All you have is hers if
you stick to the marriage vow. Yes, sir, she even takes your name for
her own, and if she does not behave well with it, you have to take the
blame and the shame, whether you deserve it or not. It is a one-sided
bargain, sir."
"Not always as bad as that, Captain."
"Why, sir, your honored father, who lorded it over every man he met and
contradicted everything he didn't like, said, 'Yes, my dear,' to
whatever Mrs. Hatton desired or declared. I hed to do the same thing in
my way, and Mrs. Hatton on board this yacht was really her captain. I'm
not saying but what she was a satisfactory substitute, for she hed the
sense to always ask my advice."
"Then she acted under orders, Captain."
"To be sure. But I am Captain Lance Cook, of Whitby, a master navigator,
a fourth in direct line from Captain James Cook, who sailed three times
round the world, when that was a most uncommon thing to do. And every
time he went, he made England a present of a few islands. Captain James
Cook made his name famous among Englishmen of the sea, and I hevn't come
across the woman yet I considered worthy to share it.
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