The Crystal City Under the Sea Read Online Free PDF

attraction which draws me towards them, is more imperious than you imagine. I must see them again and their submarine home. I must learn their secret, and obtain their confidence, so that I may establish communication with them.”
    “You must, above all, get up your strength,” said the doctor, a little alarmed at this outbreak of excitement. “You should go to your mother and get better. Do you not see that all you have gone through has tried you severely, and, before attempting any fresh adventures, it will be necessary to get a little flesh on your bones?”
    “That is true,” said René, seriously. “To succeed in any enterprise whatever, one must first make provision in the shape of health and strength. I have a good mind to ask for leave, and to get away to ‘The Poplars,’ as soon as I am free.”
    “‘The Poplars!’,” repeated the doctor, in a melancholy tone. “ Ah, René! how is it possible that any other image can efface the one you will find there?”
    “What,” said the middy, in an amused tone, “are you going to take part with the rest? You mean Hélène. How many times shall we have to beg oui friends not to try to make us happy in spite of ourselves!”
    “Your mother would be so pleased to call her daughter.”
    “But that matter is settled,” said René, laughing. “Don’t you see that it is absolutely impossible? Even if I could adorn with idealistic virtues the playfellow with whom I have grown up, with whom I have exchanged hard knocks on the head, and uncomplimentary home-truths, I dare not propose such a thing to her. Poor Hélène! she deserves a better fate than to be forced into a distasteful marriage. But, happily, she is not the sort of girl to allow any one to choose for her. And besides,” added he, not without a spark of malice, “ unless I am much mistaken, she will not have to go far to find an admirer far more satisfactory than I.”
    “By the way,” said the doctor, abruptly changing the subject, “ have you heard from Kermadec?”
    “Certainly,” said Caoudal. “The lad was allowed to see me as soon as he arrived at the hospital. He has even more need of rest and change than I. Do you know what I ‘ve been thinking of? To take him with me to ‘The Poplars.’ He is alone in the world. Mother and Hélène know him through my letters, and I am sure that he would enjoy himself there.”
    “A capital idea,” said the doctor. “ If it were not in your service that he was wounded, it is not for want of wishing it. His one grief was at having survived you, as he thought, and to have done nothing to save you. You have made a devoted friend there.”
    “With very little trouble, t am sure. But the friendship is reciprocated. Kermadec has rare qualities, but the simplicity of a child. His naivety and credulousness expose him to the worst influences.”
    “Those he will meet at ‘The Poplars’ can only be of the very best,” said the doctor. “It is an understood thing, then. With his consent, which will not be difficult to get, we will ask for a double furlough. You go to recruit your strength together in the country air, and I will find time to pay a flying visit to *The Poplars.’ Do you know that yesterday I was ordered to serve on anything but a cheerful errand? — the mission of going to inform your mother—”
    “That her René had served as breakfast for the crabs?” said the midshipman, in a tone which belied the levity of his words. “ Poor mother! Bah! Let us think no more of that. It is all over now. Make haste and get your furlough, and come and -join us as soon as you can.”

CHAPTER IV
THE “POPLARS”.

    A FORTNIGHT later, on a smooth lawn in the beautiful grounds of “The Poplars,” gently sloping towards the banks of the Loire, might have been been a party of young girls in light dresses, and young men in striped flannels, engaged in a game of tennis. At a little distance in the background, near a red brick house, which had no