Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/225

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

stay on the continent. To be accompanied and protected by an amiable and innocent little girl, rendered doubly engaging, by the deep interest she manifested in my fate; to be thus escorted through a hostile town, where, if known, I should have been chained by the neck, and cast into its darkest dungeon; to be accosted with the appellation of "frère," imperceptibly growing into "mon cher frère;" ("Honi soit qui mal y pense")—was, indeed, an interesting novelty—a change of circumstances, which could not fail to excite the most lively feelings of gratitude and esteem, and which I shall ever think and speak of with the most pleasing recollections. I felt myself bound to be particularly circumspect in my deportment. It was necessary to maintain a certain degree of easy vivacity, without being too forward; for this might have been considered as taking advantage of the confidence reposed in me; whilst, being reserved, would have appeared cold and insensible to the value of her protection. In one of our promenades, during the two days we were at Ghent, we met