as they were directed. Two candles placed upon
the table cast a light upon Gilliatt from head to foot.

"There's a fine fellow," said Mess Lethierry.

Gilliatt's appearance was hideous.

He was in the condition in which he had that morning set sail from the
rocks; in rags, his bare elbows showing through his sleeves; his beard
long, his hair rough and wild; his eyes bloodshot, his skin peeling, his
hands covered with wounds; his feet naked. Some of the blisters left by
the devil-fish were still visible upon his arms.

Lethierry gazed at him.

"This is my son-in-law," he said. "How he has struggled with the sea. He
is all in rags. What shoulders; what hands. There's a splendid fellow!"

Grace ran to Deruchette and supported her head. She had fainted.

II

THE LEATHERN TRUNK

At break of day St. Sampson was on foot, and all the people of St.
Peter's Port began to flock there. The resurrection of the Durande
caused a commotion in the island not unlike what was caused by the
_Salette_ in the south of France. There was a crowd on the quay staring
at the funnel standing erect in the sloop. They were anxious to see and
handle the machinery; but Lethierry, after making a new and triumphant
survey of the whole by daylight, had placed two sailors aboard with
instructions to prevent any one approaching it. The funnel, however,
furnished food enough for contemplation. The crowd gaped with
astonishment. They talked of nothing but Gilliatt. They remarked on his
surname of "malicious Gilliatt;" and their admiration wound up with the
remark, "It is not pleasant to have people in the island who can do
things like that."

Mess Lethierry was seen from outside the house, seated at a table before
the window, writing, with one eye on the paper and another on the sloop.
He was so completely absorbed that he had only once stopped to call
Douce and ask after Deruchette. Douce replied, "Mademoiselle has risen
and is gone out." Mess Lethierry replied, "She is right to take the air.
She was a little unwell last night, owing to the heat. There was a crowd
in the room. This and her surprise and joy, and the windows being all
closed, overcame her. She will have a husband to be proud of." And he
had gone on with his writing. He had already finished and sealed two
letters, addressed to the most important shipbuilders at Breme. He now
finished the sealing of a third.

The noise of a wheel upon the quay induced him to look up. He lea