lodged in
Holborn near by, and came every morning with some little dainty to the
bailiff's, for her liege lord who had so used her. He pressed me to
share a fowl with him one day, but it would have choked me. God knows
where she got the money to buy it. I saw her once hanging on his neck in
the hall, he trying to shield her from the impudent gaze of his
fellow-lodgers.

But some of them lived like lords in luxury, with never a seeming regret;
and had apartments on the first floor, and had their tea and paper in
bed, and lounged out the morning in a flowered nightgown, and the rest of
the day in a laced coat. These drank the bailiff's best port and
champagne, and had nothing better than a frown or haughty look for us,
when we passed them at the landing. Whence the piper was paid I knew
not, and the bailiff cared not. But the bulk of the poor gentlemen were
a merry crew withal, and had their wit and their wine at table, and knew
each other's histories (and soon enough ours) by heart. They betted away
the week at billiards or whist or picquet or loo, and sometimes measured
swords for diversion, tho' this pastime the bailiff was greatly set
against; as calculated to deprive him of a lodger.

Although we had no money for gaming, and little for wine or tobacco, the
captain and I were received very heartily into the fraternity. After one
afternoon of despondency we both voted it the worst of bad policy to
remain aloof and nurse our misfortune, and spent our first evening in
making acquaintances over a deal of very thin "debtor's claret."
I tossed long that night on the hard cot, listening to the scurrying rats
among the roof-timbers. They ran like the thoughts in my brain. And
before I slept I prayed again and again that God would put it in my power
to reward him whom charity for a friendless foundling had brought to a
debtor's prison.

Not so much as a single complaint or reproach had passed his lips!

CHAPTER XXV

THE RESCUE

Perchance, my dears, if John Paul and I had not been cast by accident in
a debtor's prison, this great man might never have bestowed upon our
country those glorious services which contributed so largely to its
liberty. And I might never have comprehended that the American
Revolution was brought on and fought by a headstrong king, backed by
unscrupulous followers who held wealth above patriotism. It is often
difficult to lay finger upon the causes which change the drift of a man's
opinions,