I met the men of Monsieur le Cure. They brought
me here. I am full of woe. But I return not to France. Better
to risk my life in these horrible places than to know the Bagne.'
He paused, and we nearly choked with laughter, having to turn
our faces away.
'Ah! you weep, messieurs,' he said. 'No wonder -- it is a sad
story.'
'Perhaps,' said Sir Henry, 'the heroic blood of your
grandparent will triumph after all; perhaps you will still be
great. At any rate we shall see. And now I vote we go to bed.
I am dead tired, and we had not much sleep on that confounded
rock last night.'
And so we did, and very strange the tidy rooms and clean white
sheets seemed to us after our recent experiences.
CHAPTER V
UMSLOPOGAAS MAKES A PROMISE
Next morning at breakfast I missed Flossie and asked where she was.
'Well,' said her mother, 'when I got up this morning I found
a note put outside my door in which -- But here it is, you can
read it for yourself,' and she gave me the slip of paper on which
the following was written: --
'Dearest M--, -- It is just dawn, and I am off to the hills to
get Mr Q-- a bloom of the lily he wants, so don't expect me till
you see me. I have taken the white donkey; and nurse and a couple
of boys are coming with me -- also something to eat, as I may
be away all day, for I am determined to get the lily if I have
to go twenty miles for it.
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