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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3938-0.txt b/3938-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6e3f8b --- /dev/null +++ b/3938-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7207 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Woodland Queen, Complete, by Andre Theuriet + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Woodland Queen, Complete + +Author: Andre Theuriet + +Release Date: October 5, 2006 [EBook #3938] +Last Updated: August 23, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOODLAND QUEEN, COMPLETE *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +A WOODLAND QUEEN + +[‘Reine des Bois’) + +By ANDRE THEURIET + +With a Preface by MELCHIOR DE VOGUE, of the French academy + + + + +ANDRE THEURIET + +CLAUDE-ADHEMAR-ANDRE THEURIET was born at Marly-le-Roi (Seine et Oise), +October 8,1833. His ancestors came from Lorraine. He was educated at +Bar-le-Duc and went to Paris in 1854 to study jurisprudence. After +finishing his courses he entered the Department of the Treasury, and +after an honorable career there, resigned as chef-de-bureau. He is a +poet, a dramatist, but, above all, a writer of great fiction. + +As early as 1857 the poems of Theuriet were printed in the ‘Revue de +Paris’ and the ‘Revue des Deux Mondes’. His greatest novel, ‘Reine des +Bois’ (Woodland Queen), was crowned by the Academie Francaise in 1890. +To the public in general he became first known in 1870 by his ‘Nouvelles +Intimes’. Since that time he has published a great many volumes of +poems, drama, and fiction. A great writer, he perhaps meets the wishes +of that large class of readers who seek in literature agreeable rest and +distraction, rather than excitement or aesthetic gratification. He is +one of the greatest spirits that survived the bankruptcy of Romanticism. +He excels in the description of country nooks and corners; of that +polite rusticity which knows nothing of the delving laborers of ‘La +Terre’, but only of graceful and learned leisure, of solitude nursed in +revery, and of passion that seems the springtide of germinating +nature. He possesses great originality and the passionate spirit of a +‘paysagiste’: pictures of provincial life and family-interiors seem to +appeal to his most pronounced sympathies. His taste is delicate, his +style healthy and frank, and at the same time limpid and animated. + +After receiving, in 1890, the Prix Vitet for the ensemble of his +literary productions, he was elected to the Academy in 1896. To the +stage Theuriet has given ‘Jean-Marie’, drama in verses (Odeon, February +11, 1871). It is yet kept on the repertoire together with his ‘Maison de +deux Barbeaux (1865), Raymonde (1887), and Les Maugars (1901).’ + +His novels, tales, and poems comprise a long list. ‘Le Bleu et le +Noir’ (1873) was also crowned by the Academy. Then followed, at short +intervals: ‘Mademoiselle Guignon (1874.); Le Mariage de Gerard (1875); +La Fortune d’Angele (1876); Raymonde (1877),’ a romance of modern life, +vastly esteemed by the reading public; ‘Le Don Juan de Vireloup (1877); +Sous Bois, Impressions d’un Forestier (1878); Le Filleul d’un Marquis +(1878); Les Nids (1879); Le fils Maugars (1879); La Maison de deux +Barbeaux (1879); Toute seule (1880); Sauvageonne (1880), his most +realistic work; Les Enchantements de la Foret (1881); Le Livre de +la Payse (poetry, 1882); Madame Heurteloup (1882); Peche de Jeunesse +(1883); Le Journal de Tristan, mostly autobiographical; Bigarreau +(1885); Eusebe Lombard (1885); Les OEillets de Kerlatz (1885); Helene +(1886); Nos Oiseaux (beautiful verses, 1886); La Vie Rustique (1887); +Amour d’Automne (1888); Josette (1888); Deux Soeurs (1889); Contes pour +les Soirs d’Hiver (1890); Charme Dangereux (1891); La Ronde des Saisons +et des Mois (1889); La Charmeresse (1891); Fleur de Nice (1896); Bois +Fleury (1897); Refuge (1898); Villa Tranquille (1899); Claudette (1900); +La Petite Derniere (1901); Le Manuscrit du Chanoine (1902), etc. + +Besides this abundant production Andre Theuriet has also contributed +to various journals and magazines: ‘Le Moniteur, Le Musee Universal, +L’Illustration, Le Figaro, Le Gaulois, La Republique Francaise, etc.; +he has lectured in Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, and has even found +leisure to fill the post as Mayor of Bourg-la-Reine (Seine et Oise), +perhaps no onerous office (1882-1900). He has also been an ‘Officier de +la Legion d’Honneur’ since 1895. + + MELCHIOR DE VOGUE + de l’Academie Francaise. + + + + +A WOODLAND QUEEN + + + + +BOOK 1. + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE UNFINISHED WILL + +Toward the middle of October, about the time of the beechnut harvest, +M. Eustache Destourbet, justice of the Peace of Auberive, accompanied +by his clerk, Etienne Seurrot, left his home at Abbatiale, in order to +repair to the Chateau of Vivey, where he was to take part in removing +the seals on some property whose owner had deceased. + +At that period, 1857, the canton of Auberive, which stretches its +massive forests like a thick wall between the level plain of Langres and +the ancient Chatillonais, had but one main road of communication: that +from Langres to Bar-sur-Aube. The almost parallel adjacent route, from +Auberive to Vivey, was not then in existence; and in order to reach +this last commune, or hamlet, the traveller had to follow a narrow +grass-bordered path, leading through the forest up the hill of +Charboniere, from the summit of which was seen that intermingling of +narrow gorges and wooded heights which is so characteristic of this +mountainous region. On all sides were indented horizons of trees, among +which a few, of more dominant height, projected their sharp outlines +against the sky; in the distance were rocky steeps, with here and +there a clump of brambles, down which trickled slender rivulets; still +farther, like little islands, half submerged in a sea of foliage, were +pastures of tender green dotted with juniper bushes, almost black in +their density, and fields of rye struggling painfully through the stony +soil--the entire scene presenting a picture of mingled wildness and +cultivation, aridity and luxuriant freshness. + +Justice Destourbet, having strong, wiry limbs, ascended cheerily the +steep mountain-path. His tall, spare figure, always in advance of his +companion, was visible through the tender green of the young oaks, +clothed in a brown coat, a black cravat, and a very high hat, which the +justice, who loved correctness in details, thought it his duty to don +whenever called upon to perform his judicial functions. The clerk, +Seurrot, more obese, and of maturer age, protuberant in front, and +somewhat curved in the back, dragged heavily behind, perspiring and out +of breath, trying to keep up with his patron, who, now and then seized +with compassion, would come to a halt and wait for his subordinate. + +“I trust,” said Destourbet, after one of these intervals which enabled +the clerk to walk by his side, “I trust we shall find