The 10th of October arrived, and everything was in readiness for a
start. The day of departure was fixed, and berths engaged for Egypt
on board one of those magnificent steamers belonging to the
Messageries Company, leaving Marseilles at 9 a.m. on each alternate
Sunday.
Madame de Guéran, who was especially anxious to avoid attracting
attention to herself, had begged her companions to make their
preparations with as little fuss as possible, and, above all things,
to keep the newspapers in the dark. They respected her wishes, and
not a word appeared in print. But the "cat was let out of the bag,"
proverbially speaking, in England, where, for some time past, she had
asked for advice and information of all kinds.
In London, at the latest meeting of the Royal Geographical Society,
the President, after having given a brief account of the journeys of
the Baron de Guéran, alluded to his labours, and touched upon his
death, so disastrous in the interests of science and so wanting in
confirmation from official sources, mentioned the intention of Madame
de Guéran to penetrate into the interior of Africa, as far as the
spot where her husband had perished. He also called attention to the
fact that the intending traveller, although the widow of a Frenchman,
and residing in Paris, was an Englishwoman, and the daughter of one
of the original members of the Society. He concluded by wishing, on
behalf of himself and all present, the expedition every success.
Following the example thus set by England, the Geographical Society
of Paris thought fit also to devote a few lines, in its journal of
October, 1872, to Madame de Guéran and her companions. It spoke of
the journeys already made by Miss Beatrice Poles with Mdlle. Tinne,
and even mentioned Joseph, describing him, from information
afterwards suspected to have been supplied by himself—
Mohammed Abd-el-Gazal, dragoman.
It was on the 14th October, 1872, that the new band of explorers met
at the Lyons Railway Station to take the express to Marseilles, and
every one was there to the moment.
Several persons, relations and intimate friends, were there to see
them off, and, in a corner of the waiting-room, might be seen an Arab
and a negress, who would not let Mohammed go without some mark of
their tender regret.
Dr. Desrioux and his mother, who, for some days past had been
frequent visitors at the house of Madame de Guéran, were also at the
station, and obtained permission to accompany the Baroness on to the
platform. When the guard's whistle sounded, Madame Desrioux, pointing
to her son, pressed Madame de Guéran's hand affectionately, and
whispered—
"I thank you for having left him to me."
Laura made no reply, but, pale as death and with her eyes filled with
tears, she hurried into the carriage to hide her emotion. The whistle
of the engine sounded, and the train moved off. For a long time M.
Desrioux followed it with his eyes, standing motionless and sad, and
his mother had to take hold of his arm to induce him to leave the
station. As soon as he was alone with her in the carriage which took
them home, this man of science, this man, supposed to be superior to
every weakness, cried like a child.
And in the meanwhile, the train which was conveying the new African
explorers sped on its way. The journey had begun.