The Solitary of Juan Fernandez

Xavier Boniface Saintine was a 19th century French novelist and dramatist. Saintine was a prolific dramatist, and collaborated on more than 200 pieces with Eugène Scribe. The Solitary of Juan Fernandez, or the Real Robinson Crusoe was written in 1851. The story begins in a Scottish inn where Kitty, the innkeeper, meets a sailor. 'Listen to me, Kate, and do not reply hastily. I came here, not like many others, attracted by your beautiful eyes, but because I wished to obtain recruits for an approaching voyage which I expected to undertake at my own risk and peril. I do not know how it has happened, but I now think less about sailing; I seem to be stumbling over roots. Right or wrong, I imagine that a good little wife, who will fill my glass while I am tranquilly smoking my pipe before a blazing fire, may have as many charms as the best brig in which one may sometimes perish with hunger and thirst. Right or wrong, I imagine to myself again that the prattle of two or three little monkeys around me, may be as agreeable as the sound of the wind howling through the masts, or of Spanish balls whistling about one's ears. All this, Kate, signifies that I mean to marry; and who do you suppose has put this pretty whim into my head? who, but yourself? This is where the adventure begins.