14 THE SHIPWRECK,

that he hardly heard the reproach which, however calm
he might have been, would, at any other time, have suf-
ficed to extort a blush from him. ‘

Captain Henry, Baron D’Ermincourt, had just written
to his brother-in-law that he would sail from Brest, in less
than a month, in command of the Achilles, a hundred gun
ship; and that he hoped his brave nephew, the young
Count Charles D’Estaing, would once more accompany
him to victory. “I am impatient to be off,” he wrote,
“and doubtless my dear nephew is as anxious for it as
myself. Meanwhile, to prevent the interim from hanging
heavy on him, I send him a little pleasure boat, as well
built as it is in my power to get. He may amuse himself
in mancuvring with her on your quiet little lake: not
that I approve of smooth water navigation, but because,
for a sailor, it is better than chasing with dogs and horses
some poor innocent hare or fox.”

Count Charles was then told that his pretty boat was
already at the nearest landing on his father’s domain, and
that a wagon had been sent to transport it to the chateau.
At this very moment a servant entered, and announced
that the boat had arrived, and was now on the shore, so
placed that it might be launched into the water without