‘So I think the best thing he can do is to go to Melbourne, and see if he can get back to France.’
‘And you, M. Vandeloup?’ asked Dr Gollipeck, who had been listening to the young Frenchman’s remarks with great interest; ‘do you not wish to go to France?’
Vandeloup rose coolly from his chair, and, picking up his book and hat, turned to the doctor.
‘My dear Monsieur,’ he said, leaning up against the wall in a graceful manner, ‘I left France to see the world, so until I have seen it I don’t think it would be worthwhile to return.’
‘Never go back when you have once put your hand to the plough,’ observed Selina, opportunely, upon which Vandeloup bowed to her.
‘Mademoiselle,’ he said, quietly, with a charming smile, ‘has put the matter into the shell of a nut; Australia is my plough, and I do not take my hand away until I have finished with it.’
‘But that deil o’ a Peter,’ said Archie, impatiently.
‘If you will permit me, Madame,’ said Vandeloup, ‘I will write out a cheque for the amount of money due to him, and you will sign it. I will go into Ballarat to-morrow, and get him away to Melbourne. I propose to buy him a box and some clothes, as he certainly is not capable of getting them himself.’
‘You have a kind heart, M. Vandeloup,’ said Madame, as she assented with a nod.
A stifled laugh came from the Doctor, but as he was such an extremely eccentric individual no one minded him.