The Girls Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 354, October 9, 1886 | Page 4

between Brighton and Rottingdean, and
here Smith insisted on Pierre's remaining in charge of the boat while he
deposited the baby with his friends. Pierre protested against this; but
the carpenter was firm. It would not be safe, he argued, to leave the
boat alone for two or three hours, and he might be gone as long as that;
and there could be no danger in leaving Pierre there, for if anyone did
question him about his business, he would not be able to understand
them, as he knew no English.
Pierre found it was useless to make any further objections, so,
reluctantly handing the baby over to the carpenter, he prepared to make
himself as comfortable as circumstances permitted during Smith's
absence. It was a beautiful warm midsummer evening, but Pierre began
to feel chilly and tired of waiting long before Smith came back, though
he managed to get several naps, curled up in the bottom of the boat. At
last, about eleven o'clock, just as Pierre was getting very nervous, and

dreading every minute that one of the white ladies of Normandy (those
dames blanches who are so cruel to the discourteous) should appear to
him, or a hobgoblin or a ghost, in all of which he was, like most
Norman peasants, a firm believer, to his intense relief he heard the
carpenter whistling in the distance, and a minute or two later Smith
arrived, hot and tired, and by no means in a communicative frame of
mind, only vouchsafing to tell the anxious Pierre that the baby was
safe.
To Léon he was bound to be less reserved, and, according to his own
account, he had had no difficulty in persuading his friend the shepherd
to take charge of the child. He had asked no awkward questions, and
was quite satisfied with the sum of money Smith had left with him.
Léon carefully entered the name and address of the shepherd in his
pocket-book, and then dismissed the matter from his mind, and gave
himself up to enjoying his cruise.
A day or two later they put into Yarmouth, and the arrival of the French
yacht, L'Hirondelle, owner M. Léon de Thorens, was duly mentioned in
the shipping news of the daily papers. Yarmouth was not a place after
Léon's heart, and he would have left the next day, but John Smith had
gone ashore and had not returned, so their departure was delayed at first
for a few hours; but as Smith still did not appear, Léon began to get
anxious, and made inquiries in the town for him, but in vain. At last,
after delaying several days, it became evident the man had deserted,
and finally Léon set sail without him. His intention on leaving Brighton
was to cruise round the coast of Great Britain, visiting the principal
seaports on the way; but on finding Smith did not return, his suspicions
were awakened as to the safety of the child, and he determined to go
back at once to Brighton and see if the child had really been left with
the shepherd whose address Smith had given him.
But that night a dense fog came on, and a day or two later a paragraph
in the English papers announced a collision had taken place off
Harwich with an English trading vessel and the French yacht,
L'Hirondelle, in which the latter sunk at once with all hands, not a soul
remaining to tell the tale, but some life-belts and spars of wood which

were picked up afterwards led to the identification of the yacht, which
was known to have left Yarmouth the morning before the collision took
place.
(To be continued.)

DINNERS FOR TWO.
Many housekeepers complain of the difficulty of providing a change of
dishes where the family is small. Really, the number of things that may
be served for one or two people is very great, but the serving is
important. The writer has endeavoured in the following twenty-four
dinners only to give such dishes as with a little care and attention may
easily be cooked by a general servant with a rather limited knowledge
of cooking. They are also chosen with due regard to expenditure. There
are not any extravagant dishes, no stock meat is required for anything,
nor is any pastry included in any dinner.
In arranging dinners for a number it is easy to give the weights of the
different things that will be required, as there will probably be an
average of appetites, but this is not possible for one or two people; for
where one person will eat nearly a pound of meat, another will only eat
two ounces, so that of quantity the housekeeper must be the best judge,
as she knows the appetites for which she has to