So it goes, and I step on from here again, looking--looking."
"Wait till spring," said the Young Doctor. "What is the good of going on
now! You can only tramp to the next town, and--"
"And the next," interposed Jean Jacques. "But so it is my orders." He put
his hand on his heart, and gathered up his hat and knapsack.
"But you haven't searched here at Askatoon."
"Ah? . . . Ah-well, surely that is so," answered Jean Jacques wistfully.
"I had forgotten that. Perhaps you can tell me, you who know all. Have
you any news about my Zoe for me? Do you know--was she ever here? Madame
Gerard Fynes would be her name. My name is Jean Jacques Barbille."
"Madame Zoe was here, but she has gone," quietly answered the Young
Doctor.
Jean Jacques dropped the hat and the knapsack. His eyes had a glad, yet
staring and frightened look, for the Young Doctor's face was not the
bearer of good tidings.
"Zoe--my Zoe! You are sure? . . . When was she here?" he added huskily.
"A month ago."
"When did she go?" Jean Jacques' voice was almost a whisper.
"A month ago."
"Where did she go?" asked Jean Jacques, holding himself steady, for he
had a strange dreadful premonition.
"Out of all care at last," answered the Young Doctor, and took a step
towards the little man, who staggered, then recovered himself.
"She--my Zoe is dead! How?" questioned Jean Jacques in a ghostly sort of
voice, but there was a steadiness and control unlike what he had shown in
other tragic moments.
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