"I!" exclaimed Mimi; "I wish to leave France! Alas, monsieur! it was the very saddest day of all my life. But dear papa had to go, and I do not know why it was. He offered to let me stay; but I could not let him go alone, for he is so old and feeble, and I was willing to endure all for his sake."
"What part of France did you live in?" asked Claude.
"Versailles."
"That is where the court is," said Claude.
"Of course," said Mimi, with a smile. "But how funny it seems to hear a Frenchman make such a remark, and in such an uncertain way, as though he did not feel quite sure. Why, monsieur, in France Versailles is everything; Versailles is the king and court. In a word, monsieur, Versailles is France."
"I suppose you saw very much of the splendor and magnificence of the court?" said Claude.
"I!" said Mimi; "splendor and magnificence! the court! _Ma foi_, monsieur, I did not see any of it at all. In France young girls are kept close-guarded. You have lived among the English, and among them I have heard that young girls can go anywhere and do anything. But for my part I have always lived most secluded--sometimes at school, and afterwards at home."
"How strange it is," said Claude, "that your father should leave France, when he is so old and feeble, and take you, too, and come to this wild country!"
"O, it is very strange," said Mimi, "and very sad; and I don"t know why in the world it was, for he will never tell me. Sometimes I think that something unfortunate has happened, which has made him go into exile this way. But then, if that were so, I don"t see why he should remain in French possessions. If his political enemies have driven him away, he would not be safe in French colonies; and so I don"t know why in the world he ever left home."
"Does he intend to remain at Louisbourg, or go farther?" asked Claude, after a thoughtful pause.
"I"m sure I don"t know," said Mimi; "but I don"t think he has decided yet. It is just as if he was looking for something, and as if he would travel about till he found it; though what it is that he wants I can hardly tell. And such, monsieur, is our mournful position. We may remain at Louisbourg a short time or a long time: it depends upon circ.u.mstances. We may go to Quebec, or even to New Orleans."
"New Orleans!" exclaimed Claude.
"Yes; I heard him hint as much. And he said, also, that if he did go as far as that, he would leave me at Quebec or Louisbourg. But I will never consent to that, and I will go with him wherever he goes."
"I should think that such a roving life would make you feel very unhappy."
"O, no; I am not unhappy," said Mimi, cheerfully. "I should, indeed, feel unhappy if I were left behind in France, or anywhere else, and if poor papa should go roaming about without any one to care for him.
I am not much; but I know that he loves me dearly, and that he is very much happier with me than without me. And that is the reason why I am determined to go with him wherever he goes,--yes, even if he goes among the savages. Besides, while I am with him, he has a certain amount of anxiety about me, and this distracts his thoughts, and prevents him from brooding too much over his own personal troubles. But O, how I envy you, Monsieur Motier, and O, how I should love to be going back to France, if dear papa were only going there too! I shall never be happy again, I know, never, till I am back again in France."
CHAPTER IV.
MIMI AND MARGOT.
While Claude was doing the honors of hospitality to the guests aft, the crew of the Parson was fraternizing with the seamen of the wrecked Arethuse, forward. The first and most important act of friendly intercourse was the work of Jericho, who put forth all his skill in preparing for the half-starved sailors a series of repasts upon which he lavished all his genius, together with the greater part of the stores of the schooner. To these repasts the seamen did ample justice, wasting but little time in unnecessary words, but eating as only those can eat who have been on the borders of starvation. Yet it may be questioned whether their voracity exceeded that of a certain melancholy boy, who waited on the banquet, and whose appet.i.te seemed now even more insatiable in the midst of the abundant supplies which Jericho produced, than it had been in former days, when eatables had been less choice and repasts less frequent. In fact, Biler outdid himself, and completely wore out the patience of the long-suffering Jericho.
"You jes look heah, you Biler," he said; "you better mind, for I ain"t goin" to stand dese yer goins on no longer. Bar"s limits to eberyting--and dese yer "visiums has got to be "commonized, an" not to be all gobbled up by one small boy. Tell you what, I got a great mind to put you on a lowns, an" gib you one rore turnip a day, an" ef you can ketch a fish I"ll "gree to cook it. Why, dar ain"t de vessel afloat dat can stand dis yer. You eat fifty-nine meals a day, an"
more. You nebber do notin" else but eat--morn", noon, an" night."
"Arrah, Jerry, let the b"y ate his fill," said Terry: "sure an" a growin" b"y has to ate more"n a grown man, so as to get flesh to grow wid."
"Can"t do it," said Jerry, "an" won"t do it. Didn"t mind it so much afore, but now we"se got to "commonize. Bar"s ebber so many more moufs aboard now, an" all on "em eat like sin. Dis yer calm keeps us out heah in one spot, an" when we"re ebber a goin" to get to de end ov de vyge"s more"n I can tell. No use frowin" away our val"ble "visiums on dis yer boy--make him eat soap fat and oak.u.m--good enough for him. No "casium for him to be eatin" a hundred times more"n all de res ob us. If he wants to eat he"ll hab to find his own "visiums, an" ketch a shark, an" I"ll put it in pickle for he own private use."
With these words Jericho turned away with deep trouble and perplexity visible on his ebon brow, and Biler, pocketing a few potatoes and turnips, climbed to the mast-head, where he sat gazing in a melancholy way into s.p.a.ce.
