“Why look you,
how you stare!
I would be friends with you,
and have your love.”
Shylock.
The first impulse of Alida, at this
second invasion of her pavilion, was certainly to
flee. But timidity was not her weakness, and as
natural firmness gave her time to examine the person
of the individual who had so unceremoniously entered,
curiosity aided in inducing her to remain. Perhaps
a vague, but a very natural, expectation that she was
again to dismiss the commander of the Coquette, had
its influence on her first decision. In order
that the reader may judge how far this boldness was
excusable, we shall describe the person of the intruder.
The stranger was one in the very bud
of young and active manhood. His years could
not have exceeded two-and-twenty, nor would he probably
have been thought so old, had not his features been
shaded by a rich, brown hue, that in some degree,
served as a foil to a natural complexion, which, though
never fair, was still clear and blooming. A pair
of dark, bushy, and jet-black, silken whiskers, that
were in singular contrast to eye-lashes and brows
of almost feminine beauty and softness, aided also
in giving a decided expression to a face that might
otherwise have been wanting in some of that character
which is thought essential to comeliness in man.
The forehead was smooth and low; the nose, though prominent
and bold in outline, of exceeding delicacy in detail;
the mouth and lips full, a little inclined to be arch,
though the former appeared as if it might at times
be pensive; the teeth were even and unsullied; and
the chin was small, round, dimpled, and so carefully
divested of the distinguishing mark of the sex, that
one could fancy nature had contributed all its growth
to adorn the neighboring cheeks and temples. If
to these features be added a pair of full and brilliant
coal-black eyes, that appeared to vary their expression
at their master’s will, the reader will at once
see, that the privacy of Alida had been invaded by
one whose personal attractions might, under other
circumstances, have been dangerous to the imagination
of a female, whose taste was in some degree influenced
by a standard created by her own loveliness.
The dress of the stranger was as unique
as his personal attractions were extraordinary.
The fashion of the garments resembled that of those
already described as worn by the man who has announced
himself as Master Tiller; but the materials were altogether
richer, and, judging only from the exterior, more
worthy of the wearer.
The light frock was of a thick purple
silk, of an Indian manufacture, cut with exceeding
care to fit the fine outlines of a form that was rather
round, than square; active, than athletic. The
loose trowsers were of a fine white jean, the cap
of scarlet velvet, ornamented with gold, and the body
was belted with a large cord of scarlet silk, twisted
in the form of a ship’s cable. At the ends
of the latter, little anchors, wrought in bullion,
were attached as gay and fitting appendages.
In contrast to an attire so whimsical
and uncommon, however, a pair of small and richly-mounted
pistols were at the stranger’s girdle; and the
haft, of a curiously-carved Asiatic dagger was seen
projecting, rather ostentatiously, from between the
folds of the upper garment.
“What cheer! what cheer!”
cried a voice, that was more in harmony with the appearance
of the speaker, than with the rough, professional salutation
he uttered, so soon as he had fairly landed in the
centre of Alida’s little saloon. “Come
forth, my dealer in the covering of the beaver, for
here is one who brings gold to thy coffers. Ha!
now that this trio of lights hath done its office,
it may be extinguished, lest it pilot others to the
forbidden haven!”
“Your pardon, Sir,” said
the mistress of the pavilion, advancing from behind
the curtain, with an air of coolness that her beating
heart had nigh betrayed to be counterfeit; “having
so unexpected a guest to entertain, the additional
candles are necessary.”
The start, recoil, and evident alarm
of the intruder, lent Alida a little more assurance;
for courage is a quality that appears to gain force,
in a degree proportioned to the amount in which it
is abstracted from the dreaded object. Still,
when she saw a hand on a pistol, the maiden was again
about to flee; nor was her resolution to remain confirmed,
until she met the mild and alluring eye of the intruder,
as, quitting his hold of the weapon, he advanced with
an air so mild and graceful, as to cause curiosity
to take the place of fear.
“Though Alderman Van Beverout
be not punctual to his appointment,” said the
gay young stranger “he has more than atoned for
his absence by the substitute he sends. I hope
she comes authorized to arrange the whole of our treaty?”
“I claim no right to hear, or
to dictate, in matters not my own. My utmost
powers extend to expressing a desire, that this pavilion
may be exempt from the discussion of affairs, as much
beyond my knowledge as they are separated from my
interests.”
