He said that he had been asleep--and why he put it in a past tense is still a mystery--and could give no idea of the direction of the chalet on La Genolliere, beyond a vague suggestion that it was somewhere in the mist; a suggestion by no means improbable, seeing that the mist was ubiquitous.

One piece of information he was able to give, and it was consoling: I was now, it seemed, on the Fruitiere de Nyon, and therefore the desired chalet could not be far off, if only a guide could be found.

On the whole, he thought that a guide could not be found; but there were men in the chalet, and I might go up the ladder with him and see what could be done.

He led to a chamber with a window of one small pane, dating apparently from the first invention of glass, and never cleaned since.

An invisible corner of the room was appealed to; but the voice which resided there, and seemed like everything else to be asleep, pleaded dreamily a total ignorance of the whereabouts of the chalet in question.