“You need not be afraid for the little Vivi, Mademoiselle. She is safe in the only home she has ever known, and there are bright days ahead for her. She is better off now than she knows. Have no thought for her but one of love.” He paused a moment. “The good God who sent us Vivi loves her, Mademoiselle,” he said.
Marie Josephine was half asleep, her funny, tangled shock of hair on Rosanne’s shoulder, but her eyes, when she looked up at Dian, were bright with excitement.
“I may go to maman to-morrow, promise me, Dian. I told you in the alley room that I would be patient about not seeing her to-night, but to-morrow early I must go straight to her and to Great-aunt Hortense. It will be quite safe for me in the streets in my disguise.” She caught his arm and looked up at him as she spoke.
Dian looked down at Marie Josephine and said to her simply:
“There is real work for you to do to-morrow. You have come just in time, and you have not come in vain, Little Mademoiselle. I hope that you will see your mother to-morrow.”
Chapter XXII
CHAMPAR TO THE RESCUE
Grigge unfastened the sheepfold gate and then turned and faced Neville, who stood beside him.
“You’d better stop worrying about those who are away, and keep your worry for those at home,” he said.
“What do you mean by that, Grigge? There’s no danger to Les Vignes. The trouble is all the other way,” Neville answered, leaning back against the grey paling. He was tired out and covered with mud. He had just returned from a vain attempt to find the runaways, and he was not eager to face either the governess or Mother Barbette.