mmissary made such gestures! He looked so impatient and
so vexed!"

"And did _he_ look vexed, too?"

"Not in the least angry, but severe. So quiet, so majestic he looked,
as he listened to all they said! and when he answered them--Oh, I would
not, for all the island, have his eyes so set upon me!"

"Oh dear, let us make haste, or they will be gone!" cried Euphrosyne.

While Euphrosyne was endeavouring to make her grandfather feel himself
at home and comfortable in the apartment appointed for him by the
Governor, Afra ran to her window, to see if the potentates of the island
were still at their conference. The rose-garden was empty; and she came
back sorrowfully to say so. As she entered the apartment of her guests,
she heard Monsieur Revel sending a message of compliments to the
Commissary, with a request of an audience of a few minutes. The
servants gave as much intimation as they dared of the Commissary being
so particularly engaged, that they had rather be excused carrying this
message. The girls looked at one another, nodded agreement, and
Euphrosyne spoke.

"Suppose, grandpapa, you ask to see the Commander-in-chief. He never
refuses anything that is asked of him: and he can do everything he
wishes. I dare say he will come at once, if you desire it, and if we do
not detain him too long. If he had been in this room once with us, how
safe we should feel!"

"Oh, if we could see him once in this room!" cried Afra.

"Do you suppose I will beg a favour of that ambitious black?" cried
Monsieur Revel. "Do you think I will crave an audience of a fellow who,
for aught I know, may have driven his master's carriage to my door in
the old days?--no, if I cannot see Hedouville, I will take my chance.
Go, fellow! and carry my message," he cried to Pierre.

Pierre returned with the answer which might have been anticipated. The
Commissary was so engaged, there was so much bustle and confusion
throughout his establishment, that no one of his people would deliver
the message.

"That would not have been the answer if--" whispered Euphrosyne to her
friend.

"Shall I venture?--yes, I will--shall I? At least, I will keep upon the
watch," said Afra, as she withdrew.

She presently sent in, with the tray of fruit, a basket of flowers,
which Euphrosyne occupied herself in dressing, exactly as she did at
home, humming the while the airs her grandfather heard her sing every
day. Her devices answered very well. He pre