Page:The Fate of Fenella (1892).djvu/263

 Harrogate having a ride in a donkey chaise. It was very nice, but mother told me that the donkeys here are nothing like what grow in the streets of Cairo. When she was there she had two white donkeys as tall as a horse, with beautiful ears as long as my arm, and great brown eyes that look at you as if they wondered whether you could be so cruel as to want them to trot through dusty streets on a hot day. Mother often said she would like to have a pair of donkeys like she had in Cairo. 'Pharaoh' and 'Rameses' were their names, together with a little carriage to hold her and me. I'll buy her the whole turnout with my ₤50, and we'll go driving about all by ourselves through Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark."

"Well, that's pretty selfish of you," said Jacynth, who keenly realized the joys of the situation as pictured by the boy, only he would liked to have rearranged the company behind "Rameses and Pharaoh." They were all and always thinking of a woman waiting and watching in Guernsey. Lord Francis, with wistful eyes, thought of love, Jacynth with dumb, gnawing pain, Ronny with eager desire to see her smile, hear her voice, and feel her arms sheltering him, Lord Castleton having some doubt as to whether she was worthy of it all, and Mme. de Vigny——

Well, Mme. de Vigny did not talk of the direction her thoughts took.

It was so near the dinner hour that it had been