sky. What was he to do? He
must go to Asnieres at once and try to find out what had happened. He
wished he were there already.

Having made up his mind, he descended the steps of the station at a
rapid pace, passing soldiers with their knapsacks on their backs, and
poor people who rise early coming to take the morning train, the train
of poverty and want.

In front of one of the stations he saw a crowd collected, rag-pickers
and countrywomen. Doubtless some drama of the night about to reach its
denouement before the Commissioner of Police. Ah! if Frantz had known
what that drama was! but he could have no suspicion, and he glanced at
the crowd indifferently from a distance.

When he reached Asnieres, after a walk of two or three hours, it was
like an awakening. The sun, rising in all its glory, set field and river
on fire. The bridge, the houses, the quay, all stood forth with that
matutinal sharpness of outline which gives the impression of a new day
emerging, luminous and smiling, from the dense mists of the night. From
a distance he descried his brother's house, already awake, the open
blinds and the flowers on the window-sills. He wandered about some time
before he could summon courage to enter.

Suddenly some one hailed him from the shore:

"Ah! Monsieur Frantz. How early you are today!"

It was Sidonie's coachman taking his horses to bathe in the river.

"Has anything happened at the house?" inquired Frantz tremblingly.

"No, Monsieur Frantz."

"Is my brother at home?"

"No, Monsieur slept at the factory."

"No one sick?"

"No, Monsieur Frantz, no one, so far as I know."

Thereupon Frantz made up his mind to ring at the small gate. The
gardener was raking the paths. The house was astir; and, early as it
was, he heard Sidonie's voice as clear and vibrating as the song of a
bird among the rose-bushes of the facade.

She was talking with animation. Frantz, deeply moved, drew near to
listen.

"No, no cream. The 'cafe parfait' will be enough. Be sure that it's well
frozen and ready at seven o'clock. Oh! about an entree--let us see--"

She was holding council with her cook concerning the famous dinner-party
for the next day. Her brother-in-law's sudden appearance did not
disconcert her.

"Ah! good-morning, Frantz," she said very coolly. "I am at your service
directly. We're to have some people to dinner to-morrow, customers of
the firm, a grand business dinner. You'll excuse me, won't you?"

Fres