"At Valence, about 7 a.m., at the announcement by the porters that
the train would stop for four minutes, the whole carriage full
yawned, stretched themselves, passed their hands over their eyes,
hair, and moustaches, made a kind of cursory toilet, and at last woke
up completely. The windows were let down, and a miniature southern
sun, the timid precursor of the burning rays of Africa, infused a
little warmth into us.
"It was only after having had a good look at, and recognized each
other, and said good-morning, that we began to chat. On the previous
evening, weariness and want of spirits had prevented our being very
communicative, but, now, as soon as the power of speech had come back
to us, I asked MM. de Morin and Delange for some information as to
their game at écarté. They had no idea that I was fully aware of all
their doings and sayings, and they laughingly told me that the result
of the play was in favour of the doctor.
"'A thousand francs?' said I. 'And did you leave off at midnight?'
"'Yes, but how—'
"'In my corner I heard all that passed, but when you spoke of a
contract which you were bound to fulfil I allow that I did not
understand you.'
"'We will soon unravel that mystery,' said M. de Morin, 'and the more
so because this is not the last time we shall play. We shall do it
every day, and it would be too bad to puzzle you any longer.'
"And with a grace of manner which is quite natural to him, the young
painter gave me a detailed account of his agreement with M. Delange.
I saw at once that the latter is a gambler at heart, and, as I do not
like that, he has fallen in my esteem. It is not that I am very
particular, for, as you know full well, my dear Emily, I have seen so
much of the world and its lights and shades, and so many crimes have
been perpetrated under my very eyes in this dear Africa, whither I am
returning entirely of my own free will, that I am naturally inclined
to err on the side of indulgence, and to place a love of play in the
category of minor offences. But, as a woman, I have a grudge against
M. Delange, seeing that he might very well dispense with his gambling
whilst in our society. Madame de Guéran and I are sufficiently
engaging, and we have attractions enough, both intellectual and
physical, to make it easy for him to sacrifice his love for cards.
By-and-bye I may forgive him, but at this present moment both his
friends occupy a higher place than he does in my esteem.
"I really have not anything to say about our stay in Marseilles,
because nothing of importance happened there. We only spent one whole
day in the place, Saturday, and on Sunday, at 9 a.m., we embarked on
board one of the magnificent steamers belonging to the _Messageries
Maritime_, which plies to India and China.
"Neither have I anything to tell you of our trip across. Amongst the
passengers were a number of our fellow-countrymen, on their way to
Calcutta and Singapore, some Dutch going to Java, and a great many
French, principally from Marseilles, with whom Mohammed-Abd-el-Gazal
got on famously.
"We reached Naples in about forty hours, and three days afterwards
landed in Egypt. The weather throughout was magnificent, and the
Mediterranean as calm as the Thames. We, all of us, were wonderfully
well except the faithful Joseph, who, as he did not deny himself
anything, fell a victim to sea-sickness. How did he contrive to be
ill, if the sea was so calm? you will ask. I really do not know; his
ways are not our ways. If only he would have conducted his sickness
in a discreet and poetical manner, as I have myself often done, and
wholesale, too! But no—his sickness was of the most intrusive and
prosaic character. My dear Emily, these common people cannot do
anything gracefully, whereas an English girl who has been well
brought up, on the contrary, elevates even the most trivial things.
"The trip to me, indeed, was simply enchanting. I gazed once more on
the clear, blue sky, without which I can no longer exist. Africa knew
me again, and overflowing with loving care, wafted me her sweetest
odours. At length T was no longer shut up in a box, as I had been in
Paris and Marseilles; I could tread the deck from stem to stern. My
feet were carried away with delight, and walked—oh! how they walked!
According to the calculations of M. Périères, who made a regular
study of me, and, every now and then, without my knowing it, fastened
a pedometer to my back, I walked about forty miles a day, from end to
end of the ship.
"Very often, even at night, when the heavens were studded with
twinkling stars, I resumed my walk after supper. The passengers who
had betaken themselves to their cabins and wished to sleep,
complained more than a little of the noise I made over their heads.
