But Bernard's face expressed such candor and such open-hearted pleasure at seeing him that he said: "Yes, I am. Only you're so young!" "I? I'm quite ancient. Seventeen the day I enlisted." "But what did your father say?" "Dad gave me leave. But for that, of course, I shouldn't have given him leave." "What do you mean?" "Why, he's enlisted, too." "At his age?" "Nonsense, he's quite juvenile. Fifty the day he enlisted! They found him a job as interpreter with the British staff. All the family under arms, you see. . . . Oh, I was forgetting, I've a letter for you from Élisabeth!" Paul started. He had deliberately refrained from asking after his wife. He now said, as he took the letter: "So she gave you this . . . ?" "No, she sent it to us from Ornequin." "From Ornequin? How can she have done that? Élisabeth left Ornequin on the day of mobilization, in the evening. She was going to Chaumont, to her aunt's." "Not at all. I went and said good-bye to our aunt: she hadn't heard from Élisabeth since the beginning of the war. Besides, look at the envelope: 'M. Paul Delroze, care of M. d'Andeville, Paris, etc.' And it's post-marked Ornequin and Corvigny." Paul looked and stammered: "Yes, you're right; and I can read the date on the post-mark: 18 August. The 18th of August . . . and Corvigny fell into the hands of the Germans two days later, on the 20th. So Élisabeth was still there." "No, no," cried Bernard, "Élisabeth isn't a child! You surely don't think she would have waited for the Huns, so close to the frontier! She would have left the château at the first sound of firing. And that's what she's telling you, I expect. Why don't you read her letter, Paul?" Paul, on his side, had no idea of what he was about to learn on reading the letter; and he opened the envelope with a shudder. What Élisabeth wrote was: "_Paul_, "I cannot make up my mind to leave Ornequin. A duty keeps me here in which I shall not fail, the duty of clearing my mother's memory. Do understand me, Paul. My mother remains the purest of creatures in my eyes. The woman who nursed me in her arms, for whom my father retains all his love, must not be even suspected. But you yourself accuse her; and it is against you that I wish to defend her. To compel you to believe me, I shall find the proofs that are not necessary to convince me. And it seems to me that those proofs can only be found here. So I shall stay. "Jérôme and Rosalie are also staying on, though the enemy is said to be approaching. They have brave hearts, both of them, and you have nothing to fear, as I shall not be alone. ÉLISABETH DELROZE." Paul folded up the letter. He was very pale. Bernard asked: "She's gone, hasn't she?" "No, she's there."