ll you allow me to take care of her?"

Fanfar looked at Caillette with loving, grateful eyes, and then hastened
away with Bobichel and Gudel.

Then Caillette was left alone with the sick woman, who began to cry and
sob. Her mind had been so long torpid that now this shock seemed to have
swept away the last vestige of her intelligence. But Caillette was good
and patient, and finally the sick woman slept. Caillette watched her and
waited through the twilight, and at last, holding the hand of her charge
in hers, she too fell asleep.

When the girl opened her eyes it was daybreak, and the bed was empty.
Yes, Fanfar's mother, whom she had promised to guard, had vanished. She
ran into the next room. No one was there, and the door was open.

Caillette ran to the concierge. "Where is she?" she cried.

"Do you mean the old woman? Oh! she went away before light."

"Impossible! She cannot walk."

"I was astonished myself, but my wife said to me, who is that coming
down stairs? I looked, and I saw a ghost--not a pretty one either,
begging your pardon. It was the paralytic, the old woman who had never
walked a step all the while that the Marquise took care of her.

"'Where are you going?' I said to her.

"'To save Jacques.'"

"Jacques is her son, go on, quick," interrupted Caillette.

"'But you can't save any one,' I then said. This was not kind, Miss, but
I was so astonished. She did not seem to mind it though, for she began
to talk about a box, and told me to open the door. I had no right to
disobey, you know."

"And she went away?" cried Caillette.

"Yes, and quick enough, too."

Caillette did not wait to hear more. She flew down the stairs also.

It was seven o'clock in the morning. Caillette did not dare to find
Jacques, and tell him she had been faithless to her trust. No, she must
find Francoise herself. She asked questions of all she met, and at last
she had a ray of light. An old rag picker told her that he had seen a
woman answering to the description given by Caillette. She at once
started in the direction he pointed out; it was the road to Germany she
took. She sold a small gold locket, which held a bit of ribbon from a
sash Fanfar had once given her. She kept the ribbon, and received
several crowns for the locket. She walked all day, finally certain that
Francoise was not far in advance. It was not until the morning of the
second day that the girl was rewarded by seeing Francoise at the door
of an inn.