Little Pierre, his happy face the colour of a ripe peach, was lifted up to the carriage window to kiss me good-bye, and he burst out laughing at the sight of a little bulldog which the women carried in their blazoned travelling-bag. He was sorry enough that I was going away; but this little dog in the bag seemed to him so comical that he could not get over it. And the old ladies smiled also, and said that little Pierre was "a very beautiful baby." And this was the last of Brittany for a long time; I had spent some twenty hours there, and, on the following morning, it was already far away from me. CHAPTER XCVI _A Letter from Yves_ "MELBOURNE, _September_, 1882. "DEAR BROTHER,--I write to let you know we have reached Australia; we have had a very fine voyage and to-morrow we are to leave for Japan; for, you know, we have had instructions to pay a visit to that country. "I found here two letters from you and two also from my wife; but I am looking forward to the one you will write me when you have been to Toulven. "Dear brother, your successor on board is just like you; he is very considerate with the sailors. As regards Mr. Plunkett's successor, he is rather severe, but not with me; on the contrary. Mr. Plunkett told me he would recommend me to him when he left and I think he must have done so. The others and the second-in-command are still the same; they often speak to me of you and ask me for news of you. "The captain has called upon me to act as boatswain since we buried poor Marsano, of Nice, who was found dead one morning in his hammock at the réveillé. And I like the work very much. "Dear brother, the men have twice been allowed to go ashore, at San Francisco, and you will be glad to know that, with you away, I have not even given in my name to go with them. As a matter of fact, on the second night, the topmen had a great row with some Germans, and knives were used. "I have also to tell you, dear brother, that your name has not yet been removed from above the door of your room, and I think it must have been quite forgotten. And in the evening I make my way along the spar-deck for the pleasure of seeing it. "Next year, when we return, I hope I may have a long leave to go and see my wife and my little Pierre and my little daughter; but it will be all too short in any case, and I shall never have any real leisure until I get my pension. On the other hand, when I am old enough to put aside the blue collar, my little Pierre will be thinking of going to sea himself in his turn; or perhaps there will be a place for me a little farther away, in the direction of the pond, near the church; you know what place I mean. "Dear brother, you think I am taking my note from you? But no, I think as I have always thought.