uch as might only too possibly be on the way to encounter
Berwick. The expense and difficulty of the journey on the mountain roads
would likewise be great, and it seemed advisable to avoid these dangers
by going by sea. Madame de Bourke eagerly acceded to this plan, her
terror of the wild Pyrenean passes and wilder inhabitants had always been
such that she was glad to catch at any means of avoiding them, and she
had made more than one voyage before.

Estelle was gratified to find they were to go by sea, since Telemachus
did so in a Phoenician ship, and, in that odd dreamy way in which
children blend fiction and reality, wondered if they should come on
Calypso's island; and Arthur, who had read the Odyssey, delighted her and
terrified Ulysse with the cave of Polyphemus. M. de Varennes could only
go with his sister as far as Montpelier. Then he took leave of her, and
the party proceeded along the shores of the lagoons, in the carriage to
the seaport of Cette, one of the old Greek towns of the Gulf of Lyon, and
with a fine harbour full of ships. Maitre Hebert was sent to take a
passage on board of one, while his lady and her party repaired to an inn,
and waited all the afternoon before he returned with tidings that he
could find no French vessel about to sail for Spain, but that there was a
Genoese tartane, bound for Barcelona, on which Madame la Comtesse could
secure a passage for herself and her suite, and which would take her
thither in twenty-four hours.

The town was full of troops, waiting a summons to join Marshal Berwick's
army. Several resplendent officers had already paid their respects to
Madame l'Ambassadrice, and they concurred in the advice, unless she would
prefer waiting for the arrival of one of the French transports which were
to take men and provisions to the army in Spain.

This, however, she declined, and only accepted the services of the
gentlemen so far as to have her passports renewed, as was needful, since
they were to be conveyed by the vessel of an independent power, though
always an ally of France.

The tartane was a beautiful object, a one-decked, single-masted vessel,
with a long bowsprit, and a huge lateen sail like a wing, and the
children fell in love with her at first sight. Estelle was quite sure
that she was just such a ship as Mentor borrowed for Telemachus; but the
poor maids were horribly frightened, and Babette might be heard declaring
she had never engaged herself to be at