“At last one autumn day about the end of October the idea came into my head to go hunting on this part of my estate, which my father had told me was full of game.
“So one evening, one wet evening, I arrived at this house. I was shocked to find my father's old servant with perfectly white hair, though he was not more than forty-five or forty-six years of age. I made him dine with me, at the very table where we are now sitting. It was raining hard. We could hear the rain battering at the roof, the walls, and the windows, flowing in a perfect deluge into the farmyard; and my dog was howling in the shed where the other dogs are howling to-night.
“All of a sudden, when the servant-maid had gone to bed, the man said in a timid voice:
“'M'sieu le Baron.'
“'What is it, my dear Jean?'
“'I have something to tell you.'
“'Tell it, my dear Jean.'
“'You remember Louise, my wife.'
“'Certainly, I remember her.'
“'Well, she left me a message for you.'