Page:Dumas - Tales of Strange adventure (Methuen, 1907).djvu/103

Rh and the doctors say children born at seven months have as good a chance of life as the rest.'

"'H'm!' I muttered.

"'I chose for his god-father,' she resumed, 'the Burgomaster Vanclief, under whose roof, you remember, I spent the three months before our marriage.'

'" Ah! ' I interjected.

"'Yes—and he has promised to bring him up.'

"'Ah, ha!'

' What do you mean by Ah, ha?'

"'Oh, nothing! Good, bravo for Master Joachim! what's done is done. Only, why the devil do you meddle with what's happening in Ceylon, when I don't meddle with things at Monnikendam?'

"'Ungrateful wretch!' she replied, 'Do this is how you receive the proofs of fond and undying affection I give you! Do you know many women ready to come four thousand leagues to spend a night with their husband?'

"'Ah! then you have come to spend only one night with me?' I asked, a good deal relieved.

"'Alas! that is all?' she sighed; 'how can I forsake the poor innocent darling yonder far away?'

"'Very true!'

"'Who has nobody but me.'

"'You are quite right.'

"'And this is the sort of welcome you give me, you wretch!'

" Why, I think I have not given you such a bad welcome, eh?'

"'Yes, because you took me for somebody else.'

"I scratched my head; by-the-bye what had become of that somebody else? The thought made me a bit anxious; but for the moment what made me most anxious, I am free to confess, was the Buchold.

"I reflected what was the best thing to do; and decided, as she said nothing about the fire-dog incident, to say nothing either, as she never mentioned the mutiny affair, to be equally reticent, in fact, as she declared her intention of leaving me at daybreak, to be as agreeable to her as I could so long as the night lasted. This judicious resolve obviated any further dispute between us.

"About three in the morning I fell asleep. When I awoke, I looked about me, to find I was alone.

"Only there was a mighty rumpus outside the door. It was the fair Nahi-Nava-Nahina's father who had come with all his kinsfolk to congratulate me on my wedding night. You will readily understand that my first thought, before opening the door, was to wonder what had become of the beautiful Nahi-Nav-aNahina. I felt anything but comfortable as to the fate of the poor woman, knowing the Buchold as I did.

"I called to her under my breath, not daring to make any loud outcry, 'Nahi-Nava-Nahina! Nahi-Nava-Nahina!! charming Nahi-Nava-Nahina!!!' and I thought I heard a sigh in answer. It seemed to come from a little closet that adjoined the bedroom. I opened the closet and I found the poor Nahi-Nava-Nahina bound hand and foot, a gag in her mouth, and laid neatly on a mat.

"I rushed to her, untied and ungagged her and tried to explain the matter; but as you may suppose, I had to do with a mighty angry woman.

"She had not understood all that had passed between us—the Buchold and me—because we had talked Dutch; but she had gathered the general sense all the same.

"Do what I could, it was impossible to pacify her. She declared to her relatives that she was still more dissatisfied with the result of her sixth trial than with the five others; that European husbands had even a worse way of treating their wives than Cingalese ones; and that she was determined to quit a house where she was condemned to spend the first night of marriage lying tied and bound and gagged on a mat, while her husband in the next room was

"All were hot against me, fathers, brothers, nephews, cousins, second cousins; and seeing it was plainly impossible for me to remain at Negombo after such an adventure, I made up my mind to return to her father his bale of cinnamon, while leaving him my four elephants' tusks, and departing to seek my fortune in some other part of the Indies.

"Accordingly I hastened to realise all my little capital, which came to ten or twelve thousand livres, and finding a ship just sailing for Goa, I went on board a week after my second marriage, which, as you have heard, had turned out so strangely.

Père Olifus heaved a sigh that clearly