“For my unhappy brother,” Jacques replied.
“Is he dead?”
“Yes, he is no more; I am absolutely certain of it.”
“Alas! in what part of the earth did he end his days?”
“He is there,” said Jacques at last, pointing to the end of the garden, at the foot of the willow.
Adeline shuddered and dared to ask no more; but every day she took her daughter to pray over the poor beggar’s grave, and Ermance never knew that she was praying for her father.
And it was at the foot of the willow that Jacques buried his cross also.