Lovely story, thank you!
I just realized that the gentlemen rather underestimated Madelaine in thinking that she was not capable of doing something for herself, other than waiting for rescuers. True, she could not have saved herself on the shipwreck indefinitely, had they not arrived to help, but she did free herself from Fournier's power, managed to avoid detection, procured an ally and even got provisions. Not to mention she managed to write and send off the letters in the first place. She wasn't at all the helpless girl she appeared to them.