“No, monsieur, you cannot say that, since it will probably be many days before we meet, and there will soon be many miles between us.”
“Can you lay any discourtesy to my charge since you have been taken this enforced journey?”
“No, M. Dupont; I have been treated with every consideration. I might have preferred a more agreeable maid, but not a more faithful one could I have selected, and of your own conduct, of that of your sailing-master and his men, I have no complaint to make.”
“For that much grace my thanks. I trust that mademoiselle when she is established in the convent will remember me with a little less aversion, and will reflect that, though I may seem at times to have been discourteous, my rudenesses have never been directed to her, and, despite the fact that I have more than once given her no choice in the matter of travel, I have had her own good in view. Perish her enemies! I have taken for my watchword. Father Bisset there tells me that forgiveness is sweeter than revenge.” He looked at her with a little inquiring smile.
Alaine smiled in return. “When I see you again, monsieur, after this long parting, I may be better able to extend my forgiveness, at present——”
“You withhold it. That is not unexpected. Ah-h, France! See, there flies her flag. Does it not thrill your heart to look upon it, Alaine Hervieu?”
She looked up and saw flying from the fort the flag of her native country. For a moment her heart did indeed swell and tears came to her eyes. “Dear France!” she sighed.
“This will seem quite like home to you,” said Father Bisset, diplomatically. “We shall all feel as if we were again under the skies of France. I regret, M. Dupont, that we do not tarry longer. When did I understand you to say that we set sail for the return trip?”
“As soon as possible,” replied François.
“I should like to see something of the town, now we are here,” the old man remarked, with a pensive air.