s left," whispered Henrietta as it struck eight.

"He is on his way already," replied the old lady.

But neither of them knew anything of the journey from Paris to
Marseilles. They were ignorant of the distances, the names of the
stations, and even of the large cities through which the railroad
passes.

"We must try and get a railway guide," said the good widow. And, quite
proud of her happy thought, she went out instantly, hurried to the
nearest bookstore, and soon reappeared, flourishing triumphantly a
yellow pamphlet, and saying,--

"Now we shall see it all, my dear child."

Then, placing the guide on the tablecloth between them, they looked for
the page containing the railway from Paris to Lyons and Marseilles, then
the train which Papa Ravinet was to have taken; and they delighted in
counting up how swiftly the "express" went, and all the stations where
it stopped.

Then, when the table was cleared, instead of going industriously to
work, as usually, they kept constantly looking at the clock, and, after
consulting the book, said to each other,--

"He is at Montereau now; he must be beyond Sens; he will soon be at
Tonnerre."

A childish satisfaction, no doubt, and very idle. But who of us has
not, at least once in his life, derived a wonderful pleasure, or perhaps
unspeakable relief from impatience, or even grief, from following thus
across space a beloved one who was going away, or coming home? Towards
midnight, however, the old lady remarked that it was getting late, and
that it would be wise to go to bed.

"You think you will sleep, madam?" asked Henrietta, surprised.

"No, my child; but"--

"Oh! I, for my part,--_I_ could not sleep. This work on which we are
busy is very pressing, you say; why could we not finish it?"

"Well, let us sit up then," said the good widow.

The poor women, reduced as they were to conjectures by Papa Ravinet's
laconic answers, nevertheless knew full well that some great event was
in preparation, something unexpected, and yet decisive. What it was,
they did not know; but they understood, or rather felt, that Daniel's
return would and must totally change the aspect of affairs. But would
Daniel really come?

"If he does come," said Henrietta, "why did they only the other day tell
me, at the navy department, that he was not coming? Then, again, why
should he come home in a merchant vessel, and not on board his frigate?"

"Your letters have probably reached him at last,"