ear mother encouraged me
in this, and later on I frequently went to Freiburg, in the Black Forest,
to get a practical insight into smelting. When I was about nineteen,
however, a message arrived from my father, directing me to return to
France and report myself as a conscript; but against this my mother
resolutely set her face. I fancy my father wanted me to take up the army
as a career, but in deference to my mother's wishes I remained with her
in Switzerland for some time longer. She and I had many talks about my
future, and she at length advised me to take a trip to the East, and see
what the experience of travel would do for me. Neither of us had any
definite project in view, but at length my mother gave me about 7000
francs and I set out for Cairo, intending eventually to visit and make
myself acquainted with the French possessions in the Far East. My idea
was to visit such places as Tonkin, Cochin-China, Madagascar, Mauritius,
Seychelles, &c. My mother was of the opinion that if I saw a bit of the
world in this way I would be more inclined to settle down at home with
her at the end of my wanderings. The primary cause of my going away was
a little love episode. Whilst at Montreux I fell in love with a charming
young lady at a boarding-school near my home. She was the daughter of
some high personage in the court of Russia--but exactly what position he
held I cannot say. My mother was quite charmed with the young lady and
viewed our attachment with delight. But when my father heard of the
matter he raised a decided objection to it, and ordered me to return to
France and join the army. He had, as I have previously intimated, made
his own plans for my future, even to the point of deciding upon a future
wife for me, as is customary in France; but I resolutely declined to
conform to his wishes in this respect, and my mother quite sided with me.
I never quite knew how he got to hear of my love affair, but I conclude
that my mother must have mentioned it to him. I only stayed a few days
in the wonderful metropolis of Egypt; its noises, its cosmopolitanism,
its crowds--these, and many other considerations, drove me from the city,
and I set out for Singapore.

I had not been many days in that place when, chancing to make inquiries
at a store kept by a Mr. Shakespeare, I was casually introduced to a
Dutch pearl-fisher named Peter Jensen. Although I describe him as a
Dutch pearler I am somewhat uncertain as to his