He went out in the evening when it was dusk and walked round and round the public garden of Colmar, thinking of the news which he had heard--the public garden, in which stands the statue of General Rapp. It was a terrible blow to him. Though he had remained a whole year in Colmar without seeing Marie, or hearing of her, without hardly ever having had her name upon his lips, without even having once assured himself during the whole time that the happiness of his life would depend on the girl's constancy to him,--now that he heard that she was to be married to another man, he was torn to pieces by anger and regret. He had sworn to love her, and had never even spoken a word of tenderness to another girl. She had given him her plighted troth, and now she was prepared to break it with the first man who asked her! As he thought of this, his brow became black with anger. But his regrets were as violent. What a fool he had been to leave her there, open to persuasion from any man who came in the way, open to persuasion from his father, who would, of course, be his enemy. How, indeed, could he expect that she should be true to him? The year had been long enough to him, but it must have been doubly long to her. He had expected that his father would send for him, would write to him, would at least transmit to him some word that would make him know that his presence was again desired at Granpere. But his father had been as proud as he was, and had not sent any such message. Or rather, perhaps, the father being older and less impatient, had thought that a temporary absence from Granpere might be good for his son. It was late at night when George Voss went to bed, but he was up in the morning early to see Edmond Greisse before the roulage should start for Munster on its road to Granpere. Early times in that part of the world are very early, and the roulage was ready in the back court of the inn at half-past four in the morning. 'What? you up at this hour?' said Edmond. 'Why not? It is not every day we have a friend here from Granpere, so I thought I would see you off.' 'That is kind of you.' 'Give my love to them at the old house, Edmond.' 'Of course I will.' 'To father, and Madame Voss, and the children, and to Marie.' 'All right.' 'Tell Marie that you have told me of her marriage.' 'I don't know whether she'll like to talk about that to me.' 'Never mind; you tell her. She won't bite you. Tell her also that I shall be over at Granpere soon to see her and the rest of them. I'll be over--as soon as ever I can get away.' 'Shall I tell your father that?' 'No. Tell Marie, and let her tell my father.' 'And when will you come? We shall all be so glad to see you.' 'Never you mind that. You just give my message. Come in for a moment to the kitchen. There's a cup of coffee for you and a slice of ham. We are not going to let an old friend like you go away without breaking his fast.'