istened it: he had called
it Durande--"La Durande." We will speak of her henceforth by no other
name; we will claim the liberty, also, in spite of typographical usage,
of not italicising this name Durande; conforming in this to the notion
of Mess Lethierry, in whose eyes La Durande was almost a living person.

Durande and Deruchette are the same name. Deruchette is the diminutive.

This diminutive is very common in France.

In the country the names of saints are endowed with all these
diminutives as well as all their augmentatives. One might suppose there
were several persons when there is, in fact, only one. This system of
patrons and patronesses under different names is by no means rare. Lise,
Lisette, Lisa, Elisa, Isabelle, Lisbeth, Betsy, all these are simply
Elizabeth. It is probable that Mahout, Maclou, Malo, and Magloire are
the same saint: this, however, we do not vouch for.

Saint Durande is a saint of l'Angoumois, and of the Charente; whether
she is an orthodox member of the calendar is a question for the
Bollandists: orthodox or not, she has been made the patron saint of
numerous chapels.

It was while Lethierry was a young sailor at Rochefort that he had made
the acquaintance of this saint, probably in the person of some pretty
Charantaise, perhaps in that of the grisette with the white nails. The
saint had remained sufficiently in his memory for him to give the name
to the two things which he loved most--Durande to the steamboat,
Deruchette to the girl.

Of one he was the father, of the other the uncle.

Deruchette was the daughter of a brother who had died: she was an orphan
child: he had adopted her, and had taken the place both of father and
mother.

Deruchette was not only his niece, she was his godchild; he had held her
in his arms at the baptismal font; it was he who had chosen her patron
saint, Durande, and her Christian name, Deruchette.

Deruchette, as we have said, was born at St. Peter's Port. Her name was
inscribed at its date on the register of the parish.

As long as the niece was a child, and the uncle poor, nobody took heed
of her appellation of Deruchette; but when the little girl became a
miss, and the sailor a gentleman, the name of Deruchette shocked the
feelings of Guernsey society. The uncouthness of the sound astonished
every one. Folks asked Mess Lethierry "why Deruchette?" He answered, "It
is a very good name in its way." Several attempts were made to get him
to obtain a