"Who is here, and what is thy business with me at this hour?"
"Sh!" replied Réné, in a whisper. "It is I, Réné de Veaux. Ask me nothing, but admit me, that I may instantly communicate with my uncle the commandant. I have tidings of the utmost importance for him alone."
Le Moyne had at once recognized the voice of his beloved and long-lost pupil, and with hands trembling with eager excitement, he hastened to throw wide open the shutter and assist him to enter by the window. When he had got him safely inside he embraced the lad fervently, and kissed him on both cheeks. Then he said, "Thy uncle has been ill and is still weak; but if thy business is indeed as urgent as thou representest, I will instantly acquaint him with thy presence. I must, however, break the glad tidings gently and gradually to him, for fear of the effect of an overdose of joy."
So the good man shuffled away in his loose slippers towards the room in which Laudonniere lay, and without his knowledge, Réné followed him closely.
In the commandant's room Le Moyne began with,
"Monsieur, I have a message from the dead."
"Ay, thou wert always a dreamer," replied the sick man, testily.
"Nay, but this time it is no dream, but a living reality."
"Then the dead have come to life, and thou hast had dealings not with them, but with the living."
"It is even so, and he is one very dear to thee, whom thou hast deemed lost."