..."
They slipped down into the pit of Briey where the houses cling to the
sides of a circular hollow, and drew up by a white house which the
Frenchman indicated.
The old woman searched, trembling and out of breath for her
handkerchief, and wiped her streaming eyes; then, as she climbed out
backwards, with feet feeling for the ground--"What do I owe you,
mademoiselle?"
"Ah, nothing, nothing."
"_Mais si_! I am not at all poor!" and leaving a twopence-halfpenny
piece on the seat, she hurried away.
Colonel Dellahousse came to the side of the car and thanked Fanny
ceremoniously. "And if I do not see you again, mademoiselle," he said,
"remember what I say and go back to your home before the pleasure of
life is spoilt for you."
"Good-bye, good-bye," said the French lieutenant.
Soon after she had left Briey snow began to fall. A river circled at the
foot of a hill, and she followed its windings on a road which ran just
above it. Night wiped out the colours on the hills around her, until the
moon rose and they glowed again, half trees, half light. She climbed
slowly up to a plateau not a dozen miles from Metz.
* * * * *
An hour later, the car put away in the garage, Fanny was tapping at the
window of the bath house in the town. The beautiful fat woman who
prepared the baths answered her tap.
Pages:
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87