When de Lussan heard the lady’s scheme, he was as much surprised by her businesslike ability as he had been by the declaration of her affection for him.  She knew very well that he could not marry her and take her with him.  Moreover, she did not wish to go.  She had no fancy for such wild expeditions and such savage companions.  Her plans were for peace and comfort and a happy domestic life.  In a word, she desired that the handsome de Lussan should remain with her.

Of course the gentleman opened his eyes very wide when he heard this, but she had a great deal to say upon the subject, and she had not omitted any of the details which would be necessary for the success of her scheme.

The lady knew just as well as the buccaneer captain knew that the men under his command would not allow him to remain comfortably in that town with his share of the plunder, while they went on without a leader to undergo all sorts of hardships and dangers, perhaps defeat and death.  If he announced his intention of withdrawing from the band, his enraged companions would probably kill him.  Consequently a friendly separation between himself and his buccaneer followers was a thing not to be thought of, and she did not even propose it.

Her idea was a very different one.  Just as soon as possible, that very night, de Lussan was to slip quietly out of the town, and make his way into the surrounding country.  She would furnish him with a horse, and tell him the way he should take, and he was not to stop until he had reached a secluded spot, where she was quite sure the buccaneers would not be able to find him, no matter how diligently they might search.  When they had entirely failed in every effort to discover their lost captain, who they would probably suppose had been killed by wandering Indians,—­for it was impossible that he could have been murdered in the town without their knowledge,—­they would give him up as lost and press on in search of further adventures.

When the buccaneers were far away, and all danger from their return had entirely passed, then the brave and polite Frenchman, now no longer a buccaneer, could safely return to the town, where the young widow would be most happy to marry him, to lodge him in her handsome house, and to make over to him all the large fortune and estates which had been the property of her late husband.

This was a very attractive offer surely, a beautiful woman, and a handsome fortune.  But she offered more than this.  She knew that a gentleman who had once captured and despoiled the town might feel a little delicacy in regard to marrying and settling there and becoming one of its citizens, and therefore she was prepared to remove any objections which might be occasioned by such considerate sentiments on his part.