her errand she wanted to go from one door to
another to gossip, but Perrine had no desire for this, and she excused
herself on the plea of being tired. She did not want to go to bed. She
just wanted to be alone, to think, in her little room, with the door
closed. She wanted to take a clear account of the situation in which she
now found herself.

When she heard Fabry and Mombleux speaking of the manager she realized
how much she had to fear this man. He had given her to understand that
he was the master, and as such it was his right to be informed of all
that happened. But all that was nothing compared with what had been
revealed to her in the conversation that she had just heard.

She knew that he wished to exercise his authority over everyone. But she
had not known that his ambition was to take her grandfather's place some
day. This man was scheming to replace the all-powerful master of the
Maraucourt factories; for years he had plotted with this object in view.
All this she had just learned. The two men whose conversation she had
overheard were in a position to know the facts. And this terrible man,
now that she had replaced William, intended that she should spy upon his
employer.

What should she do? She was only a little girl, almost a child, and
there was no one to protect her. What should she do?

She had asked herself this question before, but under different
circumstances. It was impossible for her to lie down, so nervous and
excited was she at what she had heard.

Perhaps this dreadful man had schemed to keep her dear dead father away
from his home, and he was still working in an underhanded way for what?
Was he trying to get out of the way the two nephews who would replace
his master? If he had the power to do this, what might he not do to her
if she refused to spy for him?

She spent the greater part of the night turning these questions over in
her little head. At last, tired out with the difficulties which
confronted her, she dropped her curly head on the pillow and slept.

CHAPTER XXI

LETTERS FROM DACCA

The first thing that M. Vulfran did upon reaching his office in the
morning was to open his mail. Domestic letters were arranged in one pile
and foreign letters in another. Since he had gone blind his nephews or
Talouel read the French mail aloud to him; the English letters were
given to Fabry and the German to Mombleux.

The day following the conversation between Fabry and Mombleux wh