"Why, Nicolete, I can't believe my own eyes!" Nona protested. "What are you doing back here in your own little house, only it is so changed that I would scarcely have recognized it."
Nicolete's dark eyes shone and the vivid color flooded her face.
"I am married," she explained. "You remember Monsieur Renay, whom Mademoiselle Barbara named 'Monsieur Bebé?' Well," Nicolete laughed bewitchingly, "he is my husband."
"And is he----" Nona asked and hesitated.
Nicolete shook her head. "He can tell the light from the darkness, and now and then can see me moving in the shadow. Some day, the doctors say, his sight may be fully restored. He has seen the best specialists. Madame Eugenié sent us both to Paris. She it was who made us a home here in the woods out of the old hut, so that my husband might have the fresh air and grow strong to aid his recovery."
"Madame Eugenié," it was a pretty title and one that Eugenia would probably always have in this French country, which had so long known the old Countess as Madame Castaigne.
When Barbara and Mildred returned from the chateau Nona sincerely hoped they would bring news of Eugenia's arrival, since she was growing more than anxious to see her again.
In truth, Barbara and Mildred were having a delightful afternoon at the Chateau d'Amélie.
When they arrived, solemnly François invited them into the old French drawing room they so well remembered.
But here, instead of the slender, tiny figure of the old Countess appearing to greet them, a tall, dark young woman came forward, whose hair was wound about her head like a coronet.
"Eugenia!" Barbara exclaimed, and straightway shed several tears, while Eugenia and Mildred laughed at her.
Then the three girls went over and sat down on the same Louis XIV sofa that two of them had once occupied with young Captain Castaigne, on their first visit to the chateau.
This time Eugenia took the place of honor in the center, while each hand clasped one of her companions.
"Henri and I arrived just an hour ago," she explained. "He found he could get a three days leave to come with me. Of course, I wished to rush off to the farmhouse before I even got my traveling things off. But since I am a much managed woman these days, I was made to wait until you came here. I have been expecting you every minute. Now tell me about Nona and Madame Valesky."