"I managed to escape from my prison at Ham, went to Paris, where I saw your daughter—"
"You saw my daughter?" interrupted the baroness, excitedly. "Did you speak to her? Oh, tell me—tell me what you know about her."
"You shall hear all directly, madame. I told the countess that I intended to search for her mother, and asked if she had any message to send to her."
"Did she send a letter with you?" again interrupted the baroness.
"She did, madame. But before I give it to you I should like to have a shovel of hot coals and a bit of camphor."
"But why—why?" demanded the baroness.
"I will tell you. Do you know what Napoleon brought home with him from the bloody battle of Eilau?"
"I have not heard."
"The 'influenza.' I dare say you have never even heard the name; but you will very soon hear it often enough! It is a pestilential disease that is rather harmless where it originated, but when it takes hold of a strange region it becomes a deadly pestilence—as in Paris, where a special hospital has been established for patients with the disease. It was in this hospital I found your daughter as a nurse."
"Jesu Maria!" shrieked the mother, in a tone of agony. "A nurse in that pest-house?"