Page:Kéraban the Inflexible Part 2 (Jules Verne).djvu/18

4 hoped to rejoin him. He added that their return would be in no way retarded by this adventure: that he knew very well how to make both men and animals "step out," to accomplish the remainder of the journey in the shortest possible time. So he suggested that she should proceed with her father and Nedjeb to Scutari on the day fixed, or indeed, a little sooner, so that their meeting should not fail.

This letter—in which Ahmet scattered broadcast the most tender phrases and compliments—was intended to go by the regular mail-steamer next day. In eight and forty hours it would reach its destination, be opened and read—perhaps pressed to Amasia's heart, which Ahmet believed he could hear beating across the Black Sea. The fact being that the young lovers were at that time farther apart than at any other period of the journey—at the ends of an immense ellipse as it were, whose curves must be followed ere the young people could meet again.

Now while Ahmet was writing to console Amasia, what was Van Mitten doing?

The Dutchman, having dined at the hotel, was walking about the streets of Poti with curiosity—under the trees of the Central Garden, along the quays and piers, which were in course of construction. But he was alone. Bruno, this time, did not accompany him.

But why did Bruno not go with his master, free to make respectful but just observations upon the complications of the present and the chances of the future?