<sod>As a result of a chance remark, Roubaud suspects that Séverine has had an affair some years earlier, with Grandmorin  one of the directors of the railway company, who had acted as her patron and who had helped Roubaud get his job. He forces a confession out of her and  makes her write a letter to him telling him to take a particular train that evening, the same train Roubaud and Séverine are taking back to Le Havre.<eod>
<sod>As a result of a chance remark, Roubaud suspects that Séverine has had an affair some years earlier, with Grandmorin  one of the directors of the railway company, who had acted as her patron and who had helped Roubaud get his job. He forces a confession out of her and  makes her write a letter to Grandmorin telling him to take a particular train that evening, the same train Roubaud and Séverine are taking back to Le Havre.<eod>