But that did not affect me in the least; I am above all those petty
considerations, and the deck is open to all the world. One evening,
however, as I was walking, from choice, on the poop, I heard, just as
I was over one of the starboard cabins, a voice immediately beneath
me. 'Oho!' thought I to myself, 'here we have a fractious kind of
sleeper. Wait a bit, my friend, and I'll teach you to knock like that
and try to impose silence on a British female!' And with that,
instead of going farther away, I began to stamp above that ill-advised
cabin.
"'What are you doing, Miss Beatrice?' said M. Périères, as he joined
me. 'You are right on the top of Madame de Guéran's cabin. She
recognized you by the airy lightness of your step, and knocked to ask
you to go down and speak to her.'
"I was rather taken aback, but I put an end to my promenade, went
down to the Baroness, and had a conversation with her which gave me
food for much reflection.
"'I beg your pardon. Miss Poles,' said Madame de Guéran, 'for having
interrupted your nocturnal walk, but I thought you would not mind
giving me a few moments of your time.'
"'Certainly, madame. I am entirely at your orders,' I hastened to
reply. 'It was you, then, whose sleep I was disturbing?'
"'You would most assuredly have disturbed it,' said the Baroness,
laughing, 'if I had had the slightest inclination that way; but I am
very much preoccupied, and that has kept me awake. Tell me,' she
continued brusquely, 'you, who, like myself, have been brought into
contact with so many travellers, have you not noticed how very easily
all sorts of rumours gain credence about them in Europe? Amongst
other things, do you remember what was said about Edward Vogel?'
"'No,' I replied, 'for once my really marvellous memory is at fault.'
"'Well,' continued the Baroness, 'I have collected, on purpose to
show them to you, a series of papers relating to that celebrated
traveller, who was one of my father's firmest friends. I can only
now, as you may imagine, give you the gist of them. On the 14th
December, 1857, the English Vice-Consul at Khartoum, Mr. Green, gave
his Government the following information.* Dr. Vögel, after reaching
the Waday territory, was at first very well received by the Sultan.
But in the outskirts of Warra there is a holy mountain, the ascent of
which is forbidden to the whole world. This mountain Vögel attempted
to ascend, and he was at once arrested and put to death.'
* Vögel, on arriving at Bomon, was anxious to secure the protection
of somebody of influence, and he was recommended to apply to the
Vizier Germa, a cousin of the Sultan. Scarcely had he been presented
to this individual than the latter requested the gift of Vögel's
horse, a very valuable animal. Vögel refused, and his death was at
once resolved upon. He was accused of having entered the country for
the purpose of bewitching it, and of writing with a pen without ink
(a pencil, in reality), and on the fifth day after his arrival Germa
made an appearance before his house, accompanied by an armed escort,
Vögel was summoned to come out, under the pretext that the Sultan had
asked for him, and he fell under the blows of these murderers.
"'You see,' said the Baroness, handing me an English newspaper, 'that
the news is quite official, and Lord Clarendon informed his Queen of
it. But, on the 29th of June, 1860, another account, equally
official, was sent to the Humboldt Institution.'
"'What do you say to these two versions?' asked Madame le Guéran.
"'If they do not exactly coincide,' I replied, 'in all their details,
they at all events both end after the same fashion.'
"'But there is still a third version, to which in England great
importance has been attached for some considerable time, and
according to it Vögel is simply a prisoner in Bomon. An expedition
has even set out in search of him.'
"'All the same, his death is very plainly proved.'
"'I agree with you, but you must remember that the existence of
Livingstone has just been established, and for him we have already
worn mourning two or three times, and each time in consequence of
reports worthy of all credence.'
"'To what does all this tend?' asked I.
"She looked at me, did not answer a single word, and, a few moments
afterwards, without deigning to explain herself more fully, allowed
me to retire.
"I resumed my walk on deck, so that I might reflect on the singular
interview in which I had just borne a part."