CHAPTER III.
EVENING AND DAWN Just at the moment when I was settling down to audit the Sesmaisons' account--I remember that detail--there came an unusual sound of steps and voices, and before I could even turn round I heard a voice through the glass door say, "Monsieur Paulin's aunt is very ill." The sentence stuns me.

I am standing, and some one is standing opposite me.

A draught shuts the door with a bang.
Both of us set off.

It is Benoit who has come to fetch me.

We hurry.
I breathe heavily.