will return. It is but a
quarter of an hour's walk, for the house stands near the river,
above the bridge."

He at once set out with Leigh. On arriving at the house, they found
that there were at present no lodgers there.

"This young sailor has brought a letter of recommendation to me,
Madame Chopin. He has a married sister and her child with him, and
I am sure that you will make them very comfortable, and can supply
them with what they may require. They have just arrived by sea,
from Havre; the length of their stay is uncertain. This young man
is looking for a berth as mate, and shall have the first vacancy on
one of my vessels. His sister may stop with you for some time, as
she is hoping that her husband will return here, though he is so
long overdue that I fear his ship has been either lost or captured
by the English."

"I will do my best to make them both comfortable, Monsieur
Flambard, and thank you for recommending them to me."

Leigh saw the rooms, which consisted of two bedrooms, and a third
room which was similarly furnished; but Madame Chopin said that she
would take down the bed and put some other furniture into it, so
that they could use it as a sitting room.

"We should prefer that, madame; for my sister at times is greatly
depressed, and we should prefer being alone."

"I can quite understand that," the woman said. "Well, you will not
be troubled with society here, as I have only these three rooms to
let so that, unless my husband comes home before you go, we shall
be quite alone."

"I shall return with my sister in an hour's time," Leigh said;
"that will not be too late for you?"

"No, monsieur, it is little past eight o'clock yet, and it will
take me fully two hours to get everything straight and tidy."

"Very well, then, we will say ten o'clock," Monsieur Flambard said.
"I will keep Monsieur Porson, as he has news to give me concerning
the friend who recommended him to me."

On their return to the merchant's, they sat chatting for an hour
over the adventures through which Leigh and his sister had passed,
and the manner in which they were separated from Jean Martin.

"I think you have every reason to hope, madame," Monsieur Flambard
said cheerfully. "Jean is not the sort of fellow to let himself be
caught in a hole; and I expect that, when he found that he could
not rejoin you, he at once struck north, either for Dunkirk or
Calais, and has probably managed to be taken over in a fishing b