“Apathetically, scarce knowing where I went, nor caring, I followed her into a great, homelike, airy room, with flowers all about, even in the broad-silled, open windows. In the fragrance of the flowers it seemed that I could see Jeanette, and I had a strange impression she was near me. But I pushed it aside, thinking it but one of the many fancies that had beset me unceasingly of late. 96
“It was not long before the good dame set before me a steaming dish, and I, who, a few minutes before, had thought I could never eat again, fell upon it ravenously and never stopped until the last delicious morsel had disappeared. Thus refreshed and strengthened, my courage returned as by magic and I began again to make my plans for the future.
“An hour later, leaving the house upon which I had based such high hopes, I again turned my steps toward the city. Of course, I was now—what you call it?—more in the dark than ever about Jeanette, but in my heart was a great and dogged determination to find her somehow, somewhere, if I had to search the city through.
“Five days later I found myself again before the city, infinitely more dusty, infinitely more hungry, infinitely more footsore and more weary than when I had encountered Madame Vidaud at the chateau.
“As I turned a corner, a great, whirling streak rushed by me, so close as to make me jump quickly to the side of the road. To my great surprise, the automobile stopped a few yards from where I was standing and two men, one tall, one short, jumped out and hurried toward me.
“‘Hello!’ cried the tall one, in a big, rumbling voice. ‘Aren’t you the son of Charloix?’ he said. ‘I thought I recognized you, even through the dust. Just the man I’m looking for!’
“‘I would be pleased, sir, if you would name your business with me,’ I replied, not being in the best of humors to bandy words with this stranger who seemed so familiar with my name and ancestry.
“‘Certainly, certainly,’ said the big man, with a heartiness that made me ashamed of my bad humor. ‘That’s exactly what I stopped for. I am your father’s solicitor.’
“I started and drew back. ‘You come from my father?’ 97
“‘Yes; and you must prepare yourself for a great shock, my son,’ said he, laying a great hand upon my shoulder. ‘Your father is very ill.’