“Great Heaven! that old animal is very mad! I hope he is not dangerous! Very well! if he should be, his negro slaves are strong enough to bind him at my command. And who will have a better right to command than I when I get there?” said Madame, who being a prompt as well as courageous woman, immediately wrote to the “Island King,” saying that she should quickly follow her letter, and have the honor of presenting the “Princess” at the court of His Majesty. And so in the course of a few weeks Madame, having in charge the yearling child, embarked on board the “Sirene,” bound from Havre to Baltimore, engaging the captain to put her on shore at L’Orient, or East Island. It was after a prosperous voyage of two months, and upon a most beautiful morning in May, that Madame was early aroused from her berth to get ready to go on shore. Upon occasion she could be quick in making her toilet, so in twenty minutes from the opening of her eyes she stood upon the deck, looking out for the long-talked of, the beloved, the beauteous Island. There it lay before her, in its more than ideal loveliness! There it lay like an emerald on the bosom of the bay! A beautiful green island, dimpled with hill and valley, veined with limpid streams, studded with gray and mossy rocks, shaded with tall groves, and environed by the blue waters that leaped and sparkled in the morning sun like a living sea of liquid sapphires! There was a vivid and delicate freshness of hue in the luxuriant vegetation of the Isle, as peculiar as it was delightful. Far in the interior, from amidst the green beauty of the grove, arose the many tall, white chimneys of the Island mansion. Scattered about in picturesque groups, were the white cottages of the negro servants. Down on the beach was a white boat-house, built in the shape of a Chinese pagoda. Madame gazed in a sort of enthusiasm upon the scene. “It is a magnificent place, after all! My faith! those comical De L’Iles did well to adore it! As for me, I shall take that old madman in hand! I shall assume the direction of affairs. I shall introduce a new order of things. I shall form the acquaintance of the gentry on the main land. I shall give _fetes_ and dances! My Heaven! I must amuse myself, or else I shall die of grief for poor Victoire, or go mad like His Majesty, the King of the Isles! And at last Victoire will come back; or at least my little Etoile will grow up; and by-the-by, it is very fortunate, my faith! that I have this child as a passport to acceptance!” soliloquised Madame. And she had scarcely had time thus to lay out her future before the long-boat came around to the starboard gangway, and her trunks were lowered into it. “The boat awaits the pleasure of Madame,” said the captain, offering himself to assist her in the descent. Madame was carefully seated, the babe was put in her arms, the six sailors plied their oars, and the boat skimmed like a sea-bird the surface of the sparkling waters.