family table.

"Oh, thank you," said Perrine; "but M. Vulfran might need me."

"Well, in that case you had better go back," said Mlle. Belhomme.

When she reached the chateau she saw that M. Vulfran had no need of her,
that he was not even thinking of her. Bastien, whom she met on the
stairs, told her that when he came back from the church he had gone to
his own room and locked himself in, forbidding anyone to enter.

"He won't even sit down on a day like this with his family," said
Bastien, "and they are all going after luncheon. I don't think he even
wants to say goodbye to them. Lord help us! What will become of us? Oh,
poor master!"

"What can I do?" asked Perrine.

"You can do a great deal. The master believes in you, and he's mighty
fond of you."

"Mighty fond of me?" echoed Perrine.

"Yes, and it's I as says it," said the butler. "He likes you a whole
lot."

As Bastien had said, all the family left after luncheon. Perrine stayed
in her room, but M. Vulfran did not send for her. Just before she went
to bed, Bastien came to tell her that his master wished her to accompany
him the next morning at the usual hour.

"He wants to get back to work, but will he be able?" said the old
butler. "It will be better for him if he can. Work means life for him."

The next day at the usual hour Perrine was waiting for M. Vulfran. With
bent back he came forward, guided by Bastien. The butler made a sign to
her that his master had passed a bad night.

"Is Aurelie there?" asked the blind man in a changed voice, a voice low
and weak, like that of a sick child.

Perrine went forward quickly.

"I am here, M. Vulfran," she said.

"Let us get into the carriage, Aurelie," he said.

As soon as he had taken his place beside Perrine his head drooped on his
chest. He said not a word.

At the foot of the office steps Talouel was there ready to receive him
and help him to alight.

"I suppose you felt strong enough to come?" he said, in a sympathetic
voice which contrasted with the flash in his eyes.

"I did not feel at all strong, but I came because I thought that I ought
to come," said his employer.

"That is what I meant ... I...."

M. Vulfran stopped him and told Perrine to guide him to his office.

The mail, which had accumulated in two days, was read, but the blind man
made no comments on the correspondence. It was as though he were deaf or
asleep. The heads of the factory then came in to discuss an important
q