ittle you don't know anything and are not surprised
at anything. For a long time I took no notice of her sudden reticence,
but now I sometimes wonder if something is not being kept back from
me--whether it is really true that mamma is no more in this world."

Talking like this Therese and Charles had walked at a good pace, and now
they came to the few houses built around Verrieres station. One by one,
bedroom windows and doors were being opened; peasants were making their
way to the sheds to lead their cattle to the pastures.

"We are very early," Therese remarked, pointing to the station clock in
the distance. "Your father's train is due at 6.55, and it is only 6.40
now; we still have a quarter of an hour to wait, and more, if the train
is not punctual!"

* * * * *

They went into the little station and Charles Rambert, thankful for some
shelter from the cold, stamped his feet, making a sudden uproar in the
empty waiting-room. A porter appeared.

"Who the deuce is kicking up all this row?" he began angrily, and then
seeing Therese, broke off short. "Ah, Mademoiselle Therese," he said
with the familiar yet perfectly respectful cordiality that marks country
folk, "up already? Have you come to meet somebody, or are you going
away?"

As he spoke, the porter turned a curious eye upon Charles Rambert, whose
arrival had caused quite a sensation two days before in this little
spot, where with but few exceptions none but people belonging to the
neighbourhood ever came by train.

"No, I am not going away," Therese replied. "I have accompanied M.
Rambert, who has come to meet his father."

"Ah-ha, to meet your papa, sir: is he coming from far?"

"From Paris," Charles Rambert answered. "Is the train signalled yet?"

The man drew out a watch like a turnip, and looked at the time.

"It won't be here for quite another twenty minutes. The work on the
tunnel makes it necessary to be careful, and it's always late now. But
you will hear when the bell rings: that will be when the train is coming
over the level-crossing; it will run into the station three minutes
after that. Well, Mademoiselle, I must get on with my work," and the man
left them.

Therese turned to Charles Rambert.

"Shall we go on to the platform? Then we shall see the train come in."

So they left the waiting-room and began to walk up and down the whole
length of the platform. Therese watched the jerky movements of the hands