"But do you remember that charming comedy, le Chandelier, written by a French author, Alfred de Musset? If you do, you will have guessed the drift of what I have already written. The King, with his remarkable shrewdness, and a delicacy very rare amongst the negroes, is diverting all suspicion, and, in order not to compromise me, allows it to be thought that he is in love with Madame de Guéran. Nothing could be more natural.
"Such is the position of affairs—the most powerful King in all Africa is in love with your dearest friend. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and I was quite prepared for it. But I did not anticipate that things would come to such a pitch that he wishes, not only to keep me near him, but my companions also, as well as our escort and bearers.
"Now, have I any right to impede the progress of the caravan, to postpone M. de Guéran's rescue, if he is a prisoner, or to leave any longer in obscurity certain geographical points which our journey towards the south will certainly clear up?
"I do not think so, and, seeing that I am now only annoying, embarrassing, and compromising everybody, I ought to put myself on one side altogether, and sacrifice myself for the public good. I will seek out the King, and will say to him, 'Sire, you ought not to mix my affairs up with those of my friends; if I have done wrong in pleasing you, you should not hold others responsible for my fault. Do not keep them any longer in your dominions; matters of importance compel them to proceed southwards. But, since you do not wish to separate yourself from me, let my destiny be accomplished! I will be your prisoner, your slave, and one day I will be your wife, if some Protestant minister, who may perchance be passing through this country, will only bless our union.'
"Yes, my dear Emily, thus will I speak to him, and he cannot help being touched by my words, or avoid setting my friends at liberty. But I think I hear you exclaim, 'and you, my poor Beatrice, what will become of you in the midst of the eighty legitimate wives of this monarch, to say nothing of his three or four hundred less lawful spouses?"
"On that head do not at all be uneasy. I will soon bring them to reason, and, moreover, the King, since he has loved me, has banished them from his presence, if, indeed, he has not taken leave of them altogether. I shall soon reign with undisputed sway in Munza's heart. I have a noble mission to fulfil by the side of this man, a savage now, but in the future to be civilized by my love. He will blush for his past life, and for the ignorance and sloth he has permitted amongst his subjects. I trust that before another year has passed away he will have earned the title of Munza the Beloved, the father of his people, and that he will have founded in his kingdom many useful institutions. Possibly I may even prevail upon him to renounce his absolute power, and establish Constitutional Government and a parliament!
"In all this I have said nothing about my own feelings, and you will naturally be anxious to know if I, with my delicate and refined tastes, can ever attach myself altogether to this being, exceptional undoubtedly, but, nevertheless, uncultivated and with habits totally opposed to my own?
"I quite recognize the justice of your anxiety, but I will allay it by a word—I love him already!
"Yes, I have no hesitation in confessing it to myself—his appearance, his position—why should I keep that in the background?—the respect paid to him by all, the almost worship of which he is the object, have all made a singular impression on me. Is our love ever entirely free from vanity? Lastly, his great love moved me—how could it have been otherwise?
"Do not be hard upon your friend, nor reproach her with inconstancy. Spare me your reproaches, and do not ever mention the names of MM. de Morin, Périères, and Delange. I really did imagine myself in love with them one after the other, but, good heavens! what a mistake I made! I never felt for them as I feel now! And how far, how very far, are these more or less fair haired, blue-eyed, ordinary men, removed from—my Munza!