England
"Go below, mesdemoiselles," the captain of the lugger said as soon
as they had put foot on the deck. "If anyone on the shore were to
see us as we ran down, and notice women on deck, he would think it
strange. At anyrate it's best to be on the safe side."
So saying he led the way to his cabin below.
"It is a rough place, mesdemoiselles," he said, removing his cap,
"but it is better than the prisons at Nantes. I am sorry to say
that when we get down near the forts I shall have to ask you to
hide down below the casks. I heard last night that in future every
boat going out of the river, even if it is only a fishing-boat,
is to be searched. But you needn't be afraid; we have constructed
a hiding-place, where they will never find you unless they unloaded
the whole lugger, and that there is no chance of their doing."
"We do not mind where we hide, captain," Jeanne said. "We have been
hiding for the last six months, and we are indeed grateful to you
for having consented to take us with you."
"I hope that you will not be the last that the Trois Freres will
carry across," the captain said. "Whatever be the risk, in future
I will take any fugitives who wish to escape to England. At first
I was against the government, for I thought the people were taxed
too heavily, and that if we did away with the nobles things would
be better for those who work for their living, but I never bargained
for bloodshed and murder, and that affair I saw yesterday has
sickened me altogether; and fond as I am of the Trois Freres, I
would myself bore holes in her and sink her if I had Carrier and
the whole of his murderous gang securely fastened below hatches.
This cabin is at your disposal, mesdemoiselles, during the voyage,
and I trust you will make yourselves as comfortable as you can.
Ah, here is the boy with coffee. Now, if you will permit me, I will
go on deck and look after her course."
In the meantime Harry was chatting with Adolphe, who introduced
him to the crew, whom he had already told of the services Jeanne
had rendered, and as several of them lived in the same street they
too had heard from their wives of the young woman who lodged with
Mere Leflo, and had done so much for those who were suffering. He
was therefore cordially received by the sailors, to each of whom
the captain had already promised double pay for the voyage if they
got through safely.
"You will remember," Adolphe said, "that you are Andre Leboeuf.
Andre had to make a cold swim of it this morning, for there was the
commissary on the wharf when we started, and he had the captain's
list of the crew, and saw that each man was on board and searched
high and low to see that there was no one else. So Andre, instead
of slipping off home again, had to go with us. When we were out of
sight of the town the captain steered as near the bank as he could
and Andre jumped over and swam ashore. It is all the better as it
has turned out, because the commissary signed the list of the crew
and put a seal to it."
In four hours the Trois Freres was approaching the forts at the
mouth of the river, and the captain came down to the cabin, in
which Harry was chatting with the two girls.
"Now, mesdemoiselles," he said, "it is time for you to go to your
hiding-place, for it will take us nearly half an hour to close it
up again. As soon as the Reds have left us we will let you out."
The hatch was lifted and they descended into the hold of the
vessel, which was full of kegs to within three feet of the deck.
The captain carried a lantern.
"Please follow me, mesdemoiselles, you must crawl along here."
The girls followed him until they were close to the bulkhead dividing
the hold from the forecastle. Two feet from this there was a vacant
space.
"Now, mesdemoiselles, if you will give me your hands I will lower
you down here. Do not be afraid--your feet will touch the bottom;
and I have had some hay put there for you to sit upon. Adolphe,
you had better go down first with that lantern of yours to receive
them."
The girls were lowered down and found themselves in a space of five
feet long and two feet wide. One side was formed by the bulkhead,
on the other there were kegs. Four feet from the bottom a beam of
wood had been nailed against the bulkhead. The captain now handed
down to Adolphe some short beams; these he fixed with one end
resting on the beam, the other in a space between the kegs.
"This is to form the roof, mesdemoiselles," he said. "I am going
up now, and then we shall place three tiers of kegs on these beams,
which will fill it up level with the rest above. I think you will
have plenty of air, for it can get down between the casks, and the
captain will leave the hatchway open. Are you comfortable?"
"Quite," Jeanne said firmly, but Virginie did not answer; the
thought of being shut up down there in the dark was terrible to
her. However, the warm, steady pressure of Jeanne's hand reassured
her, and she kept her fears to herself. The kegs were lowered into
their places, and all was made smooth just as one of the men called
down the hatchway to the captain:
"There is a gunboat coming out from the port, captain."
