She flew to him and flung her arms around his neck.
"Oh, grandpapa, what a lovely surprise!" she cried, dancing around her dear Palikare.
"You don't owe it to me," said her grandfather. "Fabry bought it from that ragpicker to whom you sold it. The office staff offer it as a gift to their old comrade."
"Oh, hasn't Monsieur Fabry got a good, kind heart!" cried Perrine.
"Yes, he thought of it, but your cousins did not," said M. Vulfran. "I have ordered a pretty cart from Paris for him. This phaeton is not the thing for him."
They got up into the carriage and Perrine took the reins delightedly.
"Where shall we go first, grandpapa?" she asked.
"Why, to the log cabin," he said. "Don't you think I want to see the little nest where you once lived, my darling?"
He referred to the cabin on the island where she had lived for a time the preceding year. It remained fondly in his mind. She drove on to the entrance and helped her grandfather alight at the path.
The cabin seemed just the same as when Perrine left it.
"How strange," said M. Vulfran, "that only a few steps from a great industrial center you were able to live the life of a savage here."
"In India we led a real savage life," said Perrine. "Everything around us belonged to us there, but here, I had no right to this and I was often very afraid."
After M. Vulfran had inspected the little log hut he wanted to see the crèche at Maraucourt.
He thought that he would easily recognize it, as he had so often discussed the plans with Fabry, but when he found himself at the entrance, and was able to see at a glance all the other rooms, the dormitory where the little babies were asleep in their rose and blue cribs according to the sex, the playroom where those who could walk were playing, the kitchen, the lavatory, he was surprised and delighted.
Using large glass doors, the architect had cleverly made his plans so that from the first room the mothers could see all that went on in the other rooms where they were not allowed to enter.
In the nursery the children sprang forward and jumped upon Perrine, showing her the playthings that they had in their hands.
"I see that you are known here," said M. Vulfran.
"Known!" replied Mlle. Belhomme, greeting them. "She is loved by all; she is a little mother to them, and no one can play like she can."