"Adieu, _mon ami_," cried the lady, as they approached the gate;
"I shall rejoin you this afternoon at Liége."

"And by the earliest train possible, I beg of you," answered
the other. "I may find it necessary to go on to Brussels this
evening."

"By the earliest train possible, _mon ami_. Adieu, then,--_au
revoir_."

"_Au revoir, ma chérie_," answered the gentleman, turning back
to the hotel, but pausing before he had taken a dozen steps.

_"Ma chérie_, you will not forget my business at Madame
Bertrand's?"

"But no, _mon ami_, it shall be attended to without fail."

"_Ma chérie_----"

"_Mon ami_----"

"You must hasten, or you will miss the train."

"I go, I go," cried the Countess, waving her parasol in token
of farewell, and hurrying out of the gateway. These last words
aroused Madelon also. In hearing strange voices talking what
seemed some familiar, half-forgotten tongue, she had almost
forgotten the train; but she started up now from where she had
been half standing, half leaning, and followed the Countess