United States or Kyrgyzstan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Alencon Barre gave his word as a man of honour that the matter should be sacred to him. As they sat there, a messenger came from the commandant to say that the detachment was to start that afternoon for Bompari. Then a note was handed to Shorland from Governor Rapont offering him a horse and a native servant if he chose to go with the troops. This was what Shorland had come for news and adventure.
They put it in the room where dead people are. Have you ever been to the Morgue in Paris? They use it there." She took up the portrait. "Look," she said, "how his face is torn! Tell me of him." "First, who are you?" She steadied herself. "Who are you?" she asked. "I am his friend, Blake Shorland." "Yes, I remember your name." She threw her hands up with a laugh, a bitter hopeless laugh.
And why did she act so, when she saw the portrait? I do not understand English well, and it was not quite clear." Shorland had a clear conviction that he ought to take Alencon Barre into his confidence.
A pause, in which the cries of the wounded came through the smoke, and then the dying man, feeling the approach of another convulsion, said: "A cigarette, mon ami." Blake Shorland put a cigarette between his lips and lighted it. "And now a little wine," the fallen soldier added. The surgeon, who had come again for a moment, nodded and said: "It may help."
The eyes will become blind, and then they will open, and ah!" His fingers closed convulsively on those of Blake Shorland. When the ghastly tremor, the deadly corrosions of the poisoned spear passed he said: "So so! It is the end. C'est bien, c'est bien!" All round them the fight raged, and French soldiers were repeating English bravery in the Soudan.
Again the teeth of the devouring poison fastened on him, and, when it left him, a grey pallor had settled upon the face. Blake Shorland said to him gently: "How do you feel about it all?" As if in gentle protest the head moved slightly. "All's well, all's well," the low voice said.
And why did she act so, when she saw the portrait? I do not understand English well, and it was not quite clear." Shorland had a clear conviction that he ought to take Alencon Barre into his confidence.
But Shorland, heavy at heart, looked at her and said nothing more. He wondered why it was that he did not loathe her. Somehow, even in her shame, she compelled a kind of admiration and awe. She was the wreck of splendid possibilities.
"But Henri Durien is a prisoner for life; he cannot hear of the marriage unless you tell him. M. Barre is a gentleman: he is my friend; his memory will be dead like you." "For M. Barre, well! But the other Henri. How do you know that he is here for life? Men get pardoned, men get free, men get free, I tell you." Shorland noticed the interrupted word.
He had come to study French government in New Caledonia, to gauge the extent of the menace that the convict question bore towards Australia, and to tell his tale to Australia, and to such other countries as would listen. The task was not pleasant, and it had its dangers, too, of a certain kind. But Shorland had had difficulty and peril often in his life, and he borrowed no trouble.
Word Of The Day