thought of Georges comforted her. Georges was still left her; he

would be able to act, perhaps to save them. Thereupon, without

seeking aid of anyone else--for she wished to keep these matters

shrouded in the bosom of her family--she dragged herself up to the

next story, her mind possessed by the idea that she still had

someone to love about her. But upstairs she found an empty room.

The porter told her that M. Georges had gone out at an early hour.

The room was haunted by the ghost of yet another calamity; the bed