After a last look round the captain sprang on to the deck and
ordered the sails to be lowered, and in a few minutes the gunboat
ran alongside.
"Show me your papers," an officer said as he leaped on board followed
by half a dozen sailors. The captain went down into his cabin and
brought up the papers.
"That is all right," the officer said glancing at them; "now, where
is the list of your crew?"
"This is it," the captain said taking it from his pocket; "a
commissary at Nantes went through them on starting and placed his
seal to it, as you see."
"Form the men up, and let them answer to their names," the officer
said. The men formed in line and the officer read out the names;
Harry answering for Andre Leboeuf. "That is all right, so far,"
the officer said. "Now, sir, I must, according to my orders, search
your vessel to see that no one is concealed there."
"By all means," the captain said, "you will find the Trois Freres
carries nothing contraband except her cargo. I have already taken
off the hatch, as you see, in order to save time."
The forecastles and cabin were first searched closely. Several of
the sailors then descended into the hold. Two lanterns were handed
down to them.
"It looks all clear, sir," one of the sailors said to their officer.
The latter leaped down on to the kegs and looked round.
"Yes, it looks all right, but you had better shift some of the kegs
and see that all is solid."
Some of the kegs were moved from their position, and in a few places
some of the second tier were also lifted. The officer himself
superintended the search.
"I think I can let you go on now, Captain Grignaud," he said.
"Your men can stow the cargo again. A good voyage to you, and may
you meet with no English cruisers by the way."
The captain at once gave orders for the sails to be run up again,
and by the time the officer and his men had climbed over the bulwarks
into the gunboat the Trois Freres had already way upon her. The
captain then gave the order for the men to go below and stow the
casks again. Adolphe and Harry were the first to leap down, and
before the vessels were two hundred yards apart they had removed
the two uppermost tiers of kegs next to the bulkhead, and were able
to speak to the girls.
"Are you all right down there, Jeanne?" Harry asked.
"Yes, quite right, Harry, though the air is rather close. Virginie
has fainted; she was frightened when she heard them moving the
kegs just over our heads; but she will come round as soon as you
get her on deck."
The last tier was removed, and Harry lowered himself into the hold;
he and Jeanne raised Virginie until Adolphe and one of the other
sailors could reach her. Jeanne was lifted on to the cross beams,
and was soon beside her sister, and Harry quickly clambered up.
"They must not come on deck yet," the captain said, speaking down
the hatchway. "We are too close to the gunboat, and from the forts
with their glasses they can see what is passing on our deck. Don't
replace the kegs over the hole again, Adolphe; we may be overhauled
again, and had better leave it open in case of emergencies."
Virginie was carried under the open hatchway; some water was handed
down to Jeanne, who sprinkled it on her face, and this with the
fresh air speedily brought her round. When the lugger was a mile
below the forts, the captain said that they could now safely come
up, and they were soon in possession of the cabin again. Before
evening the lugger was out of sight of land. The wind was blowing
freshly, and she raced along leaving a broad track of foam behind
her. The captain and crew were in high spirits at having succeeded
in carrying off the fugitives from under the noses of their enemies,
and at the progress the lugger was making.
"We shall not be far from the coast of England by to-morrow night,"
the captain said to Harry, "that is if we have the luck to avoid
meeting any of the English cruisers. We don't care much for the
revenue cutters, for there is not one of them that can overhaul
the Trois Freres in a wind like this. They have all had more than
one try, but we can laugh at them; but it would be a different
thing if we fell in with one of the Channel cruisers; in a light
wind we could keep away from them too, but with a brisk wind like
this we should have no chance with them; they carry too much sail
for us. There is the boy carrying in the supper to your sisters;
with their permission, you and I will sup with them."
The captain sent in a polite message to the girls, and on the
receipt of the answer that they would be very pleased to have the
captain's company, he and Harry went down. The meal was an excellent
one, but the girls ate but little, for they were both beginning to
feel the effects of the motion of the vessel, for they had, when
once fairly at sea, kept on deck. The captain perceiving that they
ate but little proposed to Harry that coffee should be served on
deck, so that the ladies might at once lie down for the night.
