They went out.  George was smoking a cigar and had his hat on one side, and Parent followed them.  First of all they went up and down the terrace, and calmly admired the landscape, like people who have well satisfied their hunger, and then they went into the forest, and Parent rubbed his hands and followed them at a distance, hiding himself, so as not to excite their suspicion too soon.  They walked slowly, enjoying the fresh green, and the warm air.  Henriette was holding Limousin’s arm and walked upright at his side, like a wife who is sure, and proud of herself.  George was cutting off the leaves with his stick, and occasionally jumped over the ditches by the road side, like a fiery young horse ready to gallop off through the trees.

Parent came up to them by degrees, panting rather from excitement and fatigue, for he never walked now.  He soon came up to them, but he was seized by fear, an inexplicable fear, and he passed them, so as to turn round and meet them face to face.  He walked on, his heart beating, for he knew that they were just behind him now, and he said to himself:  “Come, now is the time.  Courage! courage!  Now is the moment!”

He turned round.  They were all three sitting on the grass, at the foot of a huge tree, and they were still talking, and he made up his mind, and came back rapidly, and then stopping in front of them in the middle of the road, he said abruptly, in a voice broken by emotion:  “It is I!  Here I am!  I suppose you did not expect me?” They all three looked at him carefully, for they thought that he was mad, and he continued:  “One might think that you did not know me again.  Just look at me!  I am Parent, Henri Parent.  You did not expect me, eh?  You thought it was all over, and that you would never see me again.  Ah!  But here I am once more, you see, and now we will have an explanation.”

Henriette was terrified and hid her face in her hands, murmuring:  “Oh!  Good Heavens!” And seeing this stranger who seemed to be threatening his mother, George sprang up, ready to seize him by the collar, while Limousin, who was thunderstruck, looked at this specter in horror, who, after panting for a few moments, continued:  “So now we will have an explanation; the proper moment for it has come!  Ah! you deceived me, you condemned me to the life of a convict, and you thought that I should never catch you!”

But the young man took him by the shoulders and pushed him back:  “Are you mad?” he asked.  “What do you want?  Go on your way immediately, or I shall give you a thrashing!” But Parent replied:  “What do I want?  I want to tell you who these people are.”  George, however, was in a rage and shook him; was even going to strike him, but the other said:  “Just let me go.  I am your father ...  There, look whether they recognize me now, the wretches!” And the alarmed young man, removed his hands, and turned to his mother, while Parent, as soon as he was released, went towards her.