"But there is no sugar plantation here," said Lucilla, very demurely.
"Oh, no," said Ichabod, "oh, no, of course not; but you are here, and I wanted to find you; a sugar plantation would be of no use without you."
She looked at him, still very demurely. "I don't quite understand you," she said. She turned her head a little and saw that her family and Dickory were slowly moving towards the house. She knew that with diffident persons no time should be lost, for, if interrupted, it often happened that they did not begin again.
"Then I suppose," she said, her face turned up towards him, but her eyes cast down, "that you are going to say that you would like to marry me?"
"Of course, of course," exclaimed Ichabod; "I thought you knew that that is what I came here for, bedad."
"Very well, then," said Lucilla, turning her eyes to the face of the man she had dreamed of in many happy nights. "No, no," she added quickly, "you must not kiss me; they are all coming, and there are the two boatmen."
He did not kiss her, but later he made up for the omission.
The moment Mrs. Mander saw Captain Ichabod and her daughter standing together she knew exactly what had happened; she had noticed things on board the Belinda. She hurried up to Lucilla and drew her aside.
"My dear," she whispered, with a frightened face, "you cannot marry a pirate; you never, never can!"
"Dear mother," said Lucilla, "he is not a pirate; he has sold his ship and is going to be a sugar-planter."
Now they all came up and heard these words of Lucilla.
"Yes, indeed," said Captain Ichabod, "you may not suppose it, but your daughter and I are about to marry, and will plant sugar together. Now, I want to buy a plantation. Where is that young man who was born here, bedad?"
Dickory advanced, laughing. Here was a fine opportunity, a miraculous opportunity, of disposing of the Bonnet estate, which was part of the business which had brought him here. So he told the beaming captain that he knew of a fine plantation up the river, which he thought would suit him.
"Very good," said Captain Ichabod. "I have a boat here; let us go and look at the place, and if it suits us I will buy it, bedad."