Claude's small travelling coffer had been brought up from the ship, and was placed near his bed, in the clean, sunny little colonial room under the eaves of the house. It must be confessed that Mistress Vawse had been through the trunk pretty thoroughly, after unlocking it with the awkward key which she had found in the Frenchman's clothes. But, with a delirious foreigner, whose disease requires quiet as much as good nursing, beside you, and a long day empty of incident to be gone through in silence, what woman could have resisted the temptation to examine so fascinating a boxful of clothes as this? And in justice let it be added, that Miriam Vawse would quite as soon have thought of assaulting the Governor in the street as of purloining the very smallest lace ruffle contained in this treasure-box; for her forbears and her honesty had come together from Kent in the year of grace 1660, along with certain choice recipes for cordials and strong waters, and the ancestral talent for nursing which Dr. Carroll in the old days had been wont to find so useful.
Meantime the genial doctor had completely wasted his morning in pondering over the almost impossible situation that he wished to bring about; and finally, as the Trevor coach drew up to the door, he left his study, resignedly determined to give his hopes to Chance for fulfilment.
The four ladies alighted from their vehicle, leaving behind them, to the care of the black footboy, a large number of bundles brought from the sale. Their host handed Madam Trevor sedately up the walk and into the house, where now Mistress Lettice Carroll, his sister, and Frances Appleby, his sister-in-law, both in starched and flowered paragon, with powdered locks atop of demure, quaint little heads, stood in the doorway to welcome the guests. When the ladies had removed their head-gear and scarfs up-stairs they returned to the drawing-room where, it being near the hour for dinner, young Charles Carroll and Father St. Quentin awaited them with the doctor. Madam Trevor, Virginia, and Deborah greeted the priest with reverent friendship, for every Sunday they attended the mass which he performed in the Carroll chapel, where the few families of the old faith in Annapolis were accustomed to congregate; and, besides this, he had been kind enough to give some instruction to the Trevor girls and Deborah in the art of conversing in the French language. But Lucy hung uneasily back in the presence of Père Aimé, till he himself went forward and gave her a few gentle and impersonal words of greeting. Madam Trevor, beside Mistress Lettice, cast an annoyed glance at her daughter, but nothing was said on the subject. When Deborah, however, left St. Quentin's side, the doctor placed himself in her way and managed to ask, in a lowered voice, as she passed him:
"You brought the monkshood with you?"
And the girl nodded, gravely, "Yes." The next instant she was seized upon by young Charles, who regarded her less as a piece of femininity than some pretty thing, excellent to talk to, and a very good walker, produced by a beneficent nature for his especial benefit. They had wandered over to the window together, speaking of a forthcoming sail up the river, when Deborah's attention was caught by the voice of St. Quentin, who was addressing the doctor on an interesting topic.
"If it would not displease you, sir," St. Quentin had begun, "I should like to give Charles an hour's holiday this afternoon."
"And wherefore this leniency, good father?" queried Carroll, smiling good-humoredly.
"For a kind of charity, I imagine. This morning, as I walked the length of the street before breakfast, Mrs. Vawse came suddenly running out of her ordinary to ask if I would not go in with her at once, or at some hour of the day. She has lodged in her house, it seems, a foreigner—French—who arrived yesterday on the Baltimore, half dead with fever, and who was carried up from the wharves to be taken care of by her. It appears that he raves continually in French, and I fancy that the curiosity of good Mrs. Vawse is growing strong within her, or else she would know how best to serve him, for she would have me come and translate for her some of his wild words, knowing that I have what she terms an unholy learning in that most ungodly tongue. As 'twas then too near the breakfast hour to obey her wishes, I promised to come later in the day."
"And so, thy curiosity being roused by the dame's, thou canst not wait thy visit till after vespers, eh?" And the doctor laughed.
"Seeing that it is a case of distress on the part of one of my countrymen, I would go at the first opportunity, on whatever pretence," returned the father, calmly.