t, and I will devote myself to the poor fellow. We have
reason to be very grateful to him."

"Very well, doctor," she laughed. "You must be careful to stew the
leaves very soft."

Then she walked in and commanded the boy to get grass in a bag for a
pillow, declaring merrily that some fishing nets and canvas in the
kitchen would make her a couch fit for a queen.

The poultices certainly soothed, though they did not cure, the sufferer.
This fact Ralph painfully discovered during the long hours of the night.
His limbs were weary, and though the floor at the foot of the
coastguard's bed was hard, he yearned heartily for rest. But the poor
invalid, by whose side the son snored obdurately, hourly implored
relief. Faithful to his word, the nurse, uprose at intervals and put
fresh leaves in the stewpan, warming them on a rustic stove till soft
enough for use. This lasted till day dawn. Then the lad went forth
a-shrimping, and Ralph decided to refresh himself with a plunge in the
sea. Washing utensils, he had discovered, were unknown in Cezambre.

He was speeding down the garden in bathing suit when he caught a glimpse
of his purple dolphin riding the waves.

"I squeezed myself out of the window so as not to wake you," she
spluttered, through the surf. "I thought, _mon cheri_, you would repose
for ever."

"The old man is very thankful to you for your prescription." He avoided
the confession of his night's unrest. "We must gather some more of those
herbs to-day."

"Perhaps, but not till evening. You don't know that we must hide. There
may come strangers for trips on boats from St Servan, and one is never
sure."

"Your people?"

"Oh no; they would do nothing so _roturier_--English and Americans----"

"They would not know us; you forget what a good gamin my noble lady
makes."

"I did forget," she chuckled. "I will dig potatoes, and you may take the
boy to the other side of the island. The strangers only go there to
stare one moment at the rocks and cry 'Oh!'"

When at midday the trippers landed at Cezambre, they saw no one but an
urchin bent double over a spade. His face was covered with mud, some of
which was also spattered on the floss silk of his hair.

A tourist addressed him, and received a reply in broad _patois_ which he
could not understand.

The youth was very voluble, despite the irresponsiveness of the
audience; he waved his hand indicating the beauties of the island with
an air of ownership. Now and t