se of the wind, had
made hoarse.

She had indeed noticed a strong, peculiar odor of herbs and aromatic
plants.

"It's Corsica that smells like that, madame," went on the captain. "She
has a perfumed breath, just like a pretty woman. I am a Corsican, and I
should know that smell five miles off, if I'd been away twenty years.
Over there, at St. Helena, I hear he is always speaking of the perfume
of his country; he belongs to my family."

And the captain took off his hat and saluted Corsica, and then, looking
across the ocean, he saluted the great emperor who was a prisoner on
that far-away isle, and Jeanne's heart was touched by this simple
action. Then the sailor pointed towards the horizon.

"There are the Sanguinaires," he said.

Julien had his arm round his wife's waist, and they both strained their
eyes to see what the captain was pointing out. As last they saw some
pointed rocks that the boat rounded before entering a large, calm bay,
surrounded by high mountains, whose steep sides looked as though they
were covered with moss.

"That is the undergrowth," said the captain, pointing out this verdure.

The circle of mountains seemed to close in behind the boat as she slowly
steamed across the azure water which was so transparent that in places
the bottom could be seen. Ajaccio came in sight; it was a white town at
the foot of the mountains, with a few small Italian boats lying at
anchor in the harbor, and four or five row-boats came beside the _Roi
Louis_ to take off the passengers. Julien, who was looking after the
luggage, asked his wife in a low tone:

"A franc is enough, isn't it, to give the steward?"

The whole week he had been constantly asking her this question which she
hated.

"When you don't know what is enough, give too much," she answered, a
little impatiently.

He haggled with every one, landlords and hotel-waiters, cabmen and
shopmen, and when he had obtained the reduction he wanted, he would rub
his hands, and say to Jeanne: "I don't like to be robbed." She trembled
when the bills were brought, for she knew beforehand the remarks he
would make on each item, and felt ashamed of his bargaining; and when
she saw the scornful look of the servants as her husband left his small
fee in their hands, she blushed to the roots of her hair. Of course he
had a discussion with the boatmen who took them ashore.

The first tree she saw on landing was a palm, which delighted her. They
went to a big empty