"Now, captain," Harry said as the skipper lit his pipe, "I daresay
you would like to hear how we came to be fugitives on board your
ship."
"If you have no obligation to tell me, I should indeed," the captain
replied; "I have been wondering all day how you young people escaped
the search for suspects so long, and how you came to be at Nantes,
where, as Adolphe tells me, your sister was an angel among the poor,
and that you yourself were a member of the Revolutionary Committee;
that seemed to me the most extraordinary of all, but I wouldn't
ask any questions until you yourself volunteered to enlighten me."
Harry thereupon related the whole story of their adventures,
concealing only the fact that the girls were not his sisters; as
it was less awkward for Jeanne that this relationship should be
supposed to exist.
"Sapriste, your adventures have been marvellous, monsieur, and I
congratulate you heartily. You have a rare head and courage, and
yet you cannot be above twenty."
"I am just nineteen," Harry replied.
"Just nineteen, and you succeeded in getting your friend safely
out of that mob of scoundrels in the Abbaye, got your elder sister
out of La Force, you fooled Robespierre and the Revolutionists
in Nantes, and you carried those two girls safely through France,
rescued them from the white lugger, and got them on board the Trois
Freres! It sounds like a miracle."
"The getting them on board the Trois Freres was, you must remember,
my sister's work. I had failed and was in despair. Suspicions were
already aroused, and we should assuredly have been arrested if it
had not been that she had won the heart of Adolphe's wife by nursing
her child in its illness."
"That is so," the captain agreed; "and they must have good courage
too that they didn't betray themselves all that time. And now I
tell you what I will do, monsieur. If you will write a letter to
your sister in Paris, saying that you and the other two have reached
England in safety, I will when I return send it by sure hand to
Paris. To make all safe you had better send it to the people she
is staying with, and word it so that no one will understand it if
they were to read it. Say, for example:
"'My dear Sister, You will be glad to hear that the consignment of
lace has been safely landed in England,' Then you can go on saying
that 'your mother is better, and that you expect to be married
soon, as you have made a good profit out of the lace,' and so on;
and just sign your name--'Your brother Henri.'
"I can trust the man who will deliver it in Paris, but it is just
as well always to be on the safe side. If your letter is opened and
read, anyone will suppose that it is written by a sailor belonging
to one of the Nantes luggers."
Harry thanked the captain warmly for the offer, and said that the
letter would indeed be an immense comfort to his sister and friend.
"I will tell the man that he is to ask if there is any answer," the
captain said. "And if your sister is as sharp as you are she will
write the same sort of letter, and I will bring it across with me
to England the first voyage I make after I get it."
Harry slept down in the forecastle with the crew, the captain
keeping on deck all night. He was awoke by an order shouted down
the forecastle for all hands to come on deck; and hurrying up with
the rest found that the sun had just risen. The day was beautifully
fine, and to Harry's surprise he found that those on deck had
already lowered the great lugsails.
"What is it, captain?" he asked.
"There is a sail there I don't like," the captain said. "If I am
not mistaken that is an English frigate."
There were several sails in sight, but the one to which the captain
pointed was crossing ahead of the lugger. Her hull could not be
seen, and indeed from the deck only her topsails and royals were
visible above the water.
"I hope she will not see us," the captain said. "We are low in the
water, and these stump masts could not be seen at that distance
even by a look-out at the mast-head.
"We are already somewhat astern of her, and every minute will take
her further away. If she does not see us in a quarter of an hour,
we shall be safe. If she does, there is nothing for it but to run
back towards the French coast. We should have such a long start
that with this wind she would never catch us. But she may fire her
guns and bring another cruiser down upon us and cut us off. There
are a dozen of them watching on different parts of the coast."
Harry kept his eye anxiously upon the ship, but she sailed steadily
on; and in half an hour the sails were again hoisted and the Trois
Freres proceeded on her way. She passed comparatively near several
merchantmen, but these paid no attention to her. She was too small
for a privateer, and her object and destination were easily guessed
at. The girls soon came on deck, and the captain had some cushions
placed for them under shelter of the bulwark; for although the sun
was shining brightly the wind was keen and piercing.