Maitre Arbillot +down there; we shall have need of his services in looking over and +filing the papers of the deceased.” + +“Yes, Monsieur,” answered Seurrot, “the notary will meet us at the +chateau; he went to Praslay to find out from his associates whether +Monsieur de Buxieres had not left a will in his keeping. In my humble +opinion, that is hardly likely; for the deceased had great confidence in +Maitre Arbillot, and it seems strange that he should choose to confide +his testamentary intentions to a rival notary.” + +“Well,” observed the justice, “perhaps when the seals are raised, we may +discover an autograph will in some corner of a drawer.” + +“It is to be hoped so, Monsieur,” replied Seurrot; “I wish it with all +my heart, for the sake of Claudet Sejournant, for he is a good fellow, +although on the sinister bar of the escutcheon, and a right jolly +companion.” + +“Yes; and a marvellous good shot,” interrupted the justice. “I recognize +all that; but even if he had a hundred other good qualities, the grand +chasserot, as they call him here, will be on the wrong side of the hedge +if Monsieur de Buxieres has unfortunately died intestate. In the eye of +the law, as you are doubtless aware, a natural child, who has not been +acknowledged, is looked upon as a stranger.” + +“Monsieur de Buxieres always treated Claudet as his own son, and every +one knew that he so considered him.” + +“Possibly, but if the law were to keep count of all such cases, there +would be no end to their labors; especially in all questions of the +‘cujus’. Odouart de Buxieres was a terribly wild fellow, and they say +that these old beech-trees of Vivey forest could tell many a tale of his +exploits.” + +“He, he!” assented the clerk, laughing slyly, and showing his toothless +gums, “there is some truth in that. The deceased had the devil in his +boots. He could see neither a deer nor a pretty girl without flying +in pursuit. Ah, yes! Many a trick has he played them--talk of your +miracles, forsooth!--well, Claudet was his favorite, and Monsieur de +Buxieres has told me, over and over again, that he would make him his +heir, and I shall be very much astonished if we do not find a will.” + +“Seurrot, my friend,” replied the justice, calmly, “you are too +experienced not to know that our country folks dread nothing so much as +testifying to their last wishes--to make a will, to them, is to put +one foot into the grave. They will not call in the priest or the notary +until the very last moment, and very often they delay until it is too +late. Now, as the deceased was at heart a rustic, I fear greatly that he +did not carry his intentions into execution.” + +“That would be a pity--for the chateau, the lands, and the entire +fortune would go to an heir of whom Monsieur Odouart never had taken +account--to one of the younger branch of Buxieres, whom he had never +seen, having quarrelled with the family.” + +“A cousin, I believe,” said the justice. + +“Yes, a Monsieur Julien de Buxieres, who is employed by the Government +at Nancy.” + +“In fact, then, and until we receive more ample information, he is, for +us, the sole legitimate heir. Has he been notified?” + +“Yes, Monsieur. He has even sent his power of attorney to Monsieur +Arbillot’s clerk.” + +“So much the better,” said M. Destourbet, “in that case, we can proceed +regularly without delay.” + +While thus conversing, they had traversed the forest, and emerged on +the hill overlooking Vivey. From the border line where they stood, they +could discover, between the half-denuded branches of the line of aspens, +the sinuous, deepset gorge, in which the Aubette wound its tortuous way, +at the extremity of which the village lay embanked against an almost +upright wall of thicket and pointed rocks. On the west this narrow +defile was closed by a mill, standing like a sentinel on guard, in +its uniform of solid gray; on each side of the river a verdant line +of meadow led the eye gradually toward the clump of ancient and lofty +ash-trees, behind which rose the Buxieres domicile. This magnificent +grove of trees, and a monumental fence of cast-iron, were the only +excuse for giving the title of chateau to a very commonplace structure, +of which the main body presented bare, whitewashed walls, flanked by +two small towers on turrets shaped like extinguishers, and otherwise +resembling very ordinary pigeon-houses. + +This chateau, or rather country squire’s residence, had belonged to the +Odouart de Buxieres for more than two centuries. Before the Revolution, +Christophe de Buxieres, grandfather of the last proprietor, had owned a +large portion of Vivey, besides several forges in operation on the Aube +and Aubette rivers. He had had three children: one daughter, who had +embraced religion as a vocation; Claude Antoine, the elder son, to whom +he left his entire fortune, and Julien Abdon, the younger, officer in +the regiment of Rohan Soubise, with whom he was not on good terms. +After emigrating and serving in Conde’s army, the younger Buxieres +had returned to France during the Restoration, had married, and been +appointed special receiver in a small town in southern France. But since +his return, he had not resumed relations with his elder brother, whom he +accused of having defrauded him of his rights. The older one had married +also, one of the Rochetaillee family; he had had but one son, Claude +Odouart de Buxieres, whose recent decease had brought about the visit of +the Justice of Auberive and his clerk. + +Claude de Buxieres had lived all his life at Vivey. Inheriting from his +father and grandfather flourishing health and a robust constitution, he +had also from them strong love for his native territory, a passion for +the chase, and a horror of the constraint and decorum exacted by worldly +obligations. He was a spoiled child, brought up by a weak-minded mother +and a preceptor without authority, who had succeeded in imparting to him +only the most elementary amount of instruction, and he had, from a very +early age, taken his own pleasure as his sole rule of life. He lived +side by side with peasants and poachers, and had himself become a +regular country yeoman, wearing a blouse, dining at the wine-shop, and +taking more pleasure in speaking the mountain patois than his own native +French. The untimely death of his father, killed by an awkward huntsman +while following the hounds, had emancipated him at the age of twenty +years. From this period he lived his life freely, as he understood it; +always in the open air, without hindrance of any sort, and entirely +unrestrained. + +Nothing was exaggerated in the stories told concerning him. He was a +handsome fellow, jovial and dashing in his ways, and lavish with his +money, so he met with few rebuffs. Married women, maids, widows, any +peasant girl of attractive form or feature, all had had to resist his +advances, and with more than one the resistance had been very slight. It +was no false report which affirmed that he had peopled the district +with his illegitimate progeny. He was not hard to