human
How long is it now, Mr. Portlack, since I was stolen from my father's house?
gpt
This is the sixth day of your absence.
human
What will my father and mother think? They can not have been able to _do_ anything. That will be the hardest part to my father. They will have no idea into what part of the world I was to be carried. Will they even know that this vessel was lying off the coast to receive me?
gpt
Oh, yes, said I,
human
Would there be any papers, any letters, do you think, said she,
gpt
I do not know. Most probably not.
human
What a wanton act of wickedness! What unnecessary, barbarous cruelty! she exclaimed.
gpt
Had I been driven mad, it would not have been strange. We had just arrived from a ball, when my father cried out that there was a crowd of men outside. He told me to run upstairs. I can not imagine that he suspected the errand on which they had come. I believed that the men had arrived to plunder the house: it is situated on a lonely part of the coast. I went into a room, and almost at that moment I heard the report of a gun. The house is an old-fashioned building, the walls very thick. I was so far away from the hall that no sound reached me, but in a short time I heard foot-steps, and the noise of doors violently opened, and the voices of men exclaiming in Spanish. The door of my room was tried; I had turned the key, but the lock was an old one. The two Spaniards put their shoulders against the door, and it flew open; then I recollect a few moments of struggling and shrieking, and nothing more.
human
Did you never fear that Don Christoval would one day or night attempt to carry you off?
gpt
Never,
human
He evidently kept himself acquainted with your movements.
gpt
Yes, she answered;
human
He told me that. Who was the spy he employed, I wonder?
gpt
No member of our household, I am sure. What sort of person is Don Lazarillo de Tormes?
human
You may take it, Miss Noble, said I,
gpt
That must have been so, she answered;
human
Don Christoval is poor.
gpt
Had he any property in Cuba?
human
I believe not,
gpt
Forgive me for being inquisitive. Was--I mean, is the man in any way related to you?
human
He is. He is a distant connection on my father's side. His father was a Spaniard, and, I have always understood, of noble blood. Don Christoval was in England, and called upon us when we were in London. We afterward met him in Paris. My father disliked him, and it came to his forbidding him from holding any communication with us. He then challenged my brother to a duel, and, unknown to my father and mother, my brother attended with a friend, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy; but Don Christoval did not appear. That is entirely all that I can tell you about the man, Mr. Portlack.
gpt
I felt, said I,
human
He only wanted my money.