To Terry these new comers were most welcome. At a distance he professed to hate and despise the French; but now that they appeared face to face, his hate was nowhere, and in its place there was nothing but a most earnest desire to form an eternal friendship with the shipwrecked seamen. There was certainly one difficulty in the way which was of no slight character; and that was, that neither of them knew the language of the other. But Terry was not easily daunted, and the very presence of a difficulty was enough to make him feel eager to triumph over it.
In his first approaches he made the very common mistake of addressing the French sailors as though they were deaf. Thus he went up to them one after the other, shaking hands with each, and shouting in their ears as loud as he could, "_How do yez do_?" "_Good day_." "_The top av the mornin" to yez_." To which the good-natured Frenchmen responded in a sympathetic way, shaking his hand vigorously,--and grinning and chattering. Terry kept this up for some time; but at length it became somewhat monotonous, and he set his wits to work to try to discover some more satisfactory mode of effecting a communication with them. The next way that he thought of was something like the first, and, like the first, is also frequently resorted to by those who have occasion to speak to foreigners. It was to address them in broken English, or rather in a species of baby talk; for to Terry it seemed no more than natural that this sort of dialect would be more intelligible than the speech of full-grown men.
Accordingly, as soon as Terry thought of this, he put it in practice.
He began by shaking hands once more, and then said to them, "Me berry glad see you--me sposy you berry hundy. Polly want a cracker.
He sall hab penty mate den, so he sall. Did de naughty water boos um den?"
But unfortunately this effort proved as much of a failure as the other; so Terry was once more compolled to trust to his wits. Those wits of his, being active, did not fail, indeed, to suggest many ways, and of the best kind, by which he brought himself into communication with his new friends. At the first repast he found this out, and insisted upon pa.s.sing everything to them with his own hands, accompanying each friendly offer with an affectionate smile, which went straight to the hearts of the forlorn and half-starved guests.
This was a language which was every way intelligible, the language of universal humanity, in which the n.o.blest precept is, to be kind to enemies and to feed the hungry.
In addition to this, Terry also found out other ways of holding communication with them, the chief of which was by the language of song. Terry"s irrepressible tendency to singing thus burst forth in their presence, and after trolling out a few Irish melodies, he succeeded in eliciting from them a sympathetic response in the shape of some lively French songs. The result proved most delightful to all concerned; and thereafter the muse of Ireland and the muse of France kept up a perpetual antiphonal song, which beguiled many a tedious hour.
While the various characters on board the schooner were thus entering into communication with one another, Zac endeavored also to sc.r.a.pe an acquaintance with one of the rescued party, who seemed to him to be worth all the rest put together. This was Mimi"s maid, Margot, a beautiful little creature, full of life and spirit, and fit companion for such a mistress as hers. The good little Margot was very accessible, and had not failed to pour forth in language not very intelligible her sense of grat.i.tude to Zac. She had not forgotten that it was Zac who had conveyed her in his strong arms from death to life, and therefore persisted in regarding him not only as the preserver of her own self, but as the real and only preserver of all the others.
Margot had one advantage which was delightful to Zac; and that was, she could speak a little English. She had once spent a year in England, where she had picked up enough of the language to come and go upon, and this knowledge now proved to be of very great advantage.
The calm weather which continued gave Zac many opportunities of drifting away towards Margot, and talking with her, in which talks they gradually grew to be better acquainted.
"I am so happy zat I spik Ingelis!" said Margot; "I nevar did sink dat it was evare useful."
"An" pooty blamed lucky it"s ben for me, too," said Zac, in a joyous tone; "for as I don"t know French, like Claude over there, I have to trust to you to keep up the conversation."
"I not know mooch Ingelis," said Margot, "for I not understan de mooch of what you say."
"O, you"ll learn dreadful fast out here," said Zac.
"But I not weesh to stay here so long as to learn," said Margot.
"Not wish! Sho, now! Why, it"s a better country than France."
"Than France--better!" cried Margot, lifting her hands and throwing up her eyes in amazement. "France! Monsieur, France is a heaven--mais--dees--dees--is different."
"Why, what"s the matter with America?" said Zac.
"Amerique--eet ees all full of de sauvage--de Indian--de wild men--an" wild beasts--an" desert."
"O, you ain"t ben to Boston; that"s clar," said Zac, mildly. "Jest you wait till you see Boston; that"s all."
"Boston! I nevare hear of Boston," said Margot, "till you tell me. I do not believe eet it is more magnifique dan Paris."
"The most magnificent town in the hull world," said Zac, calmly. "You take the House of a.s.sembly an" Govement House--take King Street and Queen Street, an" I"d like to know whar you"ll find a better show any whar on airth."
"Sais pas," said Margot; "nevare see Boston. Mais vous--you nevare see Paris--so we are not able to compare."
"O, well, it"s nat"ral enough for you," said Zac, with magnanimity, "nat"ral enough for you, course, to like your own place best--"twouldn"t be nat"ral ef you didn"t. All your friends live thar, course. You were born thar, and I s"pose your pa an" ma may be there now, anxiously expectin" to hear from you."
Zac put this in an interrogative way, for he wanted to know. But as he said these words, the smiling face of Margot turned sad; she shook her head, and said,--