
"We will not talk further of this now, dearest Ghita; my first care must
be to carry you back to the cottage of your aunt--unless indeed you will
at once embark in le Feu-Follet and return to the towers?"
"Le Feu-Follet!--she is hardly here, in the midst of a fleet of her
enemies!--Remember, Raoul, your men will begin to complain if you place
them too often in such risks to gratify your own wishes."
"_Peste!_--I keep them in good humor by rich prizes. They have been
successful; and that which makes yonder Nelson popular and a great man
makes Raoul Yvard popular and a great man also in his little way. My
crew is like its captain--it loves adventures and it loves success."
"I do not see the lugger--among a hundred ships, there is no sign of
yours?"
"The Bay of Napoli is large, Ghita," returned Raoul, laughing; "and le
Feu-Follet takes but little room. See-yonder vaisseaux-de-ligne appear
trifling among these noble mountains and on this wide gulf; you cannot
expect my little lugger to make much show. We are small, Ghita mia, if
not insignificant!"
"Still, where there are so many vigilant eyes, there is always danger,
Raoul! Besides, a lugger is an unusual rig, as you have owned to me
yourself.
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