He therefore at once turned to with alacrity.
That he would have a hard time of it for a bit he felt sure; for although in Jacques he had evidently found a friend, he saw by the scowling glances of several of the men as he passed near them that the national feeling told heavily against him.

Nor was it surprising that it should be so.

The animosity between the two nations had lasted so long that it had extended to individuals.

Englishmen despised as well as disliked Frenchmen.

They were ready to admit that they might be brave, but considered them as altogether wanting in personal strength.
The popular belief was that they were half-starved, and existed chiefly upon frogs and hot water with a few bits of bread and scraps of vegetables in it which they called soup, and that upon the sea especially they were almost contemptible.