“Then why this signal?”
demanded the stranger, pointing, with a serious air,
to the lights that still burned near each other in
face of an open window “It is awkward to mislead,
in transactions that are so delicate!”
“Your allusion, Sir, is not
understood. These lights are no more than what
are usually seen in my apartment at this hour with,
indeed, the addition of a lamp, left by my uncle,
Alderman Van Beverout.”
“Your uncle!” exclaimed
the other, advancing so near Alida, as to cause her
to retire a step, his countenance expressing a deep
and newly-awakened interest “your
uncle! This, then, is one far-famed and
justly extolled; la belle Barberie!” he added,
gallantly lifting his cap, as if he had just discovered
the condition and the unusual personal attractions
of his companion.
It was not in nature for Alida to
be displeased. All her fancied causes of terror
were forgotten; for, in addition to their improbable
and uncertain nature, the stranger had sufficiently
given her to understand, that he was expected by her
uncle. If we add, that the singular attraction
and softness of his face and voice aided in quieting
her fears, we shall probably do no violence either
to the truth or to a very natural feeling. Profoundly
ignorant of the details of commerce, and accustomed
to hear its mysteries extolled as exercising the keenest
and best faculties of man, she saw nothing extraordinary
in those who were actively engaged in the pursuit
having reasons for concealing their movements from
the jealousy and rivalry of competitors. Like
most of her sex, she had great dependence on the characters
of those she loved; and, though nature, education,
and habit, had created a striking difference between
the guardian and his ward, their harmony had never
been interrupted by any breach of affection.
“This then is la belle Barberie!”
repeated the young sailor, for such his dress denoted
him to be, studying her features with an expression
of face, in which pleasure vied with evident and touching
melancholy. “Fame hath done no injustice,
for here is all that might justify the folly or madness
of man!”
“This is familiar dialogue for
an utter stranger,” returned Alida, blushing,
though the quick dark eye that seemed to fathom all
her thoughts, saw it was not in anger. “I
do not deny that the partiality of friends, coupled
with my origin, have obtained the appellation, which
is given, however, more in playfulness than in any
serious opinion of its being merited and
now, as the hour is getting late, and this visit is
at least unusual, you will permit me to seek my uncle.”
“Stay!” interrupted the
stranger “it is long very
long, since so soothing, so gentle a pleasure has
been mine! This is a life of mysteries, beautiful
Alida, though its incidents seem so vulgar, and of
every-day occurrence. There is mystery in its
beginning and its end; in its impulses; its sympathies
and all its discordant passions. No, do not quit
me. I am from off the sea, where none but coarse
and vulgar-minded men have long been my associates;
and thy presence is a balm to a bruised and wounded
spirit.”
Interested, if possible, more by the
touching and melancholy tones of the speaker, than
by his extraordinary language, Alida hesitated.
Her reason told her that propriety, and even prudence,
required she should apprize her uncle of the stranger’s
presence; but propriety and prudence lose much of
their influence, when female curiosity is sustained
by a secret and powerful sympathy. Her own eloquent
eye met the open and imploring look of organs, that
seemed endowed with the fabled power to charm; and
while her judgment told her there was so much to alarm
her senses pleaded powerfully in behalf of the gentle
mariner.
“An expected guest of my uncle
will have, leisure to repose, after the privations
and hardships of so weary a voyage,” she said.
“This is a house whose door is never closed
against the rites of hospitality.”
“If there is aught about my
person or attire, to alarm you,” returned the
stranger, earnestly, “speak, that it may be cast
away These arms these foolish
arms, had better not have been here,” he added,
casting the pistols and dagger indignantly, through
a window, into the shrubbery; “Ah! if you knew
how unwillingly I would harm any and, least
of all, a woman you would not fear me!”
“I fear you not,” returned
la Belle, firmly. “I dread the misconceptions
of the world.”
“What world is here to disturb
us? Thou livest in thy pavilion, beautiful Alida,
remote from towns and envy, like some favored damsel,
over whose happy and charmed life presides a benignant
genius. See, here are all the pretty materials,
with which thy sex seeks innocent and happy amusement.
Thou touchest this lute, when melancholy renders thought
pleasing; here are colors to mock, or to eclipse,
the beauties of the fields and the mountain, the flower,
and the tree; and from these pages are culled thoughts,
pure and rich in imagery, as thy spirit is spotless,
and thy person lovely!”
Alida listened in amazement; for,
while he spoke the young mariner touched the different
articles he named, with a melancholy interest, which
seemed to say how deeply he regretted that fortune
had placed him in a profession, in which their use
was nearly denied.
