"Oh, no; it is not," said Perrine, lifting her lovely face to his. Her eyes were shining with a beautiful light. "It will not be empty if you think of others. When one is a child, and not very happy, one often thinks that if a wonderful fairy came to them, of what beautiful things they would ask. But if one is the fairy, or rather the magician oneself, and can do all the wonderful things alone, wouldn't it be splendid to use one's power?..." The evening passed. Several times the blind man asked if it were not time to start, but Perrine delayed as long as possible. At last she said that she thought they could start. The night was warm, no breeze, no mists. The atmosphere was a trifle heavy and the sky dark. When they reached the village it was all quiet. All seemed to sleep. Not a light shone from the windows. The dark night made no difference to the blind man. As they walked along the road from the chateau he knew exactly where he was. "We must be nearing Françoise's house," he said, after they had walked a little distance. "That is just where we are going," said Perrine. "We are there now. Let me take your hand and guide you, and please don't speak. We have some stairs to go up, but they are quite easy and straight. When we get to the top of these stairs I shall open a door and we shall go into a room for just one moment." "What do you want me to see ... when I can't see anything?" he said. "There will be no need for you to see," replied Perrine. "Then why come?" "I want you here," said Perrine earnestly. "Here are the stairs. Now step up, please." They climbed up the stairs and Perrine opened a door and gently drew M. Vulfran inside a room and closed the door again. They stood in a suffocating, evil-smelling room. "Who is there?" asked a weary voice. Pressing his hand, Perrine warned M. Vulfran not to speak. The same voice spoke: "Get into bed, La Noyelle. How late you are." This time M. Vulfran clasped Perrine's hand in a sign for them to leave the place. She opened the door and they went down, while a murmur of voices accompanied them. When they reached the street M. Vulfran spoke: "You wanted me to know what that room was the first night when you slept there?" "I wanted you to know what kind of a place all the women who work for you have to sleep in. They are all alike in Maraucourt and the other villages. You have stood in one of these dreadful rooms; all the others are like it. Think of your women and children, your factory hands, who are breathing that poisoned air. They are slowly dying. They are almost all weak and sick." M. Vulfran was silent. He did not speak again, neither did Perrine. When they entered the hall he bade her good night, and guided by Bastien, he went to his own room. CHAPTER XXX GRANDFATHER FINDS PERRINE One year had passed since Perrine had arrived at Maraucourt on that radiant Sunday morning. What a miserable lonely little girl she had been then.