human
You will find the bath ready whenever you want it, grandpapa, said Euphrosyne, as she placed the little tray before him:
gpt
Ay; I must make haste up, and see what is to be done. It is not safe to lie and rest in one's bed, in this part of the world.
human
Oh, you have often said that--almost ever since I can remember--and here we are, quite safe still.
gpt
Tell the truth, child. How dare you say that we have been safe ever since you remember?
human
I said `almost,' grandpapa. I do not forget about our being in the woods--about--but we will not talk of that now. That was all over a long time ago; and we have been very safe since. The great thing of all is, that there was no L'Ouverture then, to take care of us. Now, you know, the Commander-in-chief is always thinking how he can take the best care of us.
gpt
Do you think they were like him? Surely, if they had been like him, they would not have treated us as they did. Afra says she does not believe, anybody like him ever lived.
human
Afra is a pestilent little fool.
gpt
Oh, grandpapa!
human
Well, well! She is a very good girl in her way; but she talks about what she does not understand. She pretends to judge of governors of the colony, when her own father cannot govern this town, and she never knew Blanchelande! Ah! if she had known Blanchelande, she would have seen a man who understood his business, and had spirit to keep up the dignity and honour of the colony. If that sort of rule had gone on till now, we should not have had the best houses in the island full of these black upstarts; nor a mulatto governor in this very town.
gpt
And then I should not have had Afra for a friend, grandpapa.
human
You would have been better without, child. I do not like to see you for ever with a girl of her complexion, though she is the governor's daughter. There must be an end of it--there shall be an end of it. It is a good time now. There is a reason for it to-day. It is time you made friends of your own complexion, child; and into the convent you go--this very day.
gpt
Oh, grandpapa, you don't mean that those nuns are of my complexion! Poor pale creatures! I would not for the world look like them: and I certainly shall, if you put me there. I had much rather look like Afra than like sister Benoite, or sister Cecile. Grandpapa! you would not like me to look like sister Benoite?
human
How do I know, child? I don't know one from another of them.
gpt
No, indeed! and you would not know me by the time I had been there three months. How sorry you would be, grandpapa, when you asked for me next winter, to see all those yellow-faced women pass before you, and when the yellowest of all came, to have to say, `Can this be my poor Euphrosyne!'