Georges by Alexandre Dumas

Author:Alexandre Dumas
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781588366375
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

XVI

THE PROPOSAL

The hurricane ended during the night, and next morning the residents of île de France ventured outside to assess the aftermath.

Many of the ships in the harbor had sustained considerable damage. Some had been smashed against others by the wind; nearly all of them had lost their masts, which now lay like fallen logs on the surface of the water. Two or three, dragging their anchors, had been driven ashore on île des Tonneliers, and one—a merchant vessel—had foundered and gone down with all hands lost.

The devastation on the island was just as brutal. Only a few houses had emerged from the storm unscathed. Roofs of slate, tile, shingles, copper, and tin had been ripped off and carried away—only the arga-masses, roofs built in the terraced style of India, had been able to resist the winds and remain intact. The streets were filled with debris; some buildings remained upright only because they had been braced with poles. On the parade grounds at champ de Mars, the stands erected for the forthcoming races had been completely leveled. Two enormous cannons mounted near the Grande-Rivière had spun 180 degrees in the gale.

Farther inland, the damage was extensive as well. It was fortunate that most of the harvest had already been gathered and brought indoors; what remained had been entirely blown away. In several areas whole groves of trees had been flattened like ripe wheat cut by an immense sickle. No freestanding tree had been able to resist the hurricane’s power. Even the tamarind trees, strong and flexible—and, until now, regarded as indestructible—had been ravaged and broken by the fury of the storm.

The Malmédie house, one of the tallest on the island, had been severely damaged. There had been a moment the night before when the walls rattled so violently that M. de Malmédie and his son had decided to seek refuge in the pavilion, which, one story high, built of stone, and sheltered from the wind by the terrace, seemed the safest possible place. Henri had gone to Sara’s chamber and found it empty; he assumed that she, terrified by the storm, had fled to the pavilion already. He and his father had gone down together and, indeed, they found that the girl had preceded them—but naturally they questioned neither her presence nor the terror she displayed at their arrival. Never, even for a moment, did M. de Malmédie or Henri suspect the real reason for Sara’s actions.

The storm had finally abated, as I have said, around daybreak. No one in Port Louis had slept that night; they dared not sleep now. Every man was occupied in taking stock of his possessions to determine how much he had lost. The new governor was out in the streets at a very early hour; he ordered the garrison’s troops to provide assistance wherever it was needed, and by that evening some of the disorder had already been put to rights.

If the citizens of Port Louis seemed especially anxious to erase all traces of

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