"We ought not to wait till to-morrow to speak to Mrs. Milligan," said
Mattia. "In the meantime that uncle might kill Arthur. He has never seen
me and I'm going to see Mrs. Milligan at once and tell her."

There was some reason in what Mattia proposed, so I let him go off,
telling him that I would wait for him at a short distance under a big
chestnut tree. I waited a long time for Mattia. More than a dozen times
I wondered if I had not made a mistake in letting him go. At last I saw
him coming back, accompanied by Mrs. Milligan. I ran to her, and,
seizing the hand that she held out to me, I bent over it. But she put
her arms round me and, stooping down, kissed me tenderly on the
forehead.

"Poor, dear child," she murmured.

With her beautiful white fingers she pushed the hair back from my
forehead and looked at me for a long time.

"Yes, yes," she whispered softly.

I was too happy to say a word.

"Mattia and I have had a long talk," she said, "but I want you to tell
me yourself how you came to enter the Driscoll family."

I told her what she asked and she only interrupted me to tell me to be
exact on certain points. Never had I been listened to with such
attention. Her eyes did not leave mine.

When I had finished she was silent for some time, still looking at me.
At last she said: "This is a very serious matter and we must act
prudently. But from this moment you must consider yourself as the
friend," she hesitated a little, "as the brother of Arthur. In two
hours' time go to the Hotel des Alpes; for the time being you will stay
there. I will send some one to the hotel to meet you. I am obliged to
leave you now."

Again she kissed me and after having shaken hands with Mattia she walked
away quickly.

"What did you tell Mrs. Milligan?" I demanded of Mattia.

"All that I have said to you and a lot more things," he replied. "Ah,
she is a kind lady, a beautiful lady!"

"Did you see Arthur?"

"Only from a distance, but near enough to see that he looked a nice sort
of boy."

I continued to question Mattia, but he answered me vaguely.

Although we were in our ragged street suits, we were received at the
hotel by a servant in a black suit and a white tie. He took us to our
apartment. How beautiful we thought our bedroom. There were two white
beds side by side. The windows opened onto a balcony overlooking the
lake. The servant asked us what we would like for dinner, which he would
serve us on the balcony