This was his first long absence since his marriage. Half a world away, he fell to thinking much of his young wife who already had suffered so sorely on his account and who had loved him so well; she appeared to him now, at this great distance, under a new aspect.
[CHAPTER XCIV]
In July—the worst month of the southern winter—we left the region of the trade winds and made our way to Valparaiso.
There, I was due to leave the Primauguet and to embark on a large sailing ship which was returning to Brest after a tour round the world.
It was called the Navarin; all the men of our ship who had finished their term of service were embarking on it also: among others, Barrada, who was going to Bordeaux, with his belt lined with gold, to marry his little Spanish sweetheart.
Very abruptly, as always, I said good-bye to Yves, recommending him once more to all, and left for France by way of Cape Horn.
[CHAPTER XCV]
20th October, 1882.
I remember very well this day passed in Brittany. We three, under the grey sky, roaming the woods of Toulven, Marie, Anne and I.
My eyes still dazzled by sun and blue sea, and this Brittany, seen again so quickly and so suddenly for a few brief hours, absolutely as in the dreams we had of it at sea. . . . It seemed to me that I understood its charm for the first time.