"
"Delores, Senor Mendez, you both remember Stephen Boldero?" Geoffrey
said, turning to them.
"We have never forgotten you," the Spaniard said, shaking hands with
the sailor, "nor how much we owe to you. I sent out instructions
by every ship that sailed to the Indies that inquiries should be
made for you; and moreover had letters sent by influential friends
to the governors of most of the islands saying that you had done
great service to me and mine, and praying that if you were in any
need or trouble you might be sent back to Cadiz, and that any moneys
you required might be given to you at my charge. But we have heard
nought of you from the day when the news came that you had left
the ship in which you went out."
"I have had a rough time of it these five years," Stephen said.
"But I care not now that I am home again and have found my friend
Geoffrey. I arrived in Bristol but last week, and started for London
on the day I landed, mindful of my promise to let his people know
that he was safe and well, and with some faint hope that the capture
of Cadiz had set him at liberty. I got to Hedingham last night,
and if I had been a prince Mr. Vickars and his dame and Sir Lionel
could not have made more of me. They were fain that I should stop
with them a day or two; but when I heard that you were in London and
had married Senora Dolores, and that Senor Mendez was with you --
all of which in no way surprised me, for methought I saw it coming
before I left Cadiz -- I could not rest, but was up at daylight this
morning.
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