"Did you, before you started, receive my last letter, dated from
Khartoum, in which I spoke of M. de Guéran?"
"No," said he, surprised. "What did you tell me about him?"
"I told you," she replied tremblingly, "that, according to the latest information, my husband was still living, and that I had every reason to hope that I should find him."
"Ah!" said he, paler than ever. "And have you found him?"
"Yes, but to lose him for ever, if you do not succeed in saving him."
"If he can be saved," he murmured, "I will save him!"
CHAPTER XXIX.
Madame de Guéran led Dr. Desrioux to the side of the wounded man. He knelt down on the grass, and looked fixedly for a long time at the man he was called upon to restore to life. The lover had vanished, and the man of science reappeared on the scene.
By the time he had risen, all the Europeans had come up and formed a single group. He drew Dr. Delange aside and was about to converse with him in an undertone, when Madame de Guéran stopped him and said—
"I wish to know the truth. Speak; I am strong enough to hear anything you may have to say."