swore that she had hardly spoken to me for the last two months and
that she had given me nothing; which in a way was true enough, for she
had not handed them to me herself. The prisoners bore her out about
her not coming near me, for it had been noticed that she was not as
friendly as she had been. Some had thought her ungrateful, while
others had fancied that she was angry at my interfering and making a
tumult about the child. Anyhow, whatever suspicions they might have
had they could prove nothing. They forbade her entering the prison in
future; but she didn't mind that so long as her husband, who had been
employed a good many years there, did not lose his situation. He had
been kept by her in entire ignorance of the whole affair, and was very
indignant at her having been suspected. I sent her a letter of thanks
by her brother, and a little present for her and one for the child.
The brother was to give them to her as if from himself, so that the
husband should not smell a rat, but of course to make her understand
who they came from."

"Well, I only hope, Jacques," Ralph said, "that when I get shut up in
one of your prisons I shall find some French woman to aid me to
escape, just as you found an English woman to help you; only I hope it
won't be four years coming about."

"I think we look sharper after our prisoners than you do; still it may
be. But it will be some time before you are in prison; and if you play
your cards well and learn to speak our language, and make yourself
useful, I do not think the captain is likely to hand you over to the
authorities when we get back to a French port again."

"I am quite ready to do my best to learn the language and to make
myself useful," Ralph said. "It is always a good thing to know French,