On 17 September 1904, even though he hadn’t seen her again for years, Oskar Serti came to the rendez-vous which Catherine de Sélys had given him in the Besançon train station. After glancing about himself furtively, he discovered her at the rear of the station talking to a stranger whose hat and coat were practically identical to those he himself had the habit of wearing in the past. He said to himself that Catherine must have taken this man for himself and, profoundly disappointed by this mistake, he decided immediately to conduct himself back to Belfort by return train, without even signalling his presence to her.
Alone in his compartment, Serti suddenly thought with anxiety that he hadn’t really seen the face of the woman speaking with the stranger. If he had taken her for Catherine, it was strictly due to the little patterned dress which she wore so often at the time when they were living together.