They Would Not Go With Me Alone,
Which I Wanted Them To Have Done, Because I Wished To Dismiss The
Sailors As Soon As Possible.
Once more we rowed off, they following
tardily, till, turning round another bold protuberance of the rocks,
we saw a boat making towards us, and soon learnt that it was the
lieutenant himself, coming with some earnestness to see who we were.
To save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage instantly
removed into his boat; for, as he could speak English, a previous
parley was not necessary, though Marguerite's respect for me could
hardly keep her from expressing the fear, strongly marked on her
countenance, which my putting ourselves into the power of a strange
man excited. He pointed out his cottage; and, drawing near to it, I
was not sorry to see a female figure, though I had not, like
Marguerite, been thinking of robberies, murders, or the other evil
which instantly, as the sailors would have said, runs foul of a
woman's imagination.
On entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house, with
some degree of rural elegance. The beds were of muslin, coarse it
is true, but dazzlingly white; and the floor was strewed over with
little sprigs of juniper (the custom, as I afterwards found, of the
country), which formed a contrast with the curtains, and produced an
agreeable sensation of freshness, to soften the ardour of noon.
Still nothing was so pleasing as the alacrity of hospitality - all
that the house afforded was quickly spread on the whitest linen.
Remember, I had just left the vessel, where, without being
fastidious, I had continually been disgusted.
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