On leaving Tenby, Zillah felt nothing but delight. As the coach drove
her to the station, as the railway train hurried her to London, as
the tidal train took her to Southampton, as the packet bore her
across the Channel, every moment of the time was filled with joyous
anticipations of her meeting Hilda. All her griefs over other losses
and other calamities had in one instant faded away at the news that
Hilda was safe. That one thing was enough to compensate for all else.
Arriving at Paris, she was compelled to wait for one day on account
of some want of connection in the trains for Marseilles. Gualtier
acted as cicerone, and accompanied her in a carriage through the
chief streets, through the Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elysées,
and the Bois de Boulogne. She was sufficiently herself to experience
delight in spite of her impatience, and to feel the wonder and
admiration which the first sight of that gay and splendid capital
always excites. But she was not willing to linger here. Naples was
the goal at which she wished to arrive, and as soon as possible she
hurried onward.
On reaching Marseilles she found the city crowded. The great
movements of the Italian war were going on, and every thing was
affected by it. Marseilles was one of the grand centres of action,
and one of the chief depots for military supplies. The city was
filled with soldiers. The harbor was full of transports. The streets
were thronged with representatives of all the different regiments of
the French army, from the magnificent steel-clad Cuirassiers, and the
dashing Chasseurs de Vincennes, to the insouciant Zouaves and the
wild Turcos. In addition to the military, the city was filled with
civil officials, connected with the dispatch of the army, who filled
the city, and rendered it extremely difficult for a stranger to find
lodgings.
Zillah was taken to the Hôtel de France, but it was full. Gualtier
went round to all the other hotels, but returned with the unpleasant
intelligence that all were likewise filled. But this did not very
greatly disturb Zillah, for she hoped to be on board the steamer
soon, and whether she found lodgings or not was a matter of
indifference to her in comparison with prosecuting her journey. After
several hours Gualtier returned once more, with the information that
he had succeeded in finding rooms for her in this hotel. He had made
an earnest appeal, he said, to the gallantry of some French officers,
and they had given up their rooms for the use of the fair Anglaise.
It was thus that Zillah was able to secure accommodation for the
night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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