nt in holiday-time, and Bessie was better
pleased at Bayeux than she had thought it possible to be. The canon
proved to be the most genial of old clergymen. He knew all the romance
of French history, and gave Bessie more instruction in their peripatetic
lectures about that drowsy, ancient city than she could have learnt in a
year of dull books. Then there was Queen Matilda's famous tapestry to
study in the museum, a very retired, rustic nook, all embowered in
vines. Bessie also practised sketching, for Bayeux is rich in bits of
street scenery--gables, queer windows, gateways, flowery balconies. And
she was asked into society with madame, and met the gentlefolks who kept
their simple, retired state about the magnificent cathedral. Before
Bayeux palled she was carried off to Luc-sur-Mer, the canon going too,
also in the care of madame his niece.

Bessie's regret next to that for home was for the loneliness of Janey
Fricker, left with Miss Foster in the Rue St. Jean. She wished for Janey
to walk with her in the rough sea-wind, to bathe with her, and talk with
her. One morning when the sun was glorious on the dancing waves, she
cried out her longing for her little friend. The next day Janey arrived
by the diligence. Mr. Fairfax had given madame _carte blanche_ for the
holiday entertainment of his granddaughter, and madame was glad to be
able to content her so easily. Luc-sur-Mer is not a place to be
enthusiastic about. Its beauty is moderate--a shelving beach, a
background of sand-hills, and the rocky reef of Calvados. The canon took
his gentle paces with a broad-brimmed abbe from Avranches, and madame
was happy in the society of a married sister from Paris. The two girls
did as they pleased. They were very fond of one another, and this
sentiment is enough for perfect bliss at their age. Bessie had never
wavered in her protecting kindness to Janey, and Janey served her now
with devotion, and promised eternal remembrance and gratitude.

When a fortnight came to an end at Luc-sur-Mer, Bessie returned to
Bayeux, and Janey went back to the Rue St. Jean. Before the school
reopened came into port at Caen the Petrel, and John Fricker, the
master-mariner, carried away his daughter. Janey left six lines of
hasty, tender adieu with Miss Foster for her friend, but no address. She
only said that she was "Going to sail with father."

CHAPTER XII.

_IN COURSE OF TIME._

For days, weeks, months the memory of lost Janey Fricke