So one night, he loaded his most valued possessions into his boat, along with his wife and child, and ran over to Jersey. He was hospitably received, on account of the great service he had done to my cousin's family, and he settled down into a respectable, steady father of a family, and became, for one in his station, quite a rich man. All this Eleanor wrote me long afterward.
Andrew had always said that poor Le Febre had the making of a man in him, and the event showed he was right.
It was a delightful novelty to have comrades of my own age to work and play with, for, except poor Lucille, I had never had any girl friend.
As the spring came on, as my strength increased and the island became more beautiful with every passing day, I grew more and more content, and should have been well pleased to make Jersey my home as long as I lived.
But my mother's health, which seemed so well to have borne the strain of that terrible night and the fatigues of my long illness, now began to fail. She had feverish nights and a slight cough, which made Cousin Marianne look grave whenever she heard it; and she became restlessly anxious to go home, as she said—to see once more the house where she was born, and the places where she had wandered when a child.
"It may be an idle fancy," said she one day to Cousin Marianne; "but since I cannot share my husband's grave, I should like to lie beside my father and mother."
"You must not give up life for a bad business," said Cousin Marianne. "Wish and try to live for your daughter's sake."
"I should strive to live, if striving would do any good," said maman; "but my life is in better hands than mine. As to wishes, I believe I have none, unless it be this one—to see Cornwall once more."
"I should urge you to stay longer, if I did not believe that your native air might do you good. I have some longings for a sight of that same Cornish home myself," she added, with a little gentle sadness in her voice. "It comes to me in my dreams at times, but I can never leave my cousin till one of the girls is old enough to govern the family, and by that time I fancy, I shall be ready for a better home even than the old house at Tre Madoc."
Andrew, too, was anxious to depart. His ship was to sail in June, and he wished to see us in safety, and to spend a little time with his mother and sisters before setting out on his long voyage to the Indies, whither his ship was bound.