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Caillette rushed forward. "Mother!" she cried. "Ah! you know her?" said the innkeeper. "She is very strange." "What did she say to you?" "She asked for bread, and ate it without a word. Then, just as she saw you, she asked me where some village was. I never heard the name before." The old woman now came to meet Caillette. "Leigoutte!" she said. "Leigoutte!" "Leigoutte!" repeated Caillette, "that is Fanfar's village." The old woman shook her head, she did not know the name. "I mean Leigoutte is where Jacques came from." "Yes--yes--Jacques. I must save Jacques and the box!" What was going on in the impaired mind of Francoise? Fanfar's sudden appearance had carried her memory back to the last interview she had with Simon, when, our readers will remember, he had given his wife the papers that proved his birth and that of Jacques. And now Francoise had but one idea, to return to Leigoutte. In vain did Caillette urge her to return to Paris, and the girl had promised Fanfar not to leave his mother. She therefore went on toward Germany with her. Fortunately, a wagoner took pity on these two women, and took them up. In this way they reached Leigoutte. Francoise was silent, except a few low words that she muttered under her breath at long intervals. Caillette thought with despair of Fanfar, and his agony at his mother's disappearance. Alas! poor girl, she did not know that the night when she and Francoise entered the inn at Leigoutte, Fanfar, alone in his prison, thought of his mother whom he had scarcely seen, and of the sister whom he had held in his arms. Ah! it was a bitter trial for the strong, faithful heart. Caillette and Pierre Labarre watched Francoise, when finally she arose from her chair, and went toward the door. On the threshold she seemed to hesitate. She thrust back her gray hair, and pressed her hand to her brow. Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she turned and went toward the door in the back of the house, Caillette and Pierre following her every step she took. She went out into the garden, and up a winding path to the hill, which she began to climb with panting breath. "Ah! she is going to the little farm of Lasvene which was burned," said Pierre to himself. Then, all the time watching Francoise, he began to question Caillette. What motive had Francoise in these persistent wanderings? Was it merely the whim of a mad woman or had she some fixed design? Francoise
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