His own father has refused to see him,
although he was mainly the cause of it; and his mother, who was Erle
Twemlow's nurse, is almost out of her mind with grief. A braver young
man never lived, and he was once the pride of Springhaven. He saved poor
Dolly from drowning, when she was very young, and the boat upset. His
father chastised him cruelly for falling under bad influence. Then he
ran away from the village, and seems to have been in French employment.
But he was kept in the dark, and had no idea that he was acting against
his own country."
"He has been a traitor," said Lord Nelson, sternly. "I cannot help such
a man, even for your sake."
"He has not been a traitor, but betrayed," cried Faith; "he believed
that his only employment was to convey private letters for the poor
French prisoners, of whom we have so many hundreds. I will not contend
that he was right in that; but still it was no very great offence.
Even you must have often longed to send letters to those you loved in
England; and you know how hard it is in war time. But what they really
wanted him for was to serve as their pilot upon this coast. And the
moment he discovered that, though they offered him bags of gold to do
it, he faced his death like an Englishman. They attempted to keep him
in a stupid state with drugs, so that he might work like a mere machine.
But he found out that, and would eat nothing but hard biscuit. They had
him in one of their shallow boats, or prames, as they call them, which
was to lead them in upon signal from the arch-traitor.
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