ge we were in, but there were trees, and I heard the linnets
singing. We came to London; all was changed. This is no reproach, mind.
When one comes to a fresh place, how is one to know anything about it?
Father, do you remember that one day there was a woman in the great box;
you said: 'It is a duchess.' I felt sad. I think it might have been
better had we kept to the little towns. Gwynplaine has done right,
withal. Now my turn has come. Besides, you have told me yourself, that
when I was very little, my mother died, and that I was lying on the
ground with the snow falling upon me, and that he, who was also very
little then, and alone, like myself, picked me up, and that it was thus
that I came to be alive; so you cannot wonder that now I should feel it
absolutely necessary to go and search the grave to see if Gwynplaine be
in it. Because the only thing which exists in life is the heart; and
after life, the soul. You take notice of what I say, father, do you not?
What is moving? It seems as if we are in something that is moving, yet I
do not hear the sound of the wheels."

After a pause the voice added,--

"I cannot exactly make out the difference between yesterday and to-day.
I do not complain. I do not know what has occurred, but something must
have happened."

These words, uttered with deep and inconsolable sweetness, and with a
sigh which Gwynplaine heard, wound up thus,--

"I must go, unless he should return."

Ursus muttered gloomily: "I do not believe in ghosts."

He went on,--

"This is a ship. You ask why the house moves; it is because we are on
board a vessel. Be calm; you must not talk so much. Daughter, if you
have any love for me, do not agitate yourself, it will make you
feverish. I am so old, I could not bear it if you were to have an
illness. Spare me! do not be ill!"

Again the voice spoke,--

"What is the use of searching the earth, when we can only find in
heaven?"

Ursus replied, with a half attempt at authority,--

"Be calm. There are times when you have no sense at all. I order you to
rest. After all, you cannot be expected to know what it is to rupture a
blood-vessel. I should be easy if you were easy. My child, do something
for me as well. If he picked you up, I took you in. You will make me
ill. That is wrong. You must calm yourself, and go to sleep. All will
come right. I give you my word of honour, all will come right. Besides,
it is very fine weather. The night might have been m