she knew the way, she rushed to
the bedroom.

"As I thought," muttered Lupin. "The youngish woman with the gray hair:
Daubrecq's friend and enemy."

He walked to the window and looked through the curtains. Two men were
striding up and down the opposite pavement: the Growler and the Masher.

"And they're not even hiding themselves," he said to himself. "That's
a good sign. They consider that they can't do without me any longer and
that they've got to obey the governor. There remains the pretty lady
with the gray hair. That will be more difficult. It's you and I now,
mummy."

He found the mother and the boy clasped in each other's arms; and
the mother, in a great state of alarm, her eyes moist with tears, was
saying:

"You're not hurt? You're sure? Oh, how frightened you must have been, my
poor little Jacques!"

"A fine little fellow," said Lupin.

She did not reply. She was feeling the child's jersey, as Lupin had
done, no doubt to see if he had succeeded in his nocturnal mission; and
she questioned him in a whisper.

"No, mummy," said the child. "No, really."

She kissed him fondly and petted him, until, in a little while, the
child, worn out with fatigue and excitement, fell asleep. She remained
leaning over him for a long time. She herself seemed very much worn out
and in need of rest.

Lupin did not disturb her contemplation. He looked at her anxiously,
with an attention which she did not perceive, and he noticed the wider
rings round her eyes and the deeper marks of wrinkles. Yet he considered
her handsomer than he had thought, with that touching beauty which
habitual suffering gives to certain faces that are more human, more
sensitive than others.

She wore so sad an expression that, in a burst of instinctive sympathy,
he went up to her and said: "I do not know what your plans are, but,
whatever they may be, you stand in need of help. You cannot succeed
alone."

"I am not alone."

"The two men outside? I know them. They're no good. I beseech you,
make use of me. You remember the other evening, at the theatre, in the
private box? You were on the point of speaking. Do not hesitate to-day."

She turned her eyes on him, looked at him long and fixedly and, as
though unable to escape that opposing will, she said:

"What do you know exactly? What do you know about me?"

"There are many things that I do not know. I do not know your name. But
I know..."

She interrupted him with a gesture; and, resol