The next day the business of the jewels was finished, and so favorably for us that we were made quite independent in point of means. My mother insisted on Simon's retaining at least half of the package of gold he had brought away with him, and which he had never broken in upon in his greatest needs, and Jeanne was soon neatly dressed in English mourning. In a few days, we embarked with all our goods, which indeed were not burdensome by reason of quantity, in a ship going to Plymouth. We had a short and prosperous voyage, and after resting a day or two in Plymouth, we took horse for the far more toilsome journey into Cornwall. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XI. TRE MADOC. IT was a toilsome journey. Andrew had taken great pains to provide easy horses for us, and we carried some comforts in the way of provisions, biscuits, gingerbread, two or three flasks of wine, and small packages of coffee, and one of the new Chinese drink called tea, which had just begun to come in fashion, and which has now become quite common, even in tradesmen's families. For this, as for many other kindnesses, we were indebted to Mr. Pepys and his good little wife. We did not travel very rapidly, the roads being bad, even at this time of the year, and such as in many places forbade our travelling otherwise than in single file. The weather was charming—that was one comfort—and the air as delicious as any I ever breathed in my life. As we crossed the high moors, we saw abundance of those old heathen monuments which abound in Normandy, and still more in Brittany, and once we passed one almost exactly like that above our orchard, where my father and I had our memorable conversation. We stopped for rest and refreshment in little country towns, and sometimes at lonely inns standing by themselves, such as would not have been considered very safe abiding-places in France, and where we should have been at a loss to make ourselves understood but for Andrew and the sailor whom he had taken along from Plymouth. The Cornish tongue, which is now fallen greatly into disuse, was at that time generally spoken among the common people. I picked up a good deal of it afterward, but at that time it was all heathen Greek to me, though my mother could speak it a little. I must needs say that, though we must have appeared as outlandish to them as they did to us, the good folks were most kind to us, especially when they had heard something of our story. They would express their sympathy by sighs and tears, and by bringing out to us the best that they had; and the men would often leave their work and walk miles beside us to guide us on our way.