MM. Périères and de Morin lighted their cigars as they descended the
stairs, and then walked arm in arm down the Boulevard Malesherbes, on
their way to the Chaussée D'Antin.
Destined, by virtue of their engagement with Madame de Guéran, to
live together for a long time, they were doing their best to forget
their rivalry, and to think only of the great adventure they were
about to attempt. Though, in the presence of the Baroness, they had
thought it right to assume utter indifference to the dangers which
menaced them, and on which, lest they should ignore them, she laid
such stress, yet, when they found themselves by themselves, they did
not in the least under-rate the serious nature of the undertaking.
They knew, well enough, how noxious the interior of Africa is to
Europeans, and that, out of every ten explorers, three or four at the
outside live to see their native land again, where even they often
succumb to the _sequelæ_ of maladies contracted in that deadly
climate. They called to mind the fate of Richardson and of young
Overweg, barely thirty, who both died, worn out by fever, on the
borders of Bornou; of Vögel, who was assassinated by order of the
Prince of the Waday territory; of Vaudey, the uncle of the brothers
Poncet, who was killed at Gondokoro; of Brun-Eouet, Steudner, and
Lesaint, who died from sickness and over-work; of Mdlle. Tinne, her
mother, and her aunt, the Baroness Van Capellen, and many others
whose names serve to swell the sadly long obituary of African
travellers. They knew, too, that these pioneers of civilization,
these grand missionaries, had, before death released them,
experienced human suffering to its fullest extent. But they were
young, brave, hardy, trusting to luck, anxious to see everything they
could, eager to learn, and, above all, in love. And it was not to be
wondered at that these Parisians, although so difficult to touch, and
so thoroughly on their guard, should have been taken by surprise, so
to speak, by a love as unselfish and sincere as it was sudden. For
they were both of them men of a high order of intellect, with their
hearts in the right place, and though, naturally, they had not been
altogether innocent of the follies of youth, they were far too
refined to allow those follies to take any real hold of them, and so
it happened that when, weary of their mode of life, and heart-whole,
they met Madame de Guéran, they gave themselves up to her without
reflection, without hesitation, charmed by the repose of her beauty,
fascinated by the simple grace of her mind, and obeying an
instinctive necessity for a purifying and ennobling; influence.
She was, indeed, a woman eminently calculated to attract such high-minded,
straightforward natures as these. Putting aside the question
of mere personal beauty, which was, indeed, conspicuous in her, Laura
de Guéran was immeasurably superior to the general run of women, by
reason of the originality and refinement of her mind, her fascinating
conversational talents, her elevated ideas, her reliable judgment,
her artistic nature, her disdain of all beaten tracks and everything
commonplace or conventional, her charity, her courage, her
uprightness, her devotion to her friends, her horror of evil, and her
enthusiasm for good. She had merely said to them—"I am going this
way; come with me." And, subjugated and submissive, they obeyed her,
without troubling themselves very much as to where, or how far they
were going; each of them simply determined not to remain behind
whilst it was in his power to be side by side with Madame de Guéran.
As soon as they reached the Chaussée d'Antin, they gave themselves a
treat by extolling the object of their adoration, and praising her
many merits, and they forgot the dangers of the projected expedition
in the ecstacy of the thought that it would be accomplished with her.
Towards midnight, when they were about to separate, M. Périères said
to M. de Morin—
"Then you take the doctor on your shoulders entirely?"
"Yes, and I am just going to set about the task."
"But you are at your own door; are you going in?
"You have hit it. I am going to recruit my strength so as to bring
him bound hand and foot."
"I don't understand."
"You will, very soon."
"Good-night, my rival."
"Good-night, my friend."