“It is not common for those
who live on the sea, to feel this interest in the
trifles which constitute a woman’s pleasure,”
she said, lingering, spite of her better resolution
to depart.
“The spirit of our rude and
boisterous trade is then known to you?”
“It were not possible for the
relation of a merchant, so extensively known as my
uncle, to be ignorant altogether of mariners.”
“Ay, here is proof of it,”
returned the stranger, speaking so quick as again
to betray how sensitively his mind was constructed.
“The History of the American Buccaneers is a
rare book to be found in a lady’s library!
What pleasure can a mind like that of la belle Barberie
find in these recitals of bloody violence?”
“What pleasure, truly!”
returned Alida, half tempted, by the wild and excited
eye of her companion, not withstanding all the contradictory
evidence which surrounded him, to believe she was addressing
one of the very rovers in question. “The
book was lent me by a brave seaman, who holds himself
in readiness to repress their depredations; and while
reading of so much wickedness, I endeavor to recall
the devotion of those who risk their lives, in order
to protect the weak and innocent My uncle
will be angered, should I longer delay to apprize him
of your presence.”
“A single moment! It is
long very long, since I have entered a sanctuary
like this! Here is music; and there the frame
for the gaudy tambour these windows look
on a landscape, soft as thine own nature; and yonder
ocean can be admired without dreading its terrific
power, or feeling disgust at its coarser scenes.
Thou shouldst be happy, here!”
The stranger turned, and perceived
that he was alone. Disappointment was strongly
painted on his handsome face; but, ere there was time
for second thought, another voice was heard grumbling
at the door of the saloon.
“Compacts and treaties!
What, in the name of good faith, hath brought thee
hither? Is this the way to keep a cloak on our
movements? or dost suppose that the Queen will knight
me, for being known as thy correspondent?”
“Lanterns and false-beacons!”
returned the other, mimicking the voice of the disconcerted
burgher, and pointing to the lights that still stood
where last described. “Can the port be entered
without respecting the land-marks and signals?”
“This comes of moonlight and
sentiment! When the girl should have been asleep,
she is up, gazing at the stars, and disconcerting a
burgher’s speculations But fear thee
not, Master Seadrift; my niece has discretion, and
if we have no better pledge for her silence, there
is that of necessity; since there is no one here for
a confidant, but her old Norman valet, and the Patroon
of Kinderhook, both of whom are dreaming of other
matter than a little gainful traffic.”
“Fear thee not, Alderman;”
returned the other, still maintaining his air of mockery.
“We have the pledge of character, if no other;
since the uncle cannot part with reputation, without
the niece sharing in the loss.”
“What sin is there in pushing
commerce a step beyond the limits of the law?
These English are a nation of monopolists; and they
make no scruple of tying us of the colonies, hand
and foot, heart and soul, with their acts of Parliament,
saying ‘with us shalt thou trade, or not at all.’
By the character of the best burgomaster of Amsterdam,
and they came by the province, too, in no such honesty,
that we should lie down and obey!”
“Wherein there is much comfort
to a dealer in the contraband. Justly reasoned,
my worthy Alderman. Thy logic will, at any time,
make a smooth pillow, especially if the adventure
be not without its profit. And now, having so
commendabiy disposed of the moral of our bargain, let
us approach its legitimate, if not its lawful, conclusion.
There,” he added, drawing a small bag from an
inner pocket of his frock, and tossing it carelessly
on a table; “there is thy gold. Eighty broad
Johannes is no bad return for a few packages of furs;
and even avarice itself will own, that six months
is no long investment for the usury.”
“That boat of thine, most lively
Seadrift, is a marine humming-bird!” returned
Myndert, with a joyful tremor of the voice, that betrayed
his deep and entire satisfaction. “Didst
say just eighty? But spare thyself the trouble
of looking for the memorandum; I will tell the gold
myself, to save thee the trouble. Truly, the
adventure hath not been bad! A few kegs of Jamaica,
with a little powder and lead, and a blanket or two,
with now and then a penny bauble for a chief, are
knowingly, ay! and speedily transmuted into the yellow
metal, by thy good aid. This affair was
managed on the French coast?”
“More northward, where the frost
helped the bargain. Thy beavers and martens,
honest burgher, will be flaunting in the presence of
the Emperor, at the next holidays. What is there
in the face of the Braganza, that thou studiest it
so hard?”