please, either; +strawberry-pickers, shepherd-girls, wood-pilers, day-workers, all were +equally charming in his sight; he sought only youth, health, and a +kindly disposition. + +Marriage would have been the only safeguard for him; but aside from the +fact that his reputation of reckless huntsman and general scapegrace +naturally kept aloof the daughters of the nobles, and even the Langarian +middle classes, he dreaded more than anything else in the world the +monotonous regularity of conjugal life. He did not care to be restricted +always to the same dishes--preferring, as he said, his meat sometimes +roast, sometimes boiled, or even fried, according to his humor and his +appetite. + +Nevertheless, about the time that Claude de Buxieres attained his +thirty-sixth year, it was noticed that he had a more settled air, and +that his habits were becoming more sedentary. The chase was still his +favorite pastime, but he frequented less places of questionable repute, +seldom slept away from home, and seemed to take greater pleasure in +remaining under his own roof. The cause of this change was ascribed +by some to the advance of years creeping over him; others, more +perspicacious, verified a curious coincidence between the entrance of a +new servant in the chateau and the sudden good behavior of Claude. + +This girl, a native of Aprey, named Manette Sejournant, was not, +strictly speaking, a beauty, but she had magnificent blonde hair, gray, +caressing eyes, and a silvery, musical voice. Well built, supple as an +adder, modest and prudish in mien, she knew how to wait upon and cosset +her master, accustoming him by imperceptible degrees to prefer the +cuisine of the chateau to that of the wine-shops. After a while, by dint +of making her merits appreciated, and her presence continually desired, +she became the mistress of Odouart de Buxieres, whom she managed to +retain by proving herself immeasurably superior, both in culinary skill +and in sentiment, to the class of females from whom he had hitherto been +seeking his creature comforts. + +Matters went on in this fashion for a year or so, until Manette went +on a three months’ vacation. When she reappeared at the chateau, she +brought with her an infant, six weeks old, which she declared was the +child of a sister, lately deceased, but which bore a strange likeness +to Claude. However, nobody made remarks, especially as M. de Buxieres, +after he had been drinking a little, took no pains to hide his +paternity. He himself held the little fellow at the baptismal font, +and later, consigned him to the care of the Abbe Pernot, the curate of +Vivey, who prepared the little Claudet for his first communion, at the +same time that he instructed him in reading, writing, and the first +four rules of arithmetic. As soon as the lad reached his fifteenth year, +Claude put a gun into his hands, and took him hunting with him. Under +the teaching of M. de Buxieres, Claudet did honor to his master, and +soon became such an expert that he could give points to all the huntsmen +of the canton. None could equal him in tracing a dog; he knew all the +passes, by-paths, and enclosures of the forest; swooped down upon the +game with the keen scent and the velocity of a bird of prey, and never +was known to miss his mark. Thus it was that the country people +surnamed him the ‘grand chasserot’, the term which we here apply to +the sparrow-hawk. Besides all these advantages, he was handsome, alert, +straight, and well made, dark-haired and olive-skinned, like all the +Buxieres; he had his mother’s caressing glance, but also the overhanging +eyelids and somewhat stern expression of his father, from whom he +inherited also a passionate temperament, and a spirit averse to all +kinds of restraint. They were fond of him throughout the country, and +M. de Buxieres, who felt his youth renewed in him, was very proud of +his adroitness and his good looks. He would invite him to his pleasure +parties, and make him sit at his own table, and confided unhesitatingly +all his secrets to him. In short, Claudet, finding himself quite at home +at the chateau, naturally considered himself as one of the family. There +was but one formality wanting to that end: recognizance according to +law. At certain favorable times, Manette Sejournant would gently urge M. +de Buxieres to have the situation legally authorized, to which he would +invariably reply, from a natural dislike to taking legal advisers into +his confidence: + +“Don’t worry about anything; I have no direct heir, and Claudet will +have all my fortune; my will and testament will be worth more to him +than a legal acknowledgment.” + +He would refer so often and so decidedly to his settled intention of +making Claudet his sole heir, that Manette, who knew very little about +what was required in such cases, considered the matter already secure. +She continued in unsuspecting serenity until Claude de Buxieres, in his +sixty-second year, died suddenly from a stroke of apoplexy. + +The will, which was to insure Claudet’s future prospects, and to which +the deceased had so often alluded, did it really exist? Neither Manette +nor the grand chasserot had been able to obtain any certain knowledge +in the matter, the hasty search for it after the decease having been +suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the mayor of Vivey; and by the +proceedings of the justice of the peace. The seals being once imposed, +there was no means, in the absence of a verified will, of ascertaining +on whom the inheritance devolved, until the opening of the inventory; +and thus the Sejournants awaited with feverish anxiety the return of the +justice of the peace and his bailiff. + +M. Destourbet and Stephen Seurrot pushed open a small door to the right +of the main gateway, passed rapidly under the arched canopy of beeches, +the leaves of which, just touched by the first frost, were already +falling from the branches, and, stamping their muddy feet on the outer +steps, advanced into the vestibule. The wide corridor, flagged with +black-and-white pavement, presented a cheerless aspect of bare walls +discolored by damp, and adorned alternately by stags’ heads and family +portraits in a crumbling state of decay. The floor was thus divided: on +the right, the dining-room and the kitchen; on the left, drawing-room +and a billiard-hall. A stone staircase, built in one of the turrets, +led to the upper floors. Only one of these rooms, the kitchen, which the +justice and his bailiff entered, was occupied by the household. A cold +light, equally diffused in all directions, and falling from a large +window, facing north across the gardens, allowed every detail of the +apartment to be seen clearly; opposite the door of entrance, the tall +chimney-place, with its deep embrasure, gave ample shelter to the +notary, who installed himself upon a stool and lighted his pipe at +one of the embers, while his principal clerk sat at the long table, +itemizing the objects contained in the inventory. + +In the opposite angle of the chimney-place, a lad of twenty-four years, +no