The Chevalier's daughter : $b or, An exile for the truthGuernsey, Lucy Ellen
History
The Chevalier's daughter : $b or, An exile for the truth
Guernsey, Lucy Ellen
France -- History -- Louis XIV, 1643-1715 -- Juvenile fiction; Historical fiction; Huguenots -- France -- Juvenile fiction
Andrew was so absorbed in the spectacle that he did not miss me till
all were past, and when he came to find me, he was frightened at my
agitation. It was some time before I could even be got to move or
speak. Andrew brought me water in a little drinking-cup he always
carried, fanned me, and soothed me with the greatest tenderness, and at
last I was able to tell him the story.
"Then that was the girl who looked up," said he. "I thought there was
something peculiar about her. She does not look very happy with her new
friends. I wonder what they will do with her?"
"Make a nun of her, if they can squeeze her dowry out of Father Simon,
or perhaps marry her up to some one," I answered. "Julienne's sister
says the Le Febres are very angry with Pierre for marrying his old
sweetheart Isabeau, when he might have waited and taken Lucille and her
farm."
"But the farm is her father's, and will descend to her brother, won't
it?" asked Andrew in surprise. "Did you not tell me she had a brother
who was expected home?"
"Yes, my foster-brother, David. You will like him, I am sure. But he
is of the Religion, like his father, and if Lucille should marry a
Catholic, * the law would find some way of handing the farm over to
him, though David is honest and industrious, and Pierre is a bit of a
reprobate. I hope David will come; I should like you to see him."
* I do not like to use Catholic in this sense, but we were in a
manner forced to it at that time.—G. C.
"Pierre may be a bit of a reprobate, but he is a good bit of a man as
well," said Andrew. "I saw him give that great hulking Antoine Michaud
a blow that knocked him flat because he insulted that poor old woman
whose grandchildren were taken away from her."
(I forgot to mention that poor old Gran'mère Luchon had been allowed
to return to her cottage, being, I suppose, too small game to be worth
the bagging, or perhaps with the hope of catching some one else by her
means.)
"He knows how to sail a boat, too," continued Andrew. "I went out with
him yesterday, and I never saw a boat better handled, though it is a
horrid old tub, too. Such a fellow ought to be a soldier or sailor.
Many a man has made a good record on shipboard who would never do
anything for himself."
"I hope he will be good to poor Isabeau," said I. "But come, Andrew, we
must go home."
We had been sitting all this time on the top of the rock, in the very
place where Lucille had cleared a spot for her spindle. As we rose, we
both cast a glance over the landscape.
"There is going to be a storm," said I. "See how the sea-birds are all
flying to shore, and how the fog is beginning to creep in from the sea.
I am glad I am not going to cross the Grèves this day. Some one is sure
to go astray and be lost."
"Drowned by the tide?" asked Andrew.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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