Second Part Chapter 50

Against him I have not a word to say. You love him, and in all
probability I have never seen him; but some idle day I hope you will
send me a sketch, however slight, of this rare, fine animal.

If you see me so resigned and cheerful, it is because I am convinced
that, once the honeymoon is over you will both with one accord, fall
back into the common track. Some day, two years hence, when we are
walking along this famous road, you will exclaim, "Why, there is the
chalet which was to be my home for ever!" And you will laugh your dear
old laugh, which shows all your pretty teeth!

I have said nothing yet to Louis; it would be too good an opening for
his ridicule. I shall tell him simply that you are going to be
married, and that you wish it kept secret. Unluckily, you need neither
mother nor sister for your bridal evening. We are in October now; like
a brave woman, you are grappling with winter first. If it were not a
question of marriage, I should say you were taking the bull by the
horns. In any case, you will have in me the most discreet and
intelligent of friends.

That mysterious region, known as the centre of
Africa, has swallowed up many travelers, and you seem to me to be
launching on an expedition which, in the domain of sentiment,
corresponds to those where so many explorers have perished, whether in
the sands or at the hands of natives. Your desert is, happily, only
two leagues from Paris, so I can wish you quite cheerfully, "A safe
journey and speedy return."