After some time, Christophe stopped weeping and asked:

"How?… How?…"

Rosa understood.

"She fell ill of influenza on the evening you left. And she was taken suddenly…."

He groaned.

"Dear God!… Why did you not write to me?"

She said:

"I did write. I did not know your address: you did not give us any. I went and asked at the theater. Nobody knew it."

He knew how timid she was, and how much it must have cost her. He asked:

"Did she … did she tell you to do that?"