Katharine's Dock, but beyond
that I knew nothing. I counted my money. There was just enough to pay for
a cab that would carry me to Hyde Lodge. I should land there penniless.
And what if my cousin Priscilla should refuse to receive me? For a moment
I fancied even that possible; and I pictured myself walking about London,
hungry and homeless.
This was my last journey. I have dwelt upon it longer than I need have
done; but I want you to understand what it is that makes Gustave Lenoble
dear to me. If you could feel the contrast between the past and the
present as I felt it when I stood on the deck of the Dover packet with
him by my side, you would know why I love him, and am grateful to him. We
stood side by side, watching the waves and talking of our future, while
my father enjoyed a nap in one of the little deck cabins. To Gustave that
future seems very bright and clear; to me it seems unutterably strange
that the future _can_ be anything but a dismal _terra incognita_, from
the contemplation of which it is wise to refrain.
Papa stays with Gustave at Cotenoir; but it had been arranged for me to
visit Mademoiselle Lenoble, Gustave's aunt, at Beaubocage, and to remain
with her during my stay in Normandy. I at once understood the delicate
feeling which prompted this arrangement. We dined at Rouen, and came to
Vevinord in a coach. At Vevinord a queer little countrified vehicle met
us, with a very old man, of the farm-servant class, as coachman.
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