"Got something to eat?"

"Never. I paid for a bath, had my hair cut and my face shaved, bought a
shirt and collar, and then went back to the restaurant where I had
washed dishes the night before, and the head waiter _served me_. After
that it was easy; the next week it was ten dollars; then in a few years
I had a place of my own; then came madame and Lucette--and here we are."

The twilight had faded into a velvet blue, sprinkled with stars. The
lantern which madame had hung against the arbor shed a yellow light,
throwing into clear relief the sharply cut features of monsieur. Up and
down the silent stream drifted here and there a phantom boat, the gleam
of its light following like a firefly. From some came no sound but the
muffled plash of the oars. From others floated stray bits of song and
laughter. Far up the stream I heard the distant whistle of the down
train.

"It is mine, monsieur. Will you cross with me, and bring back the boat?"

Monsieur unhooked the lantern, and I followed through the garden and
down the terrace steps.

At the water's edge was a bench holding two figures.

Monsieur turned his lantern, and the light fell upon the face of young
François.

When the bow grated on the opposite bank I shook his hand, and said, in
parting, pointing to the lovers,--