"If your grandmother was nurse to Monsieur Edmond why doesn't she ask him?"
"M. Edmond? he's the boss' son, and he went away from here before I was born, no one's seen him since. He had a quarrel with his father, and his father sent him to India to buy jute. The boss has made his fortune out of jute. He's rich, as rich as...."
She could not think how rich M. Vulfran was so she said abruptly: "Now shall we change arms?"
"If you like. What is your name?"
"Rosalie. What's yours?"
Perrine did not want to give her real name, so she chanced on one.
"Aurelie," she said.
They rested for a while, then went on again at their regular step.
"You say that the son had a quarrel with his father," said Perrine, "then went away?"
"Yes, and the old gentleman got madder still with him 'cause he married a Hindu girl, and a marriage like that doesn't count. His father wanted him to marry a young lady who came of a very fine family, the best in Picardy. It was because he wanted his son to marry this other girl that he built the beautiful mansion he's got. It cost millions and millions of francs. But M. Edmond wouldn't part with the wife he's got over there to take up with the young lady here, so the quarrel got worse and worse, and now they don't even know if the son is dead or alive. They haven't had news of him for years, so they say. Monsieur Vulfran doesn't speak to anyone about it, neither do the two nephews."