other than Claudet, called by the friendly nickname of the grand +chasserot, kept company with the notary, while he toyed, in an absent +fashion, with the silky ears of a spaniel, whose fluffy little head lay +in his lap. Behind him, Manette Sejournant stood putting away her shawl +and prayerbook in a closet. A mass had been said in the morning at the +church, for the repose of the soul of the late Claude de Buxieres, +and mother and son had donned their Sunday garments to assist at the +ceremony. + +Claudet appeared ill at ease in his black, tightly buttoned suit, and +kept his eyes with their heavy lids steadily bent upon the head of the +animal. To all the notary’s questions, he replied only by monosyllables, +passing his fingers every now and then through his bushy brown locks, +and twining them in his forked beard, a sure indication with him of +preoccupation and bad humor. + +Manette had acquired with years an amount of embonpoint which detracted +materially from the supple and undulating beauty which had so captivated +Claude de Buxieres. The imprisonment of a tight corset caused undue +development of the bust at the expense of her neck and throat, which +seemed disproportionately short and thick. Her cheeks had lost their +gracious curves and her double chin was more pronounced. All that +remained of her former attractions were the caressing glance of her eye, +tresses still golden and abundant, especially as seen under the close +cap of black net, white teeth, and a voice that had lost nothing of its +insinuating sweetness. + +As the justice and his bailiff entered, Maitre Arbillot, and a petulant +little man with squirrel-like eyes and a small moustache, arose quickly. + +“Good-morning, gentlemen,” he cried. “I was anxiously expecting you--if +you are willing, we will begin our work at once, for at this season +night comes on quickly.” + +“At your orders, Maitre Arbillot,” replied the justice, laying his hat +down carefully on the window-sill; “we shall draw out the formula for +raising the seals. By the way, has no will yet been found?” + +“None to my knowledge. It is quite clear to me that the deceased made no +testament, none at least before a notary.” + +“But,” objected M. Destourbet, “he may have executed a holograph +testament.” + +“It is certain, gentlemen,” interrupted Manette, with her soft, +plaintive voice, “that our dear gentleman did not go without putting his +affairs in order. ‘Manette,’ said he, not more than two weeks ago; ‘I do +not intend you shall be worried, neither you nor Claudet, when I am +no longer here. All shall be arranged to your satisfaction.’ Oh! he +certainly must have put down his last wishes on paper. Look well around, +gentlemen; you will find a will in some drawer or other.” + +While she applied her handkerchief ostentatiously to her nose and wiped +her eyes, the justice exchanged glances with the notary. + +“Maitre Arbillot, you think doubtless with me, that we ought to begin +operations by examining the furniture of the bedroom?” + +The notary inclined his head, and notified his chief clerk to remove his +papers to the first floor. + +“Show us the way, Madame,” said the justice to the housekeeper; and the +quartet of men of the law followed Manette, carrying with them a huge +bunch of keys. + +Claudet had risen from his seat when the justice arrived. As the party +moved onward, he followed hesitatingly, and then halted, uncertain how +to decide between the desire to assist in the search and the fear of +intruding. The notary, noticing his hesitation; called to him: + +“Come, you also, Claudet, are not you one of the guardians of the +seals?” + +And they wended their silent way, up the winding staircase of the +turret. The high, dark silhouette of Manette headed the procession; then +followed the justice, carefully choosing his foothold on the well-worn +stairs, the asthmatic old bailiff, breathing short and hard, the notary, +beating his foot impatiently every time that Seurrot stopped to take +breath, and finally the principal clerk and Claudet. + +Manette, opening noiselessly the door of the deceased’s room, entered, +as if it were a church, the somewhat stifling apartment. Then she threw +open the shutters, and the afternoon sun revealed an interior decorated +and furnished in the style of the close of the eighteenth century. An +inlaid secretary, with white marble top and copper fittings, stood near +the bed, of which the coverings had been removed, showing the mattresses +piled up under a down bed covered with blue-and-white check. + +As soon as the door was closed, the clerk settled himself at the table +with his packet of stamped paper, and began to run over, in a low, rapid +voice, the preliminaries of the inventory. In this confused murmuring +some fragments of phrases would occasionally strike the ear: “Chateau +of Vivey--deceased the eighth of October last--at the requisition +of Marie-Julien de Buxieres, comptroller of direct contributions +at Nancy--styling himself heir to Claude Odouart de Buxieres, his +cousin-german by blood--” + +This last phrase elicited from Claudet a sudden movement of surprise. + +“The inventory,” explained Maitre Arbillot, “is drawn up at the +requisition of the only heir named, to whom we must make application, if +necessary, for the property left by the deceased.” + +There was a moment of silence, interrupted by a plaintive sigh from +Manette Sejournant and afterward by the tearing sound of the sealed +bands across the bureau, the drawers and pigeonholes of which were +promptly ransacked by the justice and his assistant. + +Odouart de Buxieres had not been much of a scribe. A double Liege +almanac, a memorandum-book, in which he had entered the money received +from the sale of his wood and the dates of the payments made by his +farmers; a daybook, in which he had made careful note of the number of +head of game killed each day--that was all the bureau contained. + +“Let us examine another piece of furniture,” murmured the justice. + +Manette and Claudet remained unmoved. They apparently knew the reason +why none but insignificant papers had been found in the drawers, for +their features expressed neither surprise nor disappointment. + +Another search through a high chest of drawers with large copper handles +was equally unprofitable. Then they attacked the secretary, and after +the key had been turned twice in the noisy lock, the lid went slowly +down. The countenances of both mother and son, hitherto so unconcerned, +underwent a slight but anxious change. The bailiff continued his +scrupulous search of each drawer under the watchful eye of the justice, +finding nothing but documents of mediocre importance; old titles to +property, bundles of letters, tradesmen’s bills, etc. Suddenly, at the +opening of the last drawer, a significant “Ah!” from Stephen Seurrot +drew round him the heads of the justice and the notary, and made Manette +and Claudet, standing at the foot of the bed, start with expectation. On +the dark ground of a rosewood box lay a sheet of white paper, on which +was written: + +“This