"It was All's Well?"
"It was Master All's Well coming by the other road. You can imagine the welcome he received! Only what astonished me was that nobody followed him this way, neither Honorine nor grandfather. I had no pencil or paper to write to them; but, after all, they had only to follow All's Well."
"That was impossible," said Véronique, "because they believed you to be far away from Sarek, carried off no doubt, and because your grandfather had left."
"Just so: why believe anything of the sort? Grandfather knew, from a lately discovered document, where we were, for it was he who told us of the possible entrance to the underground passage. Didn't he speak to you about it?"
Véronique had been very happy in listening to her son's story. As he had been carried off and imprisoned, he was not the atrocious monster who had killed M. d'Hergemont, Marie Le Goff, Honorine and Corréjou and his companions. The truth which she had already vaguely surmised now assumed a more definite form and, though still thickly shrouded, was visible in its essential part. François was not guilty. Some one had put on his clothes and impersonated him, even as some one else, in the semblance of Stéphane, had pretended to be Stéphane. Ah, what did all the rest matter, the improbabilities and inconsistencies, the proofs and certainties! Véronique did not even think about it. The only thing that counted was the innocence of her beloved son.
And so she still refused to tell him anything that would sadden him and spoil his happiness; and she said:
"No, I have not seen your grandfather. Honorine wanted to prepare him for my visit, but things happened so hurriedly . . ."
"And you were left alone on the island, poor mother? So you hoped to find me here?"
"Yes," she said, after a moment's hesitation.