"Seen and heard the Zouave," rejoined the young girl, laughing.
"But I can assure you—he came—I am not answerable—the garden-wall—"
"I know, I know, Mamma Caraman," interrupted Clary. "You do not think that I am going to reproach you? So Coucou goes to Algiers?"
"Yes, in order to search for Captain Joliette; the count—"
"I know all," said Clary, hastily placing her finger upon the governess's lips; "they are going, but it is all chance—"
"Yes, all chance work in a desert. It is terrible! Think only of the simoom, the sand, the Kabyles, and the wild animals!"
"Have you the map of Algiers at hand?"
"Yes, here is the atlas."
Clary knelt close to the chair of the governess, who had the atlas on her lap, and after they had studied minutely all the mountains and deserts of Africa, she suddenly inquired: