I thought of the perfume of the Lady in Black, but I kept silence. Had he not said that he was going to tell me everything? He led me out to the jetty. The wind was still blowing a gale, and we were almost taken off our feet. Rouletabille stood for an instant as if lost in thought, closing his eyes as if in a dream.
“It was here,” he said, “that I last saw her.”
He looked down at the stone bench beside which we were standing.
“We were sitting there. She held me to her heart. I was a very little fellow, even for nine years old. She told me to stay there—on this bench—and then she went away, and I never saw her again. It was night—a soft summer evening—the evening of the distribution of prizes. She had not assisted at the distribution, but I knew that she would come that night—that night full of stars and so clear that I hoped every moment that I would be able to distinguish her face. But she covered it with her veil and breathed a heavy sigh. And then she went away. And I have never seen her since.”
“And you, my friend?”
“I?”
“Yes, what happened to you? Did you sit on the bench for very long?”
“I would have—but the coachman came to look for me and I went in.”
“Where?”
“Into the school.”