“The piece peems none of the
heaviest but, luckily, I have scales at
hand, ”
“Hold!” said the stranger,
laying his hand, which according to a fashion of that
day, was clad in a delicate and scented glove, lightly
on the arm of the other: “No scales between
us, Sir! That was taken in return for thy adventure;
heavy or light, it must go down. We deal in confidence,
and this hesitation offends me. Another such
doubt of my integrity, and our connexion is at an
end.”
“A calamity I should deplore,
quite or nearly as much as thyself,” returned
Myndert, affecting to laugh; though he slipped the
suspected doubloon into the bag again, in a manner
that at once removed the object of contention from
view. “A little particularity in the balance
part of commerce serves to maintain friendships.
But a trifle shall not cause us to waste the precious
time. Hast brought goods suited to the colonies?”
“In plenty.”
“And ingeniously assorted?
Colonies and monopoly! But there is a two-fold
satisfaction in this clandestine traffic! I never
get the notice of thy arrival, Master Seadrift, but
the heart within me leapeth of gladness! There
is a double pleasure in circumventing the legislation
of your London wiseacres!”
“The chiefest of which is ?”
“A goodly return for the investment,
truly I desire not to deny the agency of
natural causes; but, trust me, there is a sort of professional
glory in thus defeating the selfishness of our rulers.
What! are we born of woman, to be used as the instruments
of their prosperity! Give us equal legislation,
a right to decide on the policy of enactments, and
then, like a loyal and obedient subject, ”
“Thou wouldst still deal in the contraband!”
“Well, well, multiplying idle
words is not multiplying gold. The list of the
articles introduced can be forthcoming?”
“It is here, and ready to be
examined. But there is a fancy come over me,
Alderman Van Beverout, which, like others of my caprices,
thou knowest must have its way. There should
be a witness to our bargain.”
“Judges and juries! Thou
forgettest, man, that a clumsy galliot could sail
through the tightest clause, of these extra-legal compacts.
The courts receive the evidence of this sort of traffic,
as the grave receives the dead; to swallow all, and
be forgotten.”
“I care not for the courts,
and little desire do I feel to enter them. But
the presence of la belle Barberie may serve to prevent
any misconceptions, that might bring our connexion
to a premature close. Let her be summoned.”
“The girl is altogether ignorant
of traffic, and it might unsettle her opinions of
her uncle’s stability. If a man does not
maintain credit within his own doors, how can he expect
it in the streets?”
“Many have credit on the highway,
who receive none at home. But thou knowest my
humor; no niece no traffic.”
“Alida is a dutiful and affectionate
child, and I would not willingly disturb her slumbers.
Here is the Patroon of Kinderhook, a man who loves
English legislation as little as myself; he
will be less reluctant to see an honest shilling turned
into gold. I will awake him: no man was ever
yet offended at an offer to share in a profitable
adventure.”
“Let him sleep on. I deal
not with your lords of manors and mortgages.
Bring forth the lady, for there will be matter fit
for her delicacy.”
“Duty and the ten commandments!
You never had the charge of a child, Master Seadrift,
and cannot know the weight of responsibility ”
“No niece no traffic!”
interrupted the wilful dealer in contraband, returning
his invoice to his pocket, and preparing to rise from
the table, where he had already seated himself. “The
lady knows of my presence; and it were safer for us
both, that she entered more deeply into our confidence.”
“Thou art as despotic as the
English navigation-law! I hear the foot of the
child still pacing her chamber, and she shall come.
But there need be no explanations, to recall old intercourse. The
affair can pass as a bit of accidental speculation a
by-play, in the traffic of life.”
“As thou pleasest. I shall
deal less in words than in business. Keep thine
own secrets, burgher, and they are safe. Still,
I would have the lady, for there is a presentiment
that our connexion is in danger.”
“I like not that word presentiment,”
grumbled the Alderman, taking a light, and snuffing
it with deliberate care; “drop but a single letter,
and one dreams of the pains and penalties of the Exchequer. Remember
thou art a trafficker, who conceals his appearance
on account of the cleverness of his speculations.”
“That is my calling, to the
letter. Were all others as clever, the trade
would certainly cease. Go, bring the lady.”
The Alderman, who probably saw the
necessity of making some explanation to his niece,
and who, it would seem, fully understood the positive
character of his companion, no longer hesitated; but,
first casting a suspicious glance out of the still
open window he left the room.