Then at last, in disguise, he managed to escape, and reached this place in safety, hoping here to find something to guide him as to where his wife and children were.

But he found nothing--the house was deserted, not a servant or retainer of any kind left except myself, and what, alas! could _I_ do?
He was worn out and exhausted, poor man; he hid in the house for a few days, creeping out at dusk in fear and trembling to buy a loaf of bread, trusting to his disguise and to his not being well known in the town.

But he would have died, I believe, had he been long left as he was, for distress of mind added to his other miseries, not knowing anything as to what had become of your great-grandmother and his children.
"She was a good wife," continued Dudu, after another little pause.

"Our Mademoiselle Jeanne, I mean.

Just when her poor husband was losing heart altogether, beginning to think they must all be dead, that there was nothing left for him to do but to die too, she came to him.