Through those summer weeks of 1803 Polly was longing for Captain Ivor to come home. It was sad to think of him as a prisoner, forced to stay against his will in a foreign land. She knew, too, that any day Jack might be ordered off elsewhere; and one day, as she had feared, he rushed in, to tell them that he would be leaving immediately for Shornecliffe Camp, there to await Napoleon's first attempt to land on English soil.
The news was less a matter of congratulation for them than for Jack himself. At Sandgate he would be in the very forefront of the peril which threatened the land. Mrs. Fairbank had to rub her large horn spectacles more than once; and she was disposed to blame Jack for not referring the question to herself, before he accepted the offer of an exchange. Molly looked curiously at Jack, and asked--
"Are you glad to say good-bye to us all?"
"Not glad to say good-bye, but glad to be going. People must say good-bye sometimes, Molly. And I shall be fighting under one of the best and bravest men that ever lived. Would not you like that?"
Molly shook her head. "If Roy was here, I should never want to go away," she said decisively. "But if you care more for General Moore than for us----"
"Pooh! What nonsense!" retorted Jack; and Polly exclaimed--
"Molly, how can you say such a thing? Jack wants to be one of the first to fight in defence of England. Do you not see? It is but right. He would be no true soldier, otherwise. If Captain Ivor were but free to do the same! Yes, indeed, I do wish it! It is terrible for him to be cut off from action--but not for Jack to wish to be foremost. O fie, Molly dear, you must have more sense."
"Polly always understands," murmured Jack; and Molly would have given much at the moment to have had those words spoken of herself. She hung her head and was mute. Tender-hearted Polly could never endure to see anyone sad or abashed, and her hand stole into Molly's as she went on--
"But Molly will understand now. Jack, she and I have this morning learnt by heart a verse of Mr. Walter Scott's, which 'tis said he has but just writ. Molly, you shall say the words to Jack, for they are brave words. Hold up your head, dear, and speak out, as an Englishwoman should."