He went to her home and talked a long time with the concierge in order to get some news.

The good woman was delighted to work off on him the loquacity so brusquely cut short by the flight of tenants and servants.
The lady on the first floor (Marguerite's mother) had been the last to abandon the house in spite of the fact that she was really sick over her son's departure.

They had left the day before without saying where they were going.

The only thing that she knew was that they took the train in the Gare d'Orsay.

They were going toward the South like all the rest of the rich.
And she supplemented her revelations with the vague news that the daughter had seemed very much upset by the information that she had received from the front.