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Monsieur de Villereine had begged me to come to his house, which was situated about a mile from the town, but I felt compelled to accept Henri's invitation to accompany him and his sister to his father's house, a short distance farther off on the side of the mountain; and more so, as from his weak state, he required my assistance in getting in and out of the carriage.
Henri was lifted on deck, and then, almost by main force, I placed Monsieur de Villereine in the chair. As soon as I saw him swinging well out of the way of the boat, taking Sophie round the waist, and telling my coxswain to follow with her cousin, I sprang up the side.
Among others, there was a delicate boy called Henri de Villereine, and who, because he spoke with a foreign accent, was nicknamed Frenchy. Though a year or two my senior, he was not nearly so strong, and was ill able to defend himself against much smaller boys. He seemed a gentle, well-disposed boy, and when others, on my first going to school, had attacked me, he had always stood aloof.
Monsieur de Villereine cross-questioned him narrowly, and on his producing the coral I spoke of, any doubts he might have entertained vanished. "My dear boy," he exclaimed, embracing me, "you are indeed my long-lost son.
"This is indeed joyful news," she exclaimed, when I had told her of her niece's happy marriage with Captain Falconer; when suddenly she stopped and sighed, and the sad expression which her countenance usually wore stole over it. "Monsieur de Villereine will to-day drive you over to see his brother and his wife and daughter, and you must give them the account you have given me.
"I am not so very much hurt," he answered, in a low voice. Just then I was sure I knew the expression of his countenance; his eyes, too, glanced at my face. "Are you not Frenchy?" I asked, "My old friend Henri de Villereine?" "Yes, Charley. I thought I knew you," he answered. "Thank you, thank you, for what you have done!" His companions looked at me with surprise.
It would be wiser for you to abandon them altogether." We reached the town, and when we got there I was much inclined to go on board the ship and remain: but Monsieur de Villereine pressed me so earnestly to return, that, for the sake of Henri, I agreed to do so. As, however, I wished to go on board for a short time, he undertook to wait for me.
"One of my mates, who has acted the part of a father to me, has assured me so," I answered, "though I myself have a very indistinct recollection even of events which occurred much after that." "The ways of heaven are indeed mysterious," exclaimed Monsieur de Villereine. "At the time you mention, my second son, two years younger than Henri, while in charge of a black nurse, was lost to us.
I entreated to see Sophie, but her father replied that that would only be painful and useless; and at length the elder Monsieur de Villereine observing that his carriage was ready, I took the hint, and, feeling as if I was walking in a dream, I got into it. I felt dreadfully cast down. It seemed to me that Sophie was lost to me for ever, and I might not again have an opportunity of seeing her.
So wretched did I feel, that I was very little disposed to do this, and had I not promised to rejoin Monsieur de Villereine, I think that I should have remained on board, to get ready for sailing as fast as possible. I however told Dick that I would do as he recommended. I found Monsieur de Villereine waiting on the quay for me.
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