"Are we beyond danger?" was Virginie's first question as Harry took
his seat by her.
"Beyond all danger of being overtaken--that is to say, beyond all
danger of meeting a French vessel-of-war. They very seldom venture
to show themselves many miles from port, except, of course, as a
fleet; for single vessels would soon get picked up by our cruisers.
Yes, I think we are quite out of danger. There is only one chance
against us."
"And what is that, Harry?" Jeanne asked.
"It is not a serious one," Harry replied; "it is only that we may
be chased by English revenue cutters and forced to run off from the
English coast again. But even then we should soon return. Besides,
I have no doubt the captain would let us have a boat, so that we
could be picked up by the cutter in pursuit of us."
"I don't think that would be a good plan," Jeanne said; "because
they might not stop to pick us up, and then we might have a long
way to reach the shore. No, I think it will be better to stay on
board, Harry; for, as you say, if she does have to run away for a
time, she is sure to come back again to unload her cargo. But of
course do whatever you think best."
"I think your view is the best, Jeanne. However, I hope the
opportunity will not occur, and that the Trois Freres will run her
cargo without interference. The captain tells me he is making for
a point on the Dorsetshire coast, and that he is expected. Of course
he could not say the exact day he would be here. But he told them
the day on which, if he could get his cargo on board, he should
sail, and they will be looking out for him."
Before sunset the English coast was visible.
"We could not have timed it better," the captain said. "It will be
getting dark before they can make us out even from the cliffs."
Every sail was now scrutinized by the captain through his glass,
but he saw nothing that looked suspicious. At nine o'clock in the
evening the lugger was within three miles of the coast.
"Get ready the signal lanterns," the captain ordered. And a few
minutes later three lanterns were hoisted, one above the other.
Almost immediately two lights were shown in a line on top of the
cliff.
"There is our answer," the captain said. "There is nothing to be
done to-night. That means 'The revenue men are on the look-out;
come back to-morrow night."'
"But they are always on the look-out, are they not?" Harry asked.
"Yes," the captain said; "but when our friends on shore know we are
coming they try to throw them off the scent. It will be whispered
about to-morrow that a run is likely to be made ten miles along
the coast, and they will take care that this comes to the ears of
the revenue officer. Then to-morrow evening after dusk a fishing-boat
will go out and show some lights two miles off shore at the point
named, and a rocket will be sent up from the cliff. That will
convince them that the news is true, and the revenue officers will
hurry away in that direction with every man they can get together.
Then we shall run here and land our cargo. There will be plenty of
carts waiting for us, and before the revenue men are back the kegs
will be stowed safely away miles inland. Of course things go wrong
sometimes and the revenue officers are not to be fooled, but in
nine cases out of ten we manage to run our cargoes without a shot
being fired. Now I must get off shore again."
The orders were given, and the Trois Freres was soon running out
to sea. They stood far out and then lowered the sails and drifted
until late in the afternoon, when they again made sail for the
land. At ten o'clock the signal lights were again exhibited, and
this time the answer was made by one light low down by the water's
edge.
"The coast is clear," the captain said, rubbing his hands. "We'll
take her in as close as she will go, the less distance there is to
row the better."
The Trois Freres was run on until within a hundred yards of the
shore, then a light anchor was dropped. The two boats had already
been lowered and were towed alongside, and the work of transferring
the cargo at once began.
"Do you go in the first boat, monsieur, with the ladies," the
captain said. "The sooner you are ashore the better. There is no
saying whether we may not be disturbed and obliged to run out to
sea again at a moment's notice."
"Thank God!" he exclaimed, as after wading through the shallow
water he stood on the shore, while two of the sailors carried the
girls and put them beside him. "Thank God, I have got you safe on
English soil at last. I began to despair at one time."
"Thank God indeed," Jeanne said reverently; "but I never quite
despaired, Harry. It seemed to me He had protected us through so
many dangers, that He must mean that we should go safely through
them all, and yet it did seem hopeless at one time."
