PAGANEL'S LAST ENTANGLEMENT.
Eleven days after leaving Tabor Island the Duncan came in sight of the
Australian coast, and anchored in Talcahuana Bay. Five months had elapsed
since her departure from this port, during which time the travelers
had made the circuit of the world on this thirty-seventh parallel.
Their efforts had not been in vain, for they had found the shipwrecked
survivors of the Britannia.
The Duncan, having taken in her necessary stores, skirted the coasts
of Patagonia, doubled Cape Horn, and steamed across the Atlantic. The
voyage was very uneventful. The yacht carried a full complement of
happy people; there seemed to be no secrets on board.
A mystery, however, still perplexed MacNabb. Why did Paganel always
keep hermetically incased in his clothes, and wear a comforter over
his ears? The major longed to know the motive for this singular fancy.
But in spite of his questions, hints, and suspicions, Paganel did not
unbutton his coat.
At last, fifty-three days after leaving Talcahuana, Captain Mangles
descried the lighthouse of Cape Clear. The vessel entered St. George's
Channel, crossed the Irish Sea, and passed into the Frith of Clyde. At
eleven o'clock they anchored at Dumbarton, and early in the afternoon
the travelers reached Malcolm Castle, amidst the hurrahs of their
tenantry and friends.
Thus it was that Harry Grant and his two companions were rescued, and
that John Mangles married Mary Grant in the old cathedral of St. Mungo,
where the Rev. Mr. Morton, who nine months before had prayed for the
rescue of the father, now blessed the union of the daughter with one
of his deliverers. It was arranged that Robert should be a sailor,
like his father and brother-in-law, and that he should continue the
contemplated project of the former, under the munificent patronage of
Lord Glenarvan.
But was Jacques Paganel to die a bachelor? Certainly not; for, after
his heroic exploits, the worthy geographer could not escape celebrity.
His eccentricities (and his abilities) made him much talked of in
Scotland. People seemed as though they could not show him enough
attention.
Just at this time an amiable lady of thirty, none other than the
major's cousin, a little eccentric herself, but still agreeable and
charming, fell in love with the geographer's peculiarities. Paganel was
far from being insensible to Miss Arabella's attractions, yet did not
dare to declare his sentiments. The major accordingly undertook the
part of Cupid's messenger between these two congenial hearts, and even
told Paganel that marriage was "the last blunder" that he could commit.
But the geographer was very much embarrassed, and, strangely enough,
could not summon courage to speak for himself.
[Illustration: Early in the afternoon the travelers reached Malcolm
Castle, amidst the hurrahs of their tenantry and friends.]
"Does not Miss Arabella please you?" MacNabb would say to him.
"Oh, major, she is charming!" cried Paganel,--"a thousand times too
charming for me; and, if I must tell you, would please me better if she
were less so. I should like to find a defect."
"Be easy," answered the major; "she has more than one. The most perfect
woman always has her share. Well, then, Paganel, are you decided?"
"I do not dare."
"But, my learned friend, why do you hesitate?"
"I am unworthy of her!" was the geographer's invariable reply.
At last, one day, driven desperate by the irrepressible major, Paganel
confessed to him, under the pledge of secrecy, a peculiarity that would
facilitate his identification, if the police should ever be on his
track!
"Bah!" exclaimed the major.
"It is as I tell you," persisted Paganel.
"What matter, my worthy friend?"
"Is that your opinion?"
"On the contrary, you are only more remarkable. This adds to your
personal advantages. It makes you the inimitable individual of whom
Arabella has dreamed."
And the major, preserving an imperturbable gravity, left Paganel a prey
to the most acute anxiety.
A short interview took place between MacNabb and the lady, and fifteen
weeks after a marriage was celebrated with great pomp in the chapel of
Malcolm Castle.
[Illustration: Fifteen weeks after a marriage was celebrated with great
pomp in the chapel of Malcolm Castle.]
The geographer's secret would doubtless have remained forever
buried in the abysses of the unknown if the major had not told it to
Glenarvan, who did not conceal it from Lady Helena, who communicated
it to Mrs. Mangles. In short, it reached the ear of Mrs. Olbinett, and
spread.
Jacques Paganel, during his three days' captivity among the Maoris, had
been tattooed from head to foot, and bore on his breast the picture of
an heraldic kiwi with outstretched wings, in the act of biting at his
heart.
This was the only adventure of his great voyage for which Paganel
could never be consoled or pardon the New Zealanders. In spite of the
representations of his friends, he dared not go back to France, for
fear of exposing the whole Geographical Society in his person to the
jests and railleries of the caricaturists.
The return of Captain Grant to Scotland was welcomed as a cause for
national rejoicing, and he became the popular man of old Caledonia. His
son Robert has become a sailor like himself, and, under the patronage
of Lord Glenarvan, has undertaken the plan of founding a Scottish
colony on the shores washed by the Pacific Ocean.