Part 35 (1/2)
”Where to?”
”As far as Schirmeck, I think.”
”No; that is too near the frontier, and it is too important a station. In your place I should get out at the station before that, at Russ Hersbach.”
”Good! There I take a carriage ordered beforehand--I go to Grande Fontaine--I dash into the forest.”
”We dash, you mean?”
”Are you coming?”
The two men looked at each other, proud of each other.
”Really,” said M. Ulrich, ”this astonishes you? It is my trade.
Pathfinder that I am, I am going first to reconnoitre the land, then when I shall have done the wood so thoroughly that I can find my way through it even by night, I will tell you if the plan is a good one, and at the hour agreed upon you will find me there. Be careful to dress like a tourist: soft hat, gaiters, not an ounce of baggage.”
”Quite so.”
M. Ulrich again scrutinised this handsome Jean who was leaving for ever the land of the Oberles, the Biehlers, and all their ancestors.
All the same, how sad it is, in spite of the joy of the danger.
”Bah!” said Jean, trying to laugh, ”I shall see the Rhine at both ends--there where it is free.”
M. Ulrich embraced him.
”Courage, my boy, we shall meet soon. Take care not to let any one guess your plan. Who is it you are going to tell?”
”M. Bastian.”
The uncle approved, and already on the threshold, pointing to the next room which M. Philippe Oberle never left now:
”The poor man! There is more honour in his half of a human personality than in all the others together. Good-bye, Jean!”
Some hours pa.s.sed and Jean went to the office of the works as usual.
But his mind was so distracted that work was impossible. The employees who wished to speak to him noticed it. One of the foremen could not help saying to the clerks in the writing department, Germans like himself:
”The German cavalry is making ravages here: the master looks half mad.”
The same patriotic feeling made them all laugh silently.
Then the dinner bell rang. Jean dreaded meeting his mother and Lucienne. Lucienne held her brother back as she was entering the dining-room, and in the half-light tenderly embraced him, holding him closely to her. Like most engaged people, it was probably a little of the other she was embracing without knowing it. However, the thought at least was for Jean. She murmured:
”I saw him at Obernai for a long time. He pleases me very much, because he is proud, like me. He has promised me to protect you in the regiment. But do not let us speak of him at dinner. It will be better not to. Mamma has been very kind--the poor thing touched me.
She can do no more. Jean, I was obliged to rea.s.sure her by telling her your secret, and I told her that you will not leave Alsace, because you love Odile. Will you forgive me?”
She took her brother's arm, and leaving the hall went into the dining-room, where M. and Madame Oberle were seated already--silent.