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 but her offer could not be accepted by the State. As there was no husband, or relative, Marthe could not be released.

"Could I help?" asked Grover, rather helplessly wondering whether the guarantee of a yearly sum would suffice.

Mme. Annoni was of the opinion that it was a hopeless situation. But she gave him the address of the institution.

On the Wednesday afternoon set aside for visitors, Grover obtained leave from his office and undertook the lugubrious journey. Outside the fortifications there was a long delay in transferring to a second tramway, and he stood shivering in the snow, armed with a mournfully festive basket of chocolate and fruits.

There were many buildings and it was not easy to find the right one, for every door seemed locked, and his knockings brought no response. Eventually he found his goal and an alert-eyed Sister piloted him through a long bare corridor from which he could see into bedrooms occupied by staring, furtive creatures. One woman brushed back her hair and ran from the sight of him with a scream of terror; another peered silently through the doorless opening, craning first her neck and then half her body, swinging back and forth like an ape. A third, a gray-haired old witch with dead eyes and an unearthly grin, skipped ahead of them like a little girl, twirling an imaginary rope.