"Perhaps he met a contrary wind in that region," said Christobal,
laughing. "Monsieur de Poincilit here, were he in a very bad temper,
might exclaim, 'Mille diables!' Why should not our excellent Fernando
rail against the almost inconceivable fickleness which could be
displayed by eleven times as many young ladies?"
"I came out last time on the _Orellana_, and I don't even remember
passing such a place," said Isobel. She was a Chilean born and bred,
but she always affected European vagueness as to the topography of
South America. Dr. Christobal knew this weakness of hers; he also
remembered her beautiful half-caste mother, from whom Isobel inherited
her flashing eyes, her purple-red lips, and a skin in which the
exquisite flush of terra-cotta on her checks merged into the delicate
pallor of forehead and neck.
But, being a tactful man, he only answered: "Your English sailors, my
dear, who gruffly dubbed the adjacent point 'Cape Dungeness,' have
shortened Magellan's mouthful into 'Cape Virgins.'--Yet, Ursula was a
British saint, and her memory ought to be revered, if only because it
keeps alive a classic pun.
Pages:
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36