The Chevalier's daughter

by Lucy Ellen Guernsey

"We will not trouble you to go with us," said Andrew. "My aunt knows the house of old."

She curtsied and withdrew to her own special domain, and we went through all the rooms, which were in the best order, and certainly did credit to the sea-dame's housekeeping, being as dry and airy as if used all the time. In two or three of the rooms, fires were burning on the hearth, and there was a peculiar air of cheerfulness about the whole place. I remarked this to Andrew.

"It does not seem at all like a deserted house," said I. "One would say these rooms were used to pleasant company."

"The village folks would tell you that Dinah entertains her friends from the sea in these apartments," said Andrew, smiling. "They tell stories of seeing the house lighted up and hearing music at night. I determined to look into the thing, thinking possibly that the place might be the haunt of smugglers; but I found the lights came from the fires Dinah had lighted to expel the damp, and the music was the old harpsicon, on which she had taught herself to play, by the help of some music-books she had found."

"Then she can read," said my mother.

"Oh, yes, and write as well. The people who took her in were of the better class. They were not Cornish folk, but East Country English, who came and settled here in the reign of Charles the First. No one knew much about them, and I fancy they might have had their own reasons for keeping quiet, but my father never would allow them to be molested. See, here is the cabinet I made from the old chestnut-tree."

"So you are a cabinet-maker as well," said I. "Another qualification for our desert island."

"That same desert island seems to take your fancy," said Andrew, smiling. "Perchance if you tried it, as I have done, you would not find it so pleasant."

"Were you really cast away?" I asked curiously. "When and where?"

"About ten years ago, on one of the most lovely little islets of the West Indies. It was like a bit out of paradise. We had landed for water, but a squall came up, and by some blunder, I was left behind. I stayed there a week, and most thankful was I to see the face of man once more. But here we are in the parlor again, and I see Dinah has prepared quite a feast for us."