"We had better stand on one side, girls, or rather we had better
push on up the cliff. These people are all too busy to notice us,
and you might get knocked down; besides, the coastguard might arrive
at any moment, and then there would be a fight. So let us get well
away from them."
But they had difficulty in making their way up the cliff, for the
path was filled with men carrying up tubs or coming down for more
after placing them in the carts, which were waiting to convey them
inland. At last they got to the top. One of the carts was already
laden, and was on the point of driving off when Harry asked the man
if he could tell him of any farmhouse near, where the two ladies
who had landed with him could pass the night.
"Master's place is two miles away," the man said; "but if you like
to walk as far, he will take you in, I doubt not."
The girls at once agreed to the proposal, and in three quarters of
an hour the cart drew up at a farmhouse.
"Is it all right, Bill?" a man asked, opening the door as the cart
stopped.
"Yes, it be all right. Not one of them revenue chaps nigh the place.
Here be the load of tubs; they was the first that came ashore."
"Who have you got here?" the farmer asked as Harry came forward
with the girls.
"These are two young ladies who have crossed in the lugger," Harry
replied. "They have narrowly escaped being murdered in France by
the Revolutionists, and have gone through a terrible time. As they
have nowhere to go to-night, I thought perhaps you would kindly
let them sit by your fire till morning."
"Surely I will," the farmer said. "Get ye in, get ye in. Mistress,
here are two young French ladies who have escaped from those
bloody-minded scoundrels in Paris. I needn't tell you to do what
you can for them."
The farmer's wife at once came forward and received the girls most
kindly. They had both picked up a little English during Harry's
residence at the chateau, and feeling they were in good hands, Harry
again went out and lent his assistance to the farmer in carrying
the tubs down to a place of concealment made under the flooring of
one of the barns.
The next day the farmer drove them in his gig to a town some miles
inland. Here they procured dresses in which they could travel without
exciting attention, and took their places in the coach which passed
through the town for London next day.
That evening Harry gently broke to the girls the news of their
brothers' death, for he thought that it would otherwise come as a
terrible shock to them on their arrival at his home. Virginie was
terribly upset, and Jeanne cried for some time, then she said:
"Your news does not surprise me, Harry. I have had a feeling all
along that you knew something, but were keeping it from me. You
spoke so very seldom of them, and when you did it seemed to me that
what you said was not spoken in your natural voice. I felt sure
that had you known nothing you would have often talked to us of
meeting them in London, and of the happiness it would be. I would
not ask, because I was sure you had a good reason for not telling
us; but I was quite sure that there was something."
"I thought it better to keep it from you, Jeanne, until the danger
was all over. In the first place you had need of all your courage
and strength; in the next place it was possible that you might never
reach England, and in that case you would never have suffered the
pain of knowing anything about it."
"How thoughtful you are, Harry!" Jeanne murmured. "Oh how much
we owe you! But oh how strange and lonely we seem--everyone gone
except Marie, and we may never see her again!"
"You will see her again, never fear," Harry said confidently. "And
you will not feel lonely long, for I can promise you that before
you have been long at my mother's place you will feel like one of
the family."
"Yes; but I shall not be one of the family," Jeanne said.
"Not yet, Jeanne. But mother will look upon you as her daughter
directly I tell her that you have promised to become so in reality
some day."
Harry's reception, when with the two girls he drove up in a hackney
coach to the house at Cheyne Walk, was overwhelming, and the two
French girls were at first almost bewildered by the rush of boys
and girls who tore down the steps and threw themselves upon Harry's
neck.
"You will stifle me between you all," Harry said, after he had
responded to the embraces. "Where are father and mother?"
"Father is out, and mother is in the garden. No, there she is"--as
Mrs. Sandwith, pale and agitated, appeared at the door, having
hurried in when one of the young ones had shouted out from a back
window: "Harry has come!"
"Oh, my boy, we had given you up," she sobbed as Harry rushed into
her arms.
"I am worth a great many dead men yet, mother. But now let me
introduce to you Mesdemoiselles Jeanne and Virginie de St. Caux,
of whom I have written to you so often. They are orphans, mother,
and I have promised them that you and father will fill the place
of their parents."
