"The likeness is good enough, I must confess; but I detest those sketchy productions which cannot possibly give any idea of womanly attractions. Fortunately, however, M. de Morin has promised me a portrait in oils, in which he will do his best to reproduce my smile and the brightness of my eyes. "You know, dearest, that I am not given to illusions, and that I know exactly what value to place on myself. I am not what is called a pretty woman, but I have in my expression, in my look, a certain softness, a mellowness, in fact, such as the Spaniards term _morbidez_. A Thouareg Chief said to me one day—but I will not expatiate on these details. You know them, and we will keep them to ourselves. "At first, as you will have guessed, this expedition did not inspire me with any great amount of confidence. The doctor did not want to have anything to do with medicine, the literary man wanted to pry into my private life, and the painter, instead of reserving his pencils for African curiosities, sketched me in déshabille. "Well, my dear, I was mistaken. These people are originals, certainly, _fantaisistes_, as they call themselves; humourists, as we in England should call them; but they are very nice, and in reality very much in earnest. I think I shall get on with them, if they will only keep from being jealous of each other about me. The fact is—why should I try to hide it from you, the faithful depositary of all my secrets?—the fact is, I am afraid that all of them will make love to me. "Already M. de Morin has bestowed on me some tender glances, whose meaning there is no mistaking, and I shall need all my tact, circumspection, and reserve, and plenty of the last. I have made up my mind to favour no one of the three, and so I trust that the expedition may pass over without any regular proposal. "And, besides, I can rely upon Madame de Guéran for protection against any annoyance. These three gentlemen, but especially the painter and the literary man, are her slaves, body and soul. I thought at first that they were in love with her; but as I now see that they do not pay her a single compliment, but reserve all their attentions and flirtations for me, I am obliged to come to an opposite conclusion. "And I am very glad to think that there is no chance of rivalry between the Baroness and me, for it would be very painful to me to wound in any way so thoroughly genial a woman. I am delighted to give her her due, for she is a high-minded, good-natured creature. Neither is she by any means deficient in firmness of character and resolute courage—in fact, she reminds me very much of that dear Miss Tinne, both as regards her beauty, her independence of character and her love of adventure. But I shall feel very much safer with the Baroness than I ever could with Alexina, who was a little too eccentric, poor dear, and involved us in adventures which I, for one, do not care to have repeated.