but afraid that her voice would betray her joy, she
kept silent.

"I can see that until poor Bendit is better I can make good use of you,"
he continued.

After receiving an account of the work that the men had done, and
telling them to be as quick as possible, he told Perrine to lead him to
the manager's office.

"Have I to give you my hand?" she asked, timidly.

"Why, yes, my child," he replied. "How do you think you can guide me
otherwise? And warn me when there is anything in the way, and above all
don't be absent-minded."

"Oh, I assure you, sir, you can place every confidence in me," she said
with emotion.

"You see that I already have confidence," he replied.

She took him gently by the left hand, whilst with his right he held his
cane, feeling ahead of him cautiously as he went forward.

They had scarcely left the workshops before they came to the railway
tracks, and she thought that she ought to warn him.

"Here are the rails, just here," she said. "Please...."

But he interrupted her.

"That you need not tell me," he said. "I know every bit of the ground
round about the works; my head knows it and my feet know it, but it's
the unexpected obstacles that we might find on the road that you must
tell me about, something that's in the path that should not be. All the
ground I know, thoroughly."

It was not only his grounds that he knew, but he knew his people also.
When he went through the yards his men greeted him. They not only took
their hats off as though he saw them, but they said his name.

"Good morning, sir!... Good morning, Monsieur Vulfran!"

And to a great number he was able to reply by their names: "Good
morning, Jacque!" ... "Good morning, Pascal!" He knew the voices of all
those who had long been in his employ. When he hesitated, which was
rarely, for he knew almost all, he would stop and say: "It's you, is it
not?" mentioning the speaker's name.

If he made a mistake he explained why he had done so.

Walking thus, it was a slow walk from the factories to the offices. She
led him to his armchair; then he dismissed her.

"Until tomorrow," he said; "I shall want you then."

CHAPTER XVII

HARD QUESTIONS

The next morning, at the same hour as on the previous day, Monsieur
Paindavoine entered the workshops, guided by the manager. Perrine wanted
to go and meet him, but she could not at this moment as she was busy
transmitting orders from the chief machinist to the men who w