She grew calmer by degrees, and, resuming her usual voice and manner, she continued: 

“We must let your sister know to-morrow.”

He started, and said: 

“Of course we must; I had forgotten all about it; I will send her a telegram the first thing in the morning.”

“No,” she replied, like a woman who had foreseen everything; “no, do not send it before ten or eleven o’clock, so that we may have time to turn round before she comes.  It does not take more than two hours to get here from Charenton, and we can say that you lost your head from grief.  If we let her know in the course of the day, that will be soon enough, and will give us time to look round.”

Caravan put his hand to his forehead, and, in the came timid voice in which he always spoke of his chief, the very thought of whom made him tremble, he said: 

“I must let them know at the office.”

“Why?” she replied.  “On occasions like this, it is always excusable to forget.  Take my advice, and don’t let him know; your chief will not be able to say anything to you, and you will put him in a nice fix.

“Oh! yes, that I shall, and he will be in a terrible rage, too, when he notices my absence.  Yes, you are right; it is a capital idea, and when I tell him that my mother is dead, he will be obliged to hold his tongue.”

And he rubbed his hands in delight at the joke, when he thought of his chief’s face; while upstairs lay the body of the dead old woman, with the servant asleep beside it.

But Madame Caravan grew thoughtful, as if she were preoccupied by something which she did not care to mention, and at last she said: 

“Your mother had given you her clock, had she not—­the girl playing at cup and ball?”

He thought for a moment, and then replied: 

“Yes, yes; she said to me (but it was a long time ago, when she first came here):  ‘I shall leave the clock to you, if you look after me well.’”

Madame Caravan was reassured, and regained her serenity, and said: 

“Well, then, you must go and fetch it out of her room, for if we get your sister here, she will prevent us from taking it.”

He hesitated.

“Do you think so?”

That made her angry.

“I certainly think so; once it is in our possession, she will know nothing at all about where it came from; it belongs to us.  It is just the same with the chest of drawers with the marble top, that is in her room; she gave it me one day when she was in a good temper.  We will bring it down at the same time.”

Caravan, however, seemed incredulous, and said: 

“But, my dear, it is a great responsibility!”

She turned on him furiously.

“Oh!  Indeed!  Will you never change?  You would let your children die of hunger, rather than make a move.  Does not that chest of drawers belong to us, as she gave it to me?  And if your sister is not satisfied, let her tell me so, me!  I don’t care a straw for your sister.  Come, get up, and we will bring down what your mother gave us, immediately.”