“Yes, my dear,” he continued, “I must crush out that piratical crew, for such is my duty as well as my wish, but your father I shall take under my protection; so have no fear about him, I beg you.  With his ship and his gang of scoundrels taken away from him, he can no longer be a pirate, and you and I will determine what we shall do with him.”

“You mean,” said Kate, speaking slowly, “that for my sake you will shield my father from the punishment which will be dealt out to his companions?”

He smiled, and his face beamed upon her.  “What blessed words,” he exclaimed.  “Yes, for your sake, for your sweet, dear sake I will do anything; and as for this matter, I assure you there are so many ways—­”

“You mean,” she interrupted, “that for my sake you will break your oath of office, that you will be a traitor to your service and your king?  That for my sake you will favour the fortunes of a pirate whom you are sent out to destroy?  Mean it if you please, but you will not do it.  I love my father, and would fain do anything to save him and myself from this great calamity, but I tell you, sir, that for my sake no man shall do himself dishonour!”

Without power to say another word, nor to keep back for another second the anguish which raged within her, she fled like a bird and was gone.

The captain stretched out his arms as if he would seize her; he rushed to the door through which she had passed, but she was gone.  He followed her, shouting to the startled servants who came; he swore, and demanded to see their mistress; he rushed through rooms and corridors, and even made as if he would mount the stairs.  Presently a woman came to him, and told him that under no circumstances could Mistress Bonnet now be seen.

But he would not leave the house.  He called for writing materials, but in an instant threw down the pen.  Again he called a servant and sent a message, which was of no avail.  Dame Charter would have gone down to him, but Kate was in her arms.  For several minutes the furious officer stood by the chair in which Kate had been sitting; he could not comprehend the fact that this girl had discarded and had scorned him.  And yet her scorn had not in the least dampened the violence of his love.  As she stood and spoke her last bitter words, the grandeur of her beauty had made him speechless to defend himself.

He seized his hat and rushed from the house; hot, and with blazing eyes, he appeared in the counting-room of Mr. Delaplaine, and there, to that astounded merchant, he told, with brutal cruelty, of his orders to destroy the pirate Bonnet, his niece’s father; and then he related the details of his interview with that niece herself.

Mr. Delaplaine’s countenance, at first shocked and pained, grew gradually sterner and colder.  Presently he spoke.  “I will hear no more such words, Captain Vince,” he said, “regarding the members of my family.  You say my niece knows not what fortune she trifles with; I think she does.  And when she told you she would not accept the offer of your dishonour, I commend her every word.”