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.