Won from the Waves

by William Henry Giles Kingston

Chapter Forty Six.

A French Professor.

Miles Gaffin had long been absent from Hurlston, though he still retained possession of the mill, which was kept going under charge of Dusty Dick. The lugger, however, had not again made her appearance, and it was supposed by some that she had been lost, but others asserted, and among them Adam Halliburt, that during the war time she had plenty to do in procuring information from France, as well as in carrying it to that country from England, for Jacob had told his father of the papers Gaffin had shown him, and Adam saw no reason why he should keep the matter secret. If such had been Gaffin’s occupation, it for some reason or other came to an end; probably both parties found that he could not be trusted, and he, to avoid being hung or shot as a spy, thought it wise to abandon it, and to betake himself once more to smuggling.

He again appeared one morning at his mill. No one knew whether he had arrived by land or by water. It might have been supposed from his manner, when some grist was brought to be ground, that he had never been absent.

“He will soon be at his old tricks again,” observed Adam, when he heard of his arrival. “He has come here for no good.”

The observation was repeated by the dame to Mr Groocock.

“I will tell you what it is, he won’t be here long at all events. His lease is up in a few months, and though the law won’t let us turn him out, it cannot compel us to keep him there longer than we like,” observed the steward. “He will cease at Michaelmas to be the tenant of Hurlston Mill, and if we cannot get a more honest man to take it, it will certainly be hard to find a greater rogue. I have never been quite satisfied in my mind that he had not something to do with the attack on Mr Harry.”

Gaffin soon made himself acquainted with all that had been going on in the neighbourhood. Harry’s supposed death which he heard as an undoubted fact, gave him great satisfaction.

“As there is no longer a rival in the case, my son may now have a better chance than formerly,” he said to himself. “I will write and get the fellow back; girls don’t wear the willow all their lives, and though she may mope and sigh for a time, she will be ready enough to take a presentable young fellow when he offers himself.”

Miles had been left in France, where he was among those who had been detained when the war broke out. His father, however, knew that he should have no difficulty in getting him back. Meantime, he found him useful in obtaining and transmitting information, though the young man ran no small risk. He had, in the meantime, in his own opinion, become a polished gentleman, with all the graces and airs of a Frenchman.