"Why! can that room be so unhealthy, so unwholesome as that?" mused Monsieur Vulfran.
"Oh, sir," cried Perrine, "if you could see it you would never permit your work girls to live there, never, never."
"Go on with your story," he said abruptly.
She told him how she had discovered the tiny island and how the idea had come to her to take possession of the cabin.
"You were not afraid?" he asked.
"I am not accustomed to being afraid," she said, with a wan little smile flitting across her beautiful face.
"You are speaking of that cabin in the valley there a little to the side of the road to Saint-Pipoy, on the left, are you not?" asked Monsieur Vulfran.
"Yes, Monsieur."
"That belongs to me and my nephews use it. Was it there that you slept?"
"I not only slept there, but I worked there and I ate there, and I even gave a dinner to Rosalie, and she can tell you about it," said little Perrine eagerly, for now that she had told him her story she wanted him to know everything. "I did not leave the cabin until you sent for me to go to Saint-Pipoy, and then you told me to stay there so as to be on hand to interpret for the machinists. And now tonight I have taken a lodging again at Mother Françoise's, but now I can pay for a room all to myself."