is my testament.” + +With the compression of lip and significant shake of the head of a +physician about to take in hand a hopeless case of illness, the justice +made known to his two neighbors the text of the sheet of paper, on which +Claude Odouart de Buxieres had written, in his coarse, ill-regulated +hand, the following lines: + +“Not knowing my collateral heirs, and caring nothing about them, I give +and bequeath all my goods and chattels--” + +The testator had stopped there, either because he thought it better, +before going any further, to consult some legal authority more +experienced than himself, or because he had been interrupted in his +labor and had deferred completing this testifying of his last will until +some future opportunity. + +M. Destourbet, after once more reading aloud this unfinished sentence, +exclaimed: + +“Monsieur de Buxieres did not finish--it is much to be regretted!” + +“My God! is it possible?” interrupted the housekeeper; “you think, then, +Monsieur justice, that Claudet does not inherit anything?” + +“According to my idea,” replied he, “we have here only a scrap of +unimportant paper; the name of the legatee is not indicated, and even +were it indicated, the testament would still be without force, being +neither dated nor signed.” + +“But perhaps Monsieur de Buxieres made another?” + +“I think not; I am more inclined to suppose that he did not have time to +complete the arrangements that he wished to make, and the proof lies +in the very existence of this incomplete document in the only piece of +furniture in which he kept his papers.” Then, turning toward the notary +and the bailiff: “You are doubtless, gentlemen, of the same opinion as +myself; it will be wise, therefore, to defer raising the remainder of +the seals until the arrival of the legal heir. Maitre Arbillot, Monsieur +Julien de Buxieres must be notified, and asked to be here in Vivey as +soon as possible.” + +“I will write this evening,” said the notary; “in the meanwhile, the +keeping of the seals will be continued by Claudet Sejournant.” + +The justice inclined his head to Manette, who was standing, pale +and motionless, at the foot of the bed; stunned by the unexpected +announcement; the bailiff and the chief clerk, after gathering up their +papers, shook hands sympathizingly with Claudet. + +“I am grieved to the heart, my dear fellow,” said the notary, in his +turn, “at what has happened! It is hard to swallow, but you will always +keep a courageous heart, and be able to rise to the top; besides, even +if, legally, you own nothing here, this unfinished testament of Monsieur +de Buxieres will constitute a moral title in your favor, and I trust +that the heir will have enough justice and right feeling to treat you +properly.” + +“I want nothing from him!” muttered Claudet, between his teeth; then, +leaving his mother to attend to the rest of the legal fraternity, +he went hastily to his room, next that of the deceased, tore off his +dress-coat, slipped on a hunting-coat, put on his gaiters, donned his +old felt hat, and descended to the kitchen, where Manette was sitting, +huddled up in front of the embers, weeping and bewailing her fate. + +Since she had become housekeeper and mistress of the Buxieres household, +she had adopted a more polished speech and a more purely French mode of +expression, but in this moment of discouragement and despair the rude +dialect of her native country rose to her lips, and in her own patois +she inveighed against the deceased: + +“Ah! the bad man, the mean man! Didn’t I tell him, time and again, that +he would leave us in trouble! Where can we seek our bread this late in +the day? We shall have to beg in the streets!” + +“Hush! hush! mother,” interrupted Claudet, sternly, placing his hand +on her shoulder, “it does not mend matters to give way like that. Calm +thyself--so long as I have hands on the ends of my arms, we never shall +be beggars. But I must go out--I need air.” + +And crossing the gardens rapidly, he soon reached the outskirts of the +brambly thicket. + +This landscape, both rugged and smiling in its wildness, hardly conveyed +the idea of silence, but rather of profound meditation, absolute calm; +the calmness of solitude, the religious meditation induced by spacious +forest depths. The woods seemed asleep, and the low murmurings, +which from time to time escaped from their recesses, seemed like the +unconscious sighs exhaled by a dreamer. The very odor peculiar to trees +in autumn, the penetrating and spicy odor of the dying leaves, had a +delicate and subtle aroma harmonizing with this quietude of fairyland. + +Now and then, through the vaporous golden atmosphere of the late autumn +sunset, through the pensive stillness of the hushed woods, the distant +sound of feminine voices, calling to one another, echoed from the hills, +and beyond the hedges was heard the crackling of branches, snapped by +invisible hands, and the rattle of nuts dropping on the earth. It was +the noise made by the gatherers of beechnuts, for in the years when +the beech produces abundantly, this harvest, under the sanction of the +guardians of the forest, draws together the whole population of women +and children, who collect these triangular nuts, from which an excellent +species of oil is procured. + +Wending his way along the copse, Claudet suddenly perceived, through +an opening in the trees, several large white sheets spread under the +beeches, and covered with brown heaps of the fallen fruit. One or two +familiar voices hailed him as he passed, but he was not disposed to +gossip, for the moment, and turned abruptly into the bushwood, so as to +avoid any encounter. The unexpected event which had just taken place, +and which was to change his present mode of life, as well as his plans +for the future, was of too recent occurrence for him to view it with any +degree of calmness. + +He was like a man who has received a violent blow on the head, and is +for the moment stunned by it. He suffered vaguely, without seeking to +know from what cause; he had not been able as yet to realize the extent +of his misfortune; and every now and then a vague hope came over him +that all would come right. + +So on he went, straight ahead, his eyes on the ground, and his hands in +his pockets, until he emerged upon one of the old forest roads where the +grass had begun to burst through the stony interstices; and there, in +the distance, under the light tracery of weaving branches, a delicate +female silhouette was outlined on the dark background. A young woman, +dressed in a petticoat of gray woolen material, and a jacket of the +same, close-fitting at the waist, her arms bare to the elbows and +supporting on her head a bag of nuts enveloped in a white sheet, +advanced toward him with a quick and rhythmical step. The manner in +which she carried her burden showed the elegance of her form, the +perfect grace of her chest and throat. She was not very tall, but finely +proportioned. As she approached, the slanting rays of the setting sun +shone on her heavy brown hair, twisted