Jack took an especial interest in the unfortunate man whose life he had
saved on board the galley. From his manners and language he guessed at
once that he was a gentleman, although his hair was long and matted, and
his countenance had that sickly hue which long confinement and hard
labour had given to it. He visited him in his hammock, where he lay
alongside other wounded men. The stranger recognised him at once.
"Ah, my brave friend," he said, "this is indeed kind in you, to come and
see me! I know not whether my days on earth are already numbered, but
as long as I remain here, my heart will never cease to beat with
gratitude to you!"
Jack replied that he should have done the same for any human being, but
that he was very thankful he had been of service in saving the life of
one who appeared to be a gentleman and a man of feeling; especially one
who had gone through so many hardships as he had.
"Ah, indeed I have!" he answered. "Because I loved Protestant truth,
and desired to worship God according to the dictates of my conscience, I
was cruelly deprived of my property, and my wife and child snatched from
me--while I was carried off, and after undergoing numberless hardships,
was sent on board a galley, associated with many of the greatest
villains and most hardened wretches in the country! I was not entirely
alone with them, however, for many other Huguenots were suffering with
me, and we were thus enabled to support and console each other. But,
alas! I might have borne the loss of my liberty, and my property, and
the sufferings and hardships I had to go through, but I could not bear
the thought of being separated from my beloved wife and our sweet
daughter, and never being able to gain tidings of them. Even now I know
not whether they escaped from France, or whether they suffered as did
many who were attempting to fly from the country. Sometimes I fancy
that they are alive, but whether the child and mother are still together
I know not, or whether they have been separated by our cruel enemies.
The fate of our little girl often presses heavily on me. I think
sometimes she may have been seized by the Romanists and brought up in
their faith, as have many children who have been taken from Huguenots."
Jack did his best to console his new friend, and assured him, as he had
done before, that he would be kindly treated in England, and that
perhaps his Protestant countrymen could give him some tidings of his
wife.
"My only hope is that she may have returned to Holland," he said, "to
which country she belonged, though she had resided many years in France.
It was also my father's country, but by right of my mother I inherited
a property in France--though little did I think at the time when I went
to take possession of it, that it would have cost me all the suffering I
have endured! As I had become a naturalised Frenchman, so as a
Frenchman I was treated; but I love the country of my ancestors and my
wife's country, and would gladly return to that. Indeed, could I effect
my escape, I would do so, as I have some property there which the French
have not been able to take from me."
Jack listened with great interest to this account.
"I was acquainted a few years ago with an English merchant at Norwich,
one Mr Gournay, who has been very kind to the Huguenots; and as he has
correspondents in all parts of the country, and throughout Holland also,
and many other places on the Continent, if you will tell me your name,
and describe your wife and child, I will write to him, and I have no
doubt that he will make inquiries in that direction for you," he said.
"Thank you, thank you, my kind friend!" said the wounded man. "Your
promise gives me hopes which I dared not before entertain. My name is
De Mertens. My dear wife was tall and graceful, and noted for her
beauty, and our little girl was called Elise, or, as you would call her
in England, Elizabeth."
"This is indeed very strange!" exclaimed Jack; "for I met a lady at the
house of the very gentleman I spoke of--Mr Gournay--who told me that
her name was De Mertens, and that her husband had been carried off to
the galleys, while, I grieve to tell you, for it will pain you much to
hear it, the little girl had been snatched away from her just as she was
embarking, and since then she has been unable to gather any tidings of
her. She begged me to make inquiries, which I did as far as I was able,
but circumstances compelled me to leave the country soon afterwards, and
I was not able to gather any clue to her lost child."
"My wife still alive! and under the charge of kind friends!" exclaimed
the wounded man, sitting up. "This is indeed joyful news! though alas
that it should not be without its alloy! Yet the kind Providence which
has preserved my wife, may have preserved our child to be restored to
us. But what do I see, young man?" he exclaimed, seizing Jack's hand.
"Let me look at that ring on your finger. It is strange that it should
be there. Did my wife give it you?"
"No," replied Jack, somewhat astonished; "I did not receive it till some
time after I last saw Madame de Mertens. It was given to me by a young
girl, the daughter of a farmer and his wife, at whose house I was
residing for some time. She was a sweet, dear little girl; and when I
came away she told me that she had nothing else to give, and she
insisted on placing that ring on my finger. She said she had worn it
round her own neck since she was a child, and though she valued it
greatly, she should be unhappy if I would not take it. Directly after I
received it I purposed restoring it to her, as I did not think it right
to deprive her of it, but was unable again to return to the farm before
I came away to sea."
"This is indeed wonderful!" exclaimed Monsieur de Mertens. "Oh, let me
entreat you to describe the little girl to me!"
Jack did so, and did not draw an unfavourable picture.
"The description is indeed like what I should suppose my sweet little
girl to be by this time. Fair, with bright blue eyes, light hair, and
gentle, winning manners; but you tell me that she was the daughter of a
farmer and his wife?"
"For such she always passed," answered Jack; "but often I thought so
rough a man as the farmer could not have so sweet and gentle a child;
and from what I have since heard, I am inclined to believe that she was
not really their child."
"Oh, no, no, I am sure she was not!" exclaimed Monsieur de Mertens,
clasping his hands. "She must be my own dear little daughter! Oh, what
joy and happiness it will be to see her again with her dear mother."
"If I can possibly get leave when we go into port, I will promise to
accompany you to Norwich, where you will, I trust, find Madame de
Mertens; and after that we will pay a visit to the fens and ascertain if
little Elizabeth Pearson is really or not your child," said Deane.
"Thank you, thank you!" answered De Mertens. "But let me look at that
ring again. I cannot be mistaken about it!"
Jack took off the ring, which De Mertens eagerly examined.
"Yes, yes!" he exclaimed; "it is one I myself gave her mother, telling
her that it was an heirloom, and that she should bestow it upon her
daughter. I doubt not that she fastened it round her neck before she
fled from home, that should she and the child be separated, she might
again recognise her by it. And you say the little girl you met was
called Elizabeth? That would be the name of my dear child in English,
and as she could speak quite clearly at the time of our separation, she
would certainly have told those into whose hands she fell her Christian
name, though it is possible that she might not have known the name of
her parents."
As may be supposed, after this interesting conversation, Jack and
Monsieur de Mertens constantly discussed the subject as they sailed up
the Channel. At length the Isle of Wight hove in sight. Each
well-known point and headland, village and town, was welcomed, as the
frigate ran round the back of that lovely island, and at length anchored
at Spithead.