The two ladies continued chatting gaily together. "So I see you are happy," remarked the older one. "Happy? Ah! if I could only tell you to what extent," replied the other. "Two years ago I was nobody at all. You remember, there was no amusement at the home of my aunt; and I was without a sou of dowry. When he used to call, I trembled, I had become so fond of him. He was so handsome, so wealthy. And he is mine, my husband, and we have baby between us. I assure you it is too delightful!" Jacques, in examining the knot of the scarf, perceived a big gold locket underneath, attached to a black velvet band; and he calculated how he would proceed. "I will grasp her by the neck," thought he, "with my left hand, and thrust aside the locket as I put her head back to have the throat free." The train stopped, and went on again every few minutes, the stations being so close together. Short tunnels followed one another at Courcelles and Neuilly. Presently would do, one minute would be sufficient. "Did you go to the seaside last summer?" inquired the old lady. "Yes," answered the other, "to Brittany, for six weeks, in an out-of-the-way corner, a perfect paradise. Then we passed September in Poitou, at the seat of my father-in-law, who owns extensive woods down there." "And you are going to the south for the winter?" said the old lady. "Yes," answered the younger one, "we shall be at Cannes about the 15th. The house is taken. A delightful bit of garden facing the sea. We have sent someone down to prepare the place. Neither of us fear the cold, but then, the sun is so nice! We shall be back in March. Next year we intend to remain in Paris. After two years, when baby is big, we mean to travel. I hardly know what afterwards. It is one constant holiday!" She was so overflowing with felicity, that yielding to a feeling of expansion, she turned towards Jacques, towards this unknown individual to smile at him. In making this movement the knot of her scarf was displaced, carrying the locket away with it, and revealing the rosy neck with a slight dimple gilded by the shadow. The fingers of Jacques clutched the handle of the knife, at the same time as he formed an irrevocable resolution. "That is the spot where I will deal the blow," said he to himself. "Yes, in the tunnel before reaching Passy." But, at the Trocadero station, a member of the staff got in, who, knowing Jacques, began to talk about a theft of coal that had been brought home to a driver and his fireman. From that moment everything became confused. Later on he was never able to establish the facts, exactly. The laughter continued in such a beam of happiness that he felt as if penetrated and appeased by it. Perhaps he went as far as Auteuil with the two ladies, only he had no recollection of seeing them leave the carriage.