Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/151

 there; in three or four days you shall all "be in England, or I am not an honest woman." The signal was given; Whitehurst and Mansell promptly joined,—when, attempting to congratulate each other upon this auspicious occasion, our hearts were so overpowered with joy that we could scarcely articulate; the tear of gratitude trickled down the cheek, whilst the hand of friendship simultaneously met that of its neighbour; even the old woman, (notwithstanding her vivacity) could not refrain from participating in our feelings.

After cutting the money, amounting to about £20 out of our collars, to let our hostess see we were not pennyless: we sat down to breakfast before a comfortable fire. She afterwards conducted us into a hay-loft, over a back room which was never made use of in winter, so that we were now in comparative safety; dependant, indeed, on the sincerity of the family: it was not, however, probable, they would prove treacherous; for, exclusively of the woman's apparent devotion to the English, the sum we proffered, so