Her whole nature had been emptied out, and there came upon her a calm, a
strange clearness of brain, exhausted in body as she was. For an instant
she stood thinking.

"Madame Degardy! Madame Degardy!" she cried, with sudden inspiration.
"Ah, I will find her; she may save him with her herbs!"

She hurried out of the house and down through the village to the little
hut by the river, where the old woman lived.

Elise had been to Madame Degardy as good a friend as a half-mad creature,
with no memory, would permit her. Parpon had lived for years in the same
village, but, though he was her own son, she had never given him a look
of recognition, had used him as she used all others. In turn, the dwarf
had never told any one but Valmond of the relationship; and so the two
lived their strange lives in their own singular way. But the Cure knew
who it was that kept the old woman's house supplied with wood and other
necessaries. Parpon himself had tried to summon her to Valmond's
bedside, for he knew well her skill with herbs, but the little hut was
empty, and he could get no trace of her. She had disappeared the night
Valmond was seized of the fever, and she came back to her little home in
the very hour that Elise visited her. The girl found her boiling herbs
before a big fire. She was stirring the pot diligently, now and then
sprinkling in what looked like a brown dust, and watching the brew
intently.

She nodded, but did not look at Elise, and said crossly:

"Come in, come in, and shut the door, silly."