I know one, and if I were not afraid of grieving you--for it is a very sad one--I would relate it." "Oh! tell it, by all means, Mr.Manoel," exclaimed Lina; "I like stories which make you cry!" "What, do you cry, Lina ?" said Benito.
"Yes, Mr.Benito; but I cry when laughing." "Oh, well! let us save it, Manoel!" "It is the history of a Frenchwoman whose sorrows rendered these banks memorable in the eighteenth century." "We are listening," said Minha.
"Here goes, then," said Manoel.

"In 1741, at the time of the expedition of the two Frenchmen, Bouguer and La Condamine, who were sent to measure a terrestrial degree on the equator, they were accompanied by a very distinguished astronomer, Godin des Odonais.

Godin des Odonais set out then, but he did not set out alone, for the New World; he took with him his young wife, his children, his father-in-law, and his brother-in-law.
The travelers arrived at Quito in good health.

There commenced a series of misfortunes for Madame Odonais; in a few months she lost some of her children.

When Godin des Odonais had completed his work, toward the end of the year 1759, he left Quito and started for Cayenne.