“Suppose I meet you....”
“I shall not leave the Logis.”
“But....”
“We will wait, Guillaume. Am I not your promised bride?”
He bowed. His mother went out. He followed her.
And Gilberte felt as though she had never been so lonely in her life.
X
THE DESERTED HOUSE
Next day, Gilberte received the following letter from Maître Dufornéril, her solicitor at Dieppe:
“Mademoiselle,
“I have just received your telegram asking me where we stand in the matter of our enquiries. I have already given you the information which I obtained regarding your life and that of your parents at Liverpool, although this, unfortunately, told us nothing new. M. Kellner, which was the name under which your father made his fortune at Liverpool, left none but pleasant memories behind him in the commercial world of that city. On the other hand, no one knew anything of his private life or of his antecedents. It was not even known that he was married; and this fully bears out what you told me of the retired existence which your mother and yourself used to lead.