that one has for those whom one has helped. And she helped him
also, for by her talk of the world and of what she had seen, she
took his mind away from the Sussex country-side and prepared it for
a broader life beyond. So matters stood between them at the time
when peace was made and my father came home from the sea.



CHAPTER IV--THE PEACE OF AMIENS



Many a woman's knee was on the ground, and many a woman's soul spent
itself in joy and thankfulness when the news came with the fall of
the leaf in 1801 that the preliminaries of peace had been settled.
All England waved her gladness by day and twinkled it by night.
Even in little Friar's Oak we had our flags flying bravely, and a
candle in every window, with a big G.R. guttering in the wind over
the door of the inn. Folk were weary of the war, for we had been at
it for eight years, taking Holland, and Spain, and France each in
turn and all together. All that we had learned during that time was
that our little army was no match for the French on land, and that
our large navy was more than a match for them upon the water. We
had gained some credit, which we were sorely in need of after the
American business; and a few Colonies, which were welcome also for
the same reason; but our debt had gone on rising and our consols
sinking, until even Pitt stood aghast. Still, if we had known that
there never could be peace between Napoleon and ourselves, and that
this was only the end of a round and not of the battle, we should
have been better advised had we fought it out without a break. As