into a thick coil at the back of +her head, and revealed the amber paleness of her clear skin, the long +oval of her eyes, the firm outline of her chin and somewhat full lips; +and Claudet, roused from his lethargic reverie by the sound of her rapid +footsteps, raised his eyes, and recognized the daughter of Pere Vincart, +the proprietor of La Thuiliere. + +At the same moment, the young girl, doubtless fatigued with the weight +of her bundle, had laid it down by the roadside while she recovered her +breath. In a few seconds Claudet was by her side. + +“Good-evening, Reine,” said he, in a voice singularly softened in tone, +“shall I give you a lift with that?” + +“Good-evening, Claudet,” replied she; “truly, now, that is not an offer +to be refused. The weight is greater than I thought.” + +“Have you come far thus laden?” + +“No; our people are nutting in the Bois des Ronces; I came on before, +because I don’t like to leave father alone for long at a time and, as I +was coming, I wished to bring my share with me.” + +“No one can reproach you with shirking work, Reine, nor of being afraid +to take hold of things. To see you all day trotting about the farm, no +one would think you had been to school in the city, like a young lady.” + +And Claudet’s countenance became irradiated with a glow of innocent and +tender admiration. It was evident that his eyes looked with delight into +the dark limpid orbs of Reine, on her pure and rosy lips, and on her +partly uncovered neck, the whiteness of which two little brown moles +only served to enhance. + +“How can it be helped?” replied she, smiling, “it must be done; when +there is no man in the house to give orders, the women must take a hand +themselves. My father was not very strong when my mother died, and since +he had that attack he has become quite helpless, and I have had to take +his place.” + +While she spoke, Claudet took hold of the bundle, and, lifting it as if +it had been a feather, threw it over his shoulder. They walked on, +side by side, in the direction of La Thuliere; the sun had set, and a +penetrating moisture, arising from the damp soil of the adjacent pasture +lands, encircled them in a bluish fog. + +“So he is worse, your father, is he?” said Claudet, after a moment’s +silence. + +“He can not move from his armchair, his mental faculties are weakening, +and I am obliged to amuse him like a child. But how is it with yourself, +Claudet?” she asked, turning her frank, cordial gaze upon him. “You +have had your share of trouble since we last met, and great events have +happened. Poor Monsieur de Buxieres was taken away very suddenly!” + +The close relationship that united Claudet with the deceased was a +secret to no one; Reine, as well as all the country people, knew and +admitted the fact, however irregular, as one sanctioned by time and +continuity. Therefore, in speaking to the young man, her voice had that +tone of affectionate interest usual in conversing with a bereaved friend +on a death that concerns him. + +The countenance of the ‘grand chasserot’, which had cleared for a time +under her influence, became again clouded. + +“Yes;” sighed he, “he was taken too soon!” + +“And now, Claudet, you are sole master at the chateau?” + +“Neither--master--nor even valet!” he returned, with such bitterness +that the young girl stood still with surprise. + +“What do you mean?” she exclaimed, “was it not agreed with Monsieur de +Buxieres that you should inherit all his property?” + +“Such was his intention, but he did not have time to put it in +execution; he died without leaving any will, and, as I am nothing in +the eye of the law, the patrimony will go to a distant relative, a de +Buxieres whom Monsieur Odouart did not even know.” + +Reine’s dark eyes filled with tears. + +“What a misfortune!” she exclaimed, “and who could have expected such a +thing? Oh! my poor Claudet!” + +She was so moved, and spoke with such sincere compassion, that Claudet +was perhaps misled, and thought he read in her glistening eyes a +tenderer sentiment than pity; he trembled, took her hand, and held it +long in his. + +“Thank you, Reine! Yes,” he added, after a pause, “it is a rude shock +to wake up one morning without hearth or home, when one has been in the +habit of living on one’s income.” + +“What do you intend to do?” inquired Reine, gravely. + +Claudet shrugged his shoulders. + +“To work for my bread--or, if I can find no suitable trade, enlist in a +regiment. I think I should not make a bad soldier. Everything is going +round and round in my head like a millwheel. The first thing to do is +to see about my mother, who is lamenting down there at the house--I must +find her a comfortable place to live.” + +The young girl had become very thoughtful. + +“Claudet,” replied she, “I know you are very proud, very sensitive, and +could not wish to hurt your feelings. Therefore, I pray you not to take +in ill part that which I am going to say-in short, if you should get +into any trouble, you will, I hope, remember that you have friends at La +Thuiliere, and that you will come to seek us.” + +The ‘grand chasserot’ reddened. + +“I shall never take amiss what you may say to me, Reine!” faltered he; +“for I can not doubt your good heart--I have known it since the time +when we played together in the cure’s garden, while waiting for the time +to repeat the catechism. But there is no hurry as yet; the heir will not +arrive for several weeks, and by that time, I trust, we shall have had a +chance to turn round.” + +They had reached the boundary of the forest where the fields of La +Thuiliere begin. + +By the last fading light of day they could distinguish the black outline +of the ancient forge, now become a grange, and a light was twinkling in +one of the low windows of the farm. + +“Here you are at home,” continued Claudet, laying the bundle of nuts +on the flat stone wall which surrounded the farm buildings; “I wish you +good-night.” + +“Will you not come in and get warm?” + +“No; I must go back,” replied he. + +“Good-night, then, Claudet; au revoir and good courage!” + +He gazed at her for a moment in the deepening twilight, then, abruptly +pressing her hands: + +“Thank you, Reine,” murmured he in a choking voice, “you are a good +girl, and I love you very much!” + +He left the young mistress of the farm precipitately, and plunged again +into the woods. