St. Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England
Transcribed 1898 William Heinemann edition by David Price, email ccx074@pflaf.org
Being
The Adventures of a French Prisoner in England
Robert Louis Stevenson
second edition
London William Heinemann 1898
First Edition , May 5, 1897; Reprinted May 6, 1897
All rights reserved
It was in the month of May 1813 that I was so unlucky as to fall at last into the hands of the enemy. My knowledge of the English language had marked me out for a certain employment. Though I cannot conceive a soldier refusing to incur the risk, yet to be hanged for a spy is a disgusting business; and I was relieved to be held a prisoner of war. Into the Castle of Edinburgh, standing in the midst of that city on the summit of an extraordinary rock, I was cast with several hundred fellow-sufferers, all privates like myself, and the more part of them, by an accident, very ignorant, plain fellows. My English, which had brought me into that scrape, now helped me very materially to bear it. I had a thousand advantages. I was often called to play the part of an interpreter, whether of orders or complaints, and thus brought in relations, sometimes of mirth, sometimes almost of friendship, with the officers in charge. A young lieutenant singled me out to be his adversary at chess, a game in which I was extremely proficient, and would reward me for my gambits with excellent cigars. The major of the battalion took lessons of French from me while at breakfast, and was sometimes so obliging as to have me join him at the meal. Chevenix was his name. He was stiff as a drum-major and selfish as an Englishman, but a fairly conscientious pupil and a fairly upright man. Little did I suppose that his ramrod body and frozen face would, in the end, step in between me and all my dearest wishes; that upon this precise, regular, icy soldier-man my fortunes should so nearly shipwreck! I never liked, but yet I trusted him; and though it may seem but a trifle, I found his snuff-box with the bean in it come very welcome.
Robert Louis Stevenson
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St. Ives
CHAPTER I—A TALE OF A LION RAMPANT
CHAPTER II—A TALE OF A PAIR OF SCISSORS
CHAPTER III—MAJOR CHEVENIX COMES INTO THE STORY, AND GOGUELAT GOES OUT
CHAPTER IV—ST. IVES GETS A BUNDLE OF BANK NOTES
CHAPTER V—ST. IVES IS SHOWN A HOUSE
CHAPTER VI—THE ESCAPE
CHAPTER VII—SWANSTON COTTAGE
CHAPTER VIII—THE HEN-HOUSE
CHAPTER IX—THREE IS COMPANY, AND FOUR NONE
CHAPTER X—THE DROVERS
CHAPTER XI—THE GREAT NORTH ROAD
CHAPTER XII—I FOLLOW A COVERED CART NEARLY TO MY DESTINATION
CHAPTER XIII—I MEET TWO OF MY COUNTRYMEN
CHAPTER XIV—TRAVELS OF THE COVERED CART
CHAPTER XV—THE ADVENTURE OF THE ATTORNEY’S CLERK
CHAPTER XVI—THE HOME-COMING OF MR. ROWLEY’S VISCOUNT
CHAPTER XVII—THE DESPATCH-BOX
CHAPTER XVIII—MR. ROMAINE CALLS ME NAMES
CHAPTER XIX—THE DEVIL AND ALL AT AMERSHAM PLACE
CHAPTER XX—AFTER THE STORM
CHAPTER XXI—I BECOME THE OWNER OF A CLARET-COLOURED CHAISE
CHAPTER XXIII—THE ADVENTURE OF THE RUNAWAY COUPLE
CHAPTER XXIV—THE INN-KEEPER OF KIRKBY-LONSDALE
CHAPTER XXV—I MEET A CHEERFUL EXTRAVAGANT
CHAPTER XXVI—THE COTTAGE AT NIGHT
CHAPTER XXVII—THE SABBATH DAY
CHAPTER XXVIII—EVENTS OF MONDAY: THE LAWYER’S PARTY
CHAPTER XXIX—EVENTS OF TUESDAY: THE TOILS CLOSING
CHAPTER XXX—EVENTS OF WEDNESDAY; THE UNIVERSITY OF CRAMOND
Footnotes