ANGELIQUE. 259 



dubiously for a. noment, she held out her band, 

 and said in a voice full of serious kindness, " Well, 

 I be your friend, Jack." 



I did not put my arms round her neck and ki 

 her, as I should have done had I followed tke im- 

 pulse of my heart. But I thanked her deeply for 

 all the sympathy which was expressed in her sim- 

 ple words, and in her yet more child-like counte- 

 nance. Hailing a boatman who was standing at 

 the gangway, she bade him bring to us some 

 fruit which she had in his boat, and over this and 

 my dinner of boiled rice, Angelique and I sealed 

 a friendship which lasted during my seven month's 

 stay upon the island. 



She had come on board to see her brother, who 

 had sailed as carpenter of the vessel six months 

 before. He had been drowned on the outward 

 passage ; to which untoward accident I owed my 

 ready acceptance by the captain, at Mahe*, as well 

 as, I suppose, the sudden friendship Angelique had 

 contracted for myself. 



" Poor Charles," said she, while tears filled hor 

 eyes, " somebody else will feel as sorry as I do, 

 when she hears of his death. But Marie will not 

 be long away from him." 



She was oveijoyed when she learned that my 

 name was also Charles, and in the simplicity of 

 her heart at once pronounced our meeting Provi- 

 dential. While we were yet talking she eagerly 

 laying out plans for my stay on shore, as though 

 we had known each other for years the captain 



