hatever the provocation, abstain from striking anyone. Should
you find that in any way your position is made intolerable, you
will of course appeal to the marquis, and unless you obtain redress
you will come home--you will find no difficulty in travelling
when you once understand the language--but avoid anything like
petty complaints. I trust there will be no reason for complaints at
all, and that you will find your position an exceedingly pleasant
one as soon as you become accustomed to it; but should occasion
arise bear my words in mind."
Harry promised to follow his father's advice implicitly, but in
his own mind he wondered what fellows did when they quarrelled if
they were not allowed to fight; however, he supposed that he should,
under the circumstances, do the same as French boys, whatever that
might be.
As soon as the packet was once fairly beyond the harbour Harry's
thoughts were effectually diverted from all other matters by the
motion of the sailing boat, and he was soon in a state of prostration,
in which he remained until, seven hours later, the packet entered
Calais harbour.
Dr. Sandwith had requested the captain to allow one of his men
to show Harry the way to the Lion door. Harry had pulled himself
together a little as the vessel entered the still water in the
harbour, and was staring at the men in their blue blouses and wooden
shoes, at the women in their quaint and picturesque attire, when
a sailor touched him on the shoulder:
"Now, young sir, the captain tells me I am to show you the way to
your hotel. Which is your box?"
Harry pointed out his trunk; the sailor threw it on his shoulder,
and Harry, with a feeling of bewilderment, followed him along the
gangway to the shore. Here he was accosted by an officer.
"What does he say?" he asked the sailor.
"He asks for your passport."
Harry fumbled in his breast pocket for the document which his father
had obtained for him from the foreign office, duly viseed by the
French ambassador, notifying that Henry Sandwith, age sixteen,
height five feet eight, hair brown, eyes gray, nose short, mouth
large, was about to reside in France in the family of the Marquis
de St. Caux. The officer glanced it over, and then returned it to
Harry with a polite bow, which Harry in some confusion endeavoured
to imitate.
"What does the fellow want to bow and scrape like that for?" he
muttered to himself as he followed his guide. "An Englishman would
just
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