"That will we willingly," Mrs. Sandwith said, turning to the girls
and kissing them with motherly kindness. "Come in, my dears, and
welcome home for the sake of my dear boy, and for that of your
parents who were so kind to him. Never mind all these wild young
people," she added, as the boys and girls pressed round to shake
hands with the new-comers. "You will get accustomed to their way
presently. Do you speak in English?"
"Enough to understand," Jeanne said; "but not enough to speak much.
Thank you, madame, for receiving us so kindly, for we are all alone
in the world."
Mrs. Sandwith saw the girl's lip quiver, and putting aside her
longing to talk to her son, said:
"Harry, do take them all out in the garden for a short time. They
are all talking at once, and this is a perfect babel."
And thus having cleared the room she sat down to talk to the two
girls, and soon made them feel at home with her by her unaffected
kindness. Dr. Sandwith soon afterwards ran out to the excited
chattering group in the garden, and after a few minutes' happy talk
with him, Harry spoke to him of the visitors who were closeted with
his mother.
"I want you to make them feel it is their home, father. They will
be no burden pecuniarily, for there are money and jewels worth a
large sum over here."
"Of course I know that," Dr. Sandwith said, "seeing that, as you
know, they were consigned to me, and the marquis wrote to ask me
to act as his agent. The money is invested in stock, and the jewels
are in the hands of my bankers. I had begun to wonder what would
become of it all, for I was by no means sure that the whole family
had not perished, as well as yourself."
"There are only the three girls left," Harry said.
"In that case they will be well off, for the marquis inclosed me a
will, saying that if anything should happen to him, and the estates
should be altogether lost, the money and proceeds of the jewels
were to be divided equally among his children. You must have gone
through a great deal, old boy. You are scarcely nineteen, and you
look two or three and twenty."
"I shall soon look young again, father, now I have got my mind
clear of anxiety. But I have had a trying time of it, I can tell
you; but it's too long a story to go into now, I will tell you all
the whole yarn this evening. I want you to go in with me now to
the girls and make them at home. All this must be just as trying
for them at present as the dangers they have gone through."
The young ones were all forbidden to follow, and after an hour
spent with his parents and the girls in the dining-room, Harry
was pleased to see that the latter were beginning to feel at their
ease, and that the strangeness was wearing off.
That evening, before the whole circle of his family, Harry related
the adventures that they had gone through, subject, however, to a
great many interruptions from Jeanne.
"But I am telling the story, not you, Jeanne," he said at last.
"Some day when you begin to talk English quite well you shall give
your version of it."
"But he is not telling it right, madame," Jeanne protested, "he
keeps all the best part back. He says about the dangers, but he says
noting about what he do himself." Then she broke into French, "No,
madame, it is not just, it is not right; I will not suffer the tale
to be told so. How can it be the true story when he says no word
of his courage, of his devotion, of the way he watched over us and
cheered us, no word of his grand heart, of the noble way he risked
his life for us, for our sister, for our parents, for all? Oh,
madame, I cannot tell you what we all owe to him;" and Jeanne, who
had risen to her feet in her earnestness, burst into passionate
tears. This put an end to the story for the evening, for Mrs.
Sandwith saw that Jeanne required rest and quiet, and took the two
girls up at once to the bed-room prepared for them. From this
Jeanne did not descend for some days. As long as the strain was
upon her she had borne herself bravely, but now that it was over
she collapsed completely.
After the young ones had all gone off to bed, Harry said to his
father and mother:
"I have another piece of news to tell you now. I am afraid you will
think it rather absurd at my age, without a profession or anything
else, but I am engaged to Jeanne. You see," he went on, as his
parents both uttered an exclamation of surprise, "we have gone
through a tremendous lot together, and when people have to look
death in the face every day it makes them older than they are; and
when, as in this case, they have to depend entirely on themselves,
it brings them very closely together. I think it might have been
so had these troubles never come on, for somehow we had taken very
much to each other, though it might have been years before anything
came of it. Her poor father and mother saw it before I knew
it myself, and upon the night before they were separated told her
elder sister and brother that, should I ever ask for Jeanne's hand,
they approved of her marrying me. But although afterwards I came
to love her with all my heart, I should never have spoken had it
not been that I did so when it seemed that in five minutes we should
neither of us be alive. If it hadn't been for that I should have
brought her home and waited till I was making my own way in life."
