“Ay, ay, father,” answered Jacob; “she would have had us leave the little maiden to perish, if we had listened to her; I will never forget that.”
While the elder lads went on board the Nancy to do one of the numberless jobs which a sailor always finds to be done on board his craft, Jacob and his father entered the cottage.
The little girl was seated on the dame’s knee, prattling in broken language, which her kind nurse in vain endeavoured to understand. She welcomed the fisherman and his son with a smile of recognition.
“Glad to see you well and happy, my pretty maiden,” said Adam, stooping down to kiss her fair brow, his big heart yearning towards her as if she were truly his child.
“Maidy May,” she said, with an emphasis on the last word, as if wishing to tell him her proper name.
“Yes, our ‘Maiden May’ you are,” he answered, misunderstanding her, and from that day forward Adam called her Maiden May, the rest of the family imitating him, and she without question adopting the name.