.

THE STORY OF THE CASTAWAYS.
When River Andrew stated that there were few at Farlingford who knew more of Frenchman than himself, it is to be presumed that he spoke by the letter, and under the reserve that Captain Clubbe was not at the moment on shore.
For Captain Clubbe had known Frenchman since boyhood.
"I understand," said Dormer Colville to him two or three days after the arrival of "The Last Hope," "that the Marquis de Gemosac cannot do better than apply to you for some information he desires to possess.

In fact, it is on that account that we are here." The introduction had been a matter requiring patience.

For Captain Clubbe had not laid aside in his travels a certain East Anglian distrust of the unknown.

He had, of course, noted the presence of the strangers when he landed at Farlingford quay, but his large, immobile face had betrayed no peculiar interest.