"I do not blame you, Harry, my boy," his father said heartily. "Of
course you are very young, and under ordinary circumstances would
not have been thinking about a wife for years to come yet; but I
can see that your Jeanne is a girl of no ordinary character, and it
is certainly for her happiness that, being here with her sister alone
among strangers, she should feel that she is at home. Personally she
is charming, and even in point of fortune you would be considered
a lucky fellow. What do you say, mother?"
"I say God bless them both!" Mrs. Sandwith said earnestly. "After
the way in which Providence has brought them together, there can
be no doubt that they were meant for each other."
"Do you know I half guessed there was something more than mere
gratitude in Jeanne's heart when she flamed out just now; did not
you, mother?"
Mrs. Sandwith nodded and smiled. "I was sure there was," she said.
"I did not say anything about it when we came in," Harry said,
"because I thought it better for Jeanne to have one quiet day, and
you know the young ones will laugh awfully at the idea of my being
engaged."
"Never you mind, Harry," his father said; "let those laugh that
win. But you are not thinking of getting married yet, I hope."
"No, no, father; you cannot think I would live on Jeanne's money."
"And you still intend to go into the army, Harry?"
"No, father; I have had enough of bloodshed for the rest of my life.
I have been thinking it over a good deal, and I have determined to
follow your example and become a doctor."
"That's right, my boy," Dr. Sandwith said heartily. "I have always
regretted you had a fancy for the army, for I used to look forward
to your becoming my right hand. Your brothers, too, do not take to
the profession, so I began to think I was going to be alone in my
old age. You have made me very happy, Harry, and your mother too,
I am sure. It will be delightful for us having you and your pretty
French wife settled by us; will it not, mother?"
"It will indeed," Mrs. Sandwith said in a tone of deep happiness.
"You are certainly overworked and need a partner terribly, and who
could be like Harry?"
"Yes, I have been thinking of taking a partner for some time, but
now I will hold on alone for another three years. By that time
Harry will have passed."
The next morning the young ones were told the news. The elder girls
were delighted at the thought of Jeanne becoming their sister, but
the boys went into fits of laughter and chaffed Harry so unmercifully
for the next day or two that it was just as well that Jeanne was
up in her room. By the time she came down they had recovered their
gravity. Mrs. Sandwith and the girls had already given her the
warmest welcome as Harry's future wife, and the boys received her
so warmly when she appeared that Jeanne soon felt that she was
indeed one of the family.
Three years later, on the day after Harry passed his final examination,
Jeanne and he were married, and set up a pretty establishment
close to Cheyne Walk, with Virginie to live with them; and Harry,
at first as his father's assistant, and very soon as his partner,
had the satisfaction of feeling that he was not wholly dependent
on Jeanne's fortune.
They had received occasional news from Marie. Victor had steadily
recovered his strength and memory, and as soon as the reign of terror
had come to an end, and the priests were able to show themselves
from their hiding-places in many an out-of-the-way village in the
country, Marie and Victor were quietly married. But France was at
war with all Europe now, and Victor, though he hated the revolution,
was a thorough Frenchman, and through some of his old friends who
had escaped the wave of destruction, he had obtained a commission,
and joined Bonaparte when he went to take the command of the army
of Italy. He had attracted his general's attention early in the
campaign by a deed of desperate valour, and was already in command
of a regiment, when, soon after Jeanne's marriage, Marie came over
to England by way of Holland to stay for a time with her sisters.
She was delighted at finding Jeanne so happy, and saw enough before she
returned to France to feel assured that before very long Virginie
would follow Jeanne's example, and would also become an Englishwoman,
for she and Harry's next brother Tom had evidently some sort of
understanding between them. It was not until many years later that
the three sisters met again, when, after the fall of Napoleon,
Jeanne and Virginie went over with their husbands and stayed for
some weeks with General De Gisons and his wife at the old chateau
near Dijon. This the general had purchased back from the persons
into whose hands it had fallen at the Revolution with the money
which he had received as his wife's dowry.