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE HEIR TO VIVEY + +While these events were happening at Vivey, the person whose +name excited the curiosity and the conversational powers of the +villagers--Marie-Julien de Buxieres--ensconced in his unpretentious +apartment in the Rue Stanislaus, Nancy, still pondered over the +astonishing news contained in the Auberive notary’s first letter. The +announcement of his inheritance, dropping from the skies, as it were, +had found him quite unprepared, and, at first, somewhat sceptical. He +remembered, it is true, hearing his father once speak of a cousin who +had remained a bachelor and who owned a fine piece of property in some +corner of the Haute Marne; but, as all intercourse had long been broken +off between the two families, M. de Buxieres the elder had mentioned the +subject only in relation to barely possible hopes which had very little +chance of being realized. Julien had never placed any reliance on this +chimerical inheritance, and he received almost with indifference the +official announcement of the death of Claude Odouart de Buxieres. + +By direct line from his late father, he became in fact the only +legitimate heir of the chateau and lands of Vivey; still, there was a +strong probability that Claude de Buxieres had made a will in favor of +some one more within his own circle. The second missive from Arbillot +the notary, announcing that the deceased had died intestate, and +requesting the legal heir to come to Vivey as soon as possible, put +a sudden end to the young man’s doubts, which merged into a complex +feeling, less of joy than of stupefaction. + +Up to the present time, Julien de Buxieres had not been spoiled by +Fortune’s gifts. His parents, who had died prematurely, had left him +nothing. He lived in a very mediocre style on his slender salary as +comptroller of direct contributions, and, although twenty-seven years +old, was housed like a supernumerary in a small furnished room on the +second floor above the ground. At this time his physique was that of +a young man of medium height, slight, pale, and nervous, sensitive in +disposition, reserved and introspective in habit. His delicate features, +his intelligent forehead surmounted by soft chestnut hair, his pathetic +blue eyes, his curved, dissatisfied mouth, shaded by a slight, dark +moustache, indicated a melancholy, unquiet temperament and precocious +moral fatigue. + +There are some men who never have had any childhood, or rather, whose +childhood never has had its happy time of laughter. Julien was one of +these. That which imparts to childhood its charm and enjoyment is the +warm and tender atmosphere of the home; the constant and continued +caressing of a mother; the gentle and intimate creations of one’s native +country where, by degrees, the senses awaken to the marvellous sights +of the outer world; where the alternating seasons in their course first +arouse the student’s ambition and cause the heart of the adolescent +youth to thrill with emotion; where every street corner, every tree, +every turn of the soil, has some history to relate. Julien had had no +experiences of this peaceful family life, during which are stored +up such treasures of childhood’s recollections. He was the son of a +government official, who had been trotted over all France at the +caprice of the administration, and he had never known, so to speak, any +associations of the land in which he was born, or the hearth on which +he was raised. Chance had located his birth in a small town among the +Pyrenees, and when he was two years old he had been transplanted to one +of the industrial cities of Artois. At the end of two years more +came another removal to one of the midland towns, and thus his tender +childhood had been buffeted about, from east to west, from north to +south, taking root nowhere. All he could remember of these early years +was an unpleasant impression of hasty packing and removal, of long +journeys by diligence, and of uncomfortable resettling. His mother had +died just as he was entering upon his eighth year; his father, absorbed +in official work, and not caring to leave the child to the management +of servants, had placed him at that early age in a college directed +by priests. Julien thus passed his second term of childhood, and his +boyhood was spent behind these stern, gloomy walls, bending resignedly +under a discipline which, though gentle, was narrow and suspicious, +and allowed little scope for personal development. He obtained only +occasional glimpses of nature during the monotonous daily walks across +a flat, meaningless country. At very rare intervals, one of his father’s +colleagues would take him visiting; but these stiff and ceremonious +calls only left a wearisome sensation of restraint and dull fatigue. +During the long vacation he used to rejoin his father, whom he almost +always found in a new residence. The poor man had alighted there for +a time, like a bird on a tree; and among these continually shifting +scenes, the lad had felt himself more than ever a stranger among +strangers; so that he experienced always a secret though joyless +satisfaction in returning to the cloisters of the St. Hilaire college +and submitting himself to the yoke of the paternal but inflexible +discipline of the Church. + +He was naturally inclined, by the tenderness of his nature, toward a +devotional life, and accepted with blind confidence the religious +and moral teaching of the reverend fathers. A doctrine which preached +separation from profane things; the attractions of a meditative and +pious life, and mistrust of the world and its perilous pleasures, +harmonized with the shy and melancholy timidity of his nature. Human +beings, especially women, inspired him with secret aversion, which was +increased by consciousness of his awkwardness and remissness whenever he +found himself in the society of women or young girls. + +The beauties of nature did not affect him; the flowers in the +springtime, the glories of the summer sun, the rich coloring of autumn +skies, having no connection in his mind with any joyous recollection, +left him cold and unmoved; he even professed an almost hostile +indifference to such purely material sights as disturbing and dangerous +to the inner life. He lived within himself and could not see beyond. + +His mind, imbued with a mystic idealism, delighted itself in solitary +reading or in meditations in the house of prayer. The only emotion he +ever betrayed was caused by the organ music accompanying the hymnal +plain-song, and by the pomp of religious ceremony. + +At the age of eighteen, he left the St. Hilaire college in order to +prepare his baccalaureate, and his father, becoming alarmed at his +increasing moodiness and mysticism, endeavored to infuse into him the +tastes and habits of a man of the world by introducing him into the +society of his equals in the town where he lived; but the twig was +already bent, and the young man yielded with bad grace to the change of +regime; the amusements they offered were either wearisome or repugnant +to him. He would wander aimlessly through the salons where they were +playing whist, where the ladies played show pieces at the piano, and +where they spoke a language he did not understand. He was quite aware +of his worldly inaptitude, and that he was considered awkward, dull, and +ill-tempered, and the knowledge of this fact paralyzed and frightened +him still more. He could not disguise his feeling of ennui sufficiently +to prevent the provincial circles from being greatly offended; they +declared unanimously that young de Buxieres was a bear, and decided to +leave him alone. The death of his father, which happened just as the +youth was beginning his official cares, put a sudden end to