“I shall be able to fulfil your wishes, for the Admiralty have appointed me to the command of the Triton, 38-gun frigate, ordered to be fitted out with all despatch at Portsmouth. Before many weeks are over she will, I hope, be ready for sea. I shall have to take my leave of you, Sir Reginald, sooner than I expected. I must go down at once to look after her. Harry need not join till I send for him.”
“I congratulate you, Fancourt,” said Sir Reginald, “though I am sorry that your visit should be cut short.” The great battle was the subject of conversation for the remainder of the day, every one eagerly looking forward to the arrival of the newspapers the next morning for fuller particulars.
Chapter Seven.
The Casteltons and Gouls.
In those days, when coaches only ran on the great high roads, and postal arrangements were imperfect, even important news was conveyed at what would now be considered a very slow rate.
Adam knew no one in London to whom he could write about the little girl he had saved from the wreck, and many days passed before he could get to Morbury, the nearest town to Hurlston. It was a place of some importance, boasting of its mayor and corporation, its town-hall and gaol, its large parish church, and its broad high street.
Adam first sought out the mayor, to whom he narrated his story. That important dignitary promised to do all in his power through his correspondents in London to discover the little girl’s friends, but warned him that, as during war time the difficulties of communication with foreign countries were so great, he must not entertain much hope of success. “However, you can in the meantime relieve yourself of the care of the child by sending her to the workhouse, or if you choose to take care of her, her friends, when they are found, will undoubtedly repay you, though I warn you they are very likely, after all, not to be discovered,” he added.
“Send the little maiden to the workhouse!” he exclaimed, as, quitting Mr Barber’s mansion, he pressed his hat down on his head; “no, no, no; and as to being repaid by her friends, if it was not for her sake, I only hope they may never be found.”