In vain, she added, she had
endeavoured to soften her aunt, by representing what she owed to her
mother, and to the habits of her early years: she had been treated as a
romantic girl, whose head was turned by novels. At present she said she
could think of nothing but the transport of again seeing and embracing her
beloved family, and that she would have satisfied this dearest wish of her
heart that very day, if the captain would have permitted her to embark in
the pilot's boat; but that he had opposed her going, on account of the
distance from the shore, and of a swell in the ocean, notwithstanding it
was a calm.
"Scarcely was the letter finished, when the whole family, transported with
joy repeated, 'Virginia is arrived!' and mistresses and servants embraced
each other. Madame de la Tour said to Paul, 'My son, go and inform our
neighbour of Virginia's arrival.' Domingo immediately lighted a torch, and
he and Paul bent their way towards my plantation.
"It was about ten at night, and I was going to extinguish my lamp, when I
perceived through the palisades of my hut a light in the woods. I arose,
and had just dressed myself when Paul, half wild, and panting for breath,
sprung on my neck, crying, 'Come along, come along. Virginia is arrived!
Let us go to the Port: the vessel will anchor at break of day.'
"We instantly set off. As we were traversing the woods of the Sloping
Mountain, and were already on the road which leads from the Shaddock Grove
to the Port, I heard some one walking behind us.
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