imitate. That nice but very ponderous lady from the State of
Cincinnati who regarded us from her steamer chair, enjoyed it as much
as did I, and she clapped her large hands as Monsieur le Capitaine
swung me around into the quietness beyond one of the tall chimneys for
smoke from the engine.

"This is good-bye, _mon enfant_, for I leave the ship at dawn
with the tug, so that I do avoid those reporters from newspapers and
the contract conspirators. I have advised Nannette that you go to the
Ritz-Carlton to await your Uncle if he be not upon the dock. I go to
the grain fields of Canada and then to the West of America.... I would
that it could be _au revoir_. Upon a day that shall come,
beautiful lady, perhaps it will be permitted to me to... _Non, vive
la France! A lies vite, chérie _... go while I--I--_Vive la
France_!"

And tears came across my eyes as I did his bidding and left him--to
France. In my heart was a desire to cling to him in a great fear at
being alone to care for the good Nannette and the small Pierre, but I
knew he must travel fast and far on his quest and that for France I
must let him go without--a backward look. Would I find in the great
land of America such another gallant gentleman to care for the fate of
the small Pierre and Nannette and me? What did I know of this cruel
Uncle? Nothing but his hardness of heart. I dreaded the sight of him
that I should find upon the arrival of the ship at the dock, which
would be an answer to the letter I had sent to him to inform him of my
coming, and I spent my long night in hate of him.

With the arrival of the morning came more mines that exploded for me
under the waves of my life that had danced with so little concern