For the first time in her life Angelique
leaned back, letting slip from herself all responsibility. Colonel
Menard could bring her great-grand-aunt out. The sense of moving in a
picture, of not feeling what she handled, and of being cut off from the
realities of life followed Angelique into the boat. She was worn to
exhaustion. Her torpid pulses owned the chill upon the waters.
There was room in which a few of the little blacks might be stowed
without annoying tante-gra'mere, but their mothers begged to keep them
until all could go together.
"Now, my children," said Colonel Menard, "have patience for another hour
or two, when the boats shall return and bring you all off. The house is
safe; there is no longer a strong wind driving waves over it. A few
people in Kaskaskia have had to sit on their roofs since the water
rose."
Achille promised to take charge of his master's household. But one of
the women pointed to the stain on the floor. The lantern yet burned at
the head of Rice's deserted pillows.
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