In a moment she rose to her feet and faced them, and rough and coarsely clad as she was, Channing was struck by her great beauty and her sad and mournful face.
For a moment the Frenchman hesitated, and with a quick “Sit you there, Adela, I shall return shortly,” was turning away again with Channing, when they heard the woman's voice calling in French, “Adrian, come back!” and then in another moment she added in English, as she saw Channing walking on, “And you, sir, in Heaven's name, do not leave me! I am an Englishwoman.”
In an instant Channing turned, and quick as lightning the Frenchman, whose face was dark with passion, barred his way—“Monsieur, as an honourable man, will not attempt to speak to my wife when I request him not to do so.”
“And I beg of you, sir, as my fellow-countryman, not to desert me. I am indeed an Englishwoman. My father's ship was captured, plundered, and then sunk by a French privateer, within sight of Malacca. Both he and my mother are dead, and I was forced to marry that man there,” and she pointed scornfully through her tears to Le Mescam. “His captain, who I thought had some honour, promised to set me ashore at Manila, but when we reached there I was kept on board, and, ill and scarce able to speak, was married to Lieutenant Le Mescam, against my will, by a Spanish priest. Oh, sir, for the sake of my father, who was an English sailor, help me!”
Channing sprang towards her. “Madam, I am an Englishman, and there is a King's ship not four miles away. You, sir”—and he turned to the Frenchman, whose handsome face was now distorted with passion—“shall answer for your cowardly conduct, or I very much mistake the character of the gallant officer under whom I have the honour to serve. Ha!” And with sudden fury he seized Le Mescam's right arm, the hand of which had grasped a pistol in the bosom of his coat. “You cowardly, treacherous hound!” and wrenching the weapon from his grasp, he struck the Frenchman in the face with it, and sent him spinning backward upon the sand, where he lay apparently stunned.
Then Charming turned to the woman, who, trembling in every limb, was leaning against the side of the house. “Madam, I shall return to the ship at once. Will you come with me now, or shall I go on first? That our captain will send a boat for you within an hour you may rely on. He will take quick action in such a matter as this. If you fear to remain alone, I shall with pleasure escort you on board now.”
“No, no,” she pleaded; “he,” and she pointed to the prone figure of the Frenchman, “would never hurt me; and I cannot leave him like this—I cannot forget that, wicked and cruel as he has been to me, he is the father of my child. Return, sir, I pray you, to your ship, and if you can help me to escape from my unhappy position, do so. Were it not for the money that my husband is employed in getting from the sunken privateer, my lot would not have been so hard, for he would have returned with the other survivors to Batchian; and from there, by the weight of my poor father's name, I could easily have escaped to Macassar, where my mother's relatives live.”
“Do not fear then, Madam,” said Channing kindly, “I shall leave you now, but rest assured that a few hours hence you shall be among your own countrymen once more.” Then as two native women appeared, as if searching for their mistress, he raised his hat and walked quickly away.
Armand Le Mescam, with the bitterest rage depicted on his swarthy features, rose to his feet, and instead of returning to his house went slowly along towards one of his storehouses, without even glancing at his wife, who stood watching him from where Channing had left her. In a few moments she saw his figure vanishing among the palms, but not so quickly but that she perceived he carried a musket.