"Yes, she left the ball with a pretty girl."
"Left the ball! But, my friend, she is Mary-Ann's mother!"
"Be calm! we will find them again. I will have you presented by the American Minister."
"That is the very thing! I will show you my uncle, Edward Sharper. I left him here. Where in the devil has he hidden? He ought not to be far away!"
Uncle Edward had disappeared. I dragged poor Harris to the Place des Palais, before the Hotel des Etrangers. Mrs. Simons' apartments were lighted. At the end of a few moments the lights were extinguished. Everyone had gone to bed.
"Let us do the same," Harris suggested. "Sleep will calm you. To-morrow between one and two, I will arrange your affairs."
I passed a night much worse than those of my captivity. Harris slept with me, or rather, he did not sleep. We heard the carriages coming from the ball, descend Rue d'Hèrmes with their freight of uniforms and toilets. About five o'clock, weariness closed my eyes. Three hours afterwards, Dimitri entered my room and said:
"Great news! Your Englishwomen have gone!"
"Where?"
"To Trieste."