me to England, I mean to go
ashore for a day or two."

"Why not run up to Yarmouth, sir; the wind is fair; it is south-west
now. You have never been there, have you? And there'll be no fear of
anyone tracing the child there. If madame sees in the paper that we
touched at Yarmouth, she may inquire all over that part of the country
without finding the baby down in Sussex."

Leon considered the matter for a few minutes, and finally consented to
this arrangement; and about eight o'clock that evening the gig was
lowered, and Pierre, who would not abandon his charge till the last
minute, went ashore with John Smith and the baby.

They landed on a quiet spot between Brighton and Rottingdean, and here
Smith insisted on Pierre's remaining in charge of the boat while he
deposited the baby with his friends. Pierre protested against this; but
the carpenter was firm. It would not be safe, he argued, to leave the
boat alone for two or three hours, and he might be gone as long as that;
and there could be no danger in leaving Pierre there, for if anyone did
question him about his business, he would not be able to understand
them, as he knew no English.

Pierre found it was useless to make any further objections, so,
reluctantly handing the baby over to the carpenter, he prepared to make
himself as comfortable as circumstances permitted during Smith's
absence. It was a beautiful warm midsummer evening, but Pierre began to
feel chilly and tired of waiting long before Smith came back, though he
managed to get several naps, curled up in the bottom of the boat. At
last, about eleven o'clock, just as Pierre was getting very nervous, and
dreading every minute that one of the white ladies of Normandy (those
_dames blanches_ who are so cruel to the discourteous) should appear to
him, or a hobgoblin or a ghost, in all of which he was, like most Norman
peasants, a firm believer, to his intense relief he heard the carpenter
whistling in the distance, and a minute or two later Smith arrived, hot
and tired, and by no means in a communicative frame of mind, only
vouchsafing to tell the anxious Pierre that the baby was safe.

To Leon he was bound to be less reserved, and, according to his own
account, he had had no difficulty in persuading his friend the shepherd
to take charge of the child. He had asked no awkward questions, and was
quite satisfied with the sum of money Smith had left with him. Leon
carefully entered the name and address of the