all this +constraint. He took advantage of his season of mourning to resume his +old ways; and returned with a sigh of relief to his solitude, his books, +and his meditations. According to the promise of the Imitation, he found +unspeakable joys in his retirement; he rose at break of day, assisted at +early mass, fulfilled, conscientiously, his administrative duties, took +his hurried meals in a boardinghouse, where he exchanged a few polite +remarks with his fellow inmates, then shut himself up in his room to +read Pascal or Bossuet until eleven o’clock. + +He thus attained his twenty-seventh year, and it was into the calm of +this serious, cloister-like life, that the news fell of the death of +Claude de Buxieres and of the unexpected inheritance that had accrued to +him. + +After entering into correspondence with the notary, M. Arbillot, and +becoming assured of the reality of his rights and of the necessity +of his presence at Vivey, he had obtained leave of absence from his +official duties, and set out for Haute Marne. On the way, he could not +help marvelling at the providential interposition which would enable him +to leave a career for which he felt he had no vocation, and to pursue +his independent life, according to his own tastes, and secured from any +fear of outside cares. According to the account given by the notary, +Claude de Buxieres’s fortune might be valued at two hundred thousand +francs, in furniture and other movables, without reckoning the chateau +and the adjacent woods. This was a much larger sum than had ever been +dreamed of by Julien de Buxieres, whose belongings did not amount in all +to three thousand francs. He made up his mind, therefore, that, as soon +as he was installed at Vivey, he would change his leave of absence to an +unlimited furlough of freedom. He contemplated with serene satisfaction +this perspective view of calm and solitary retirement in a chateau lost +to view in the depths of the forest, where he could in perfect security +give himself up to the studious contemplative life which he loved +so much, far from all worldly frivolities and restraint. He already +imagined himself at Vivey, shut up in his carefully selected library; +he delighted in the thought of having in future to deal only with the +country people, whose uncivilized ways would be like his own, and among +whom his timidity would not be remarked. + +He arrived at Langres in the afternoon of a foggy October day, and +inquired immediately at the hotel how he could procure a carriage to +take him that evening to Vivey. They found him a driver, but, to his +surprise, the man refused to take the journey until the following +morning, on account of the dangerous state of the crossroads, where +vehicles might stick fast in the mire if they ventured there after +nightfall. Julien vainly endeavored to effect an arrangement with him, +and the discussion was prolonged in the courtyard of the hotel. Just +as the man was turning away, another, who had overheard the end of the +colloquy, came up to young de Buxieres, and offered to undertake the +journey for twenty francs. + +“I have a good horse,” said he to Julien; “I know the roads, and will +guarantee that we reach Vivey before nightfall.” + +The bargain was quickly made; and in half an hour, Julien de Buxieres +was rolling over the plain above Langres, in a shaky old cabriolet, the +muddy hood of which bobbed over at every turn of the wheel, while the +horse kept up a lively trot over the stones. + +The clouds were low, and the road lay across bare and stony prairies, +the gray expanse of which became lost in the distant mist. This +depressing landscape would have made a disagreeable impression on a less +unobserving traveller, but, as we have said, Julien looked only +inward, and the phenomena of the exterior world influenced him only +unconsciously. Half closing his eyes, and mechanically affected by the +rhythmical tintinnabulation of the little bells, hanging around the +horse’s neck, he had resumed his meditations, and considered how he +should arrange his life in this, to him, unknown country, which would +probably be his own for some time to come. Nevertheless, when, at the +end of the level plain, the road turned off into the wooded region, the +unusual aspect of the forest aroused his curiosity. The tufted woods and +lofty trees, in endless succession under the fading light, impressed him +by their profound solitude and their religious silence. His loneliness +was in sympathy with the forest, which seemed contemporary with the +Sleeping Beauty of the wood, the verdant walls of which were to separate +him forever from the world of cities. Henceforth, he could be himself, +could move freely, dress as he wished, or give way to his dreaming, +without fearing to encounter the ironical looks of idle and wondering +neighbors. For the first time since his departure from his former home, +he experienced a feeling of joy and serenity; the influence of the +surroundings, so much in harmony with his wishes, unlocked his tongue, +and made him communicative. + +He made up his mind to speak to the guide, who was smoking at his side +and whipping his horse. + +“Are we far from Vivey now?” + +“That depends, Monsieur--as the crow flies, the distance is not very +great, and if we could go by the roads, we should be there in one short +hour. Unfortunately, on turning by the Allofroy farm, we shall have to +leave the highroad and take the cross path; and then--my gracious! we +shall plunge into the ditch down there, and into perdition.” + +“You told me that you were well acquainted with the roads!” + +“I know them, and I do not know them. When it comes to these +crossroads, one is sure of nothing. They change every year, and each new +superintendent cuts a way out through the woods according to his fancy. +The devil himself could not find his way.” + +“Yet you have been to Vivey before?” + +“Oh, yes; five or six years ago; I used often to take parties of +hunters to the chateau. Ah! Monsieur, what a beautiful country it is for +hunting; you can not take twenty steps along a trench without seeing a +stag or a deer.” + +“You have doubtless had the opportunity of meeting Monsieur Odouart de +Buxieres?” + +“Yes, indeed, Monsieur, more than once-ah! he is a jolly fellow and a +fine man--” + +“He was,” interrupted Julien, gravely, “for he is dead.” + +“Ah! excuse me--I did not know it. What! is he really dead? So fine a +man! What we must all come to. Careful, now!” added he, pulling in the +reins, “we are leaving the highroad, and must keep our eyes open.” + +The twilight was already deepening, the driver lighted his lantern, and +the vehicle turned into a narrow lane, half mud, half stone, and hedged +in on both sides with wet brushwood, which flapped noisily against the +leathern hood. After fifteen minutes’ riding, the paths opened upon a +pasture, dotted here and there with juniper bushes, and thence divided +into three lines, along which ran the deep track of wagons, cutting the +pasturage into small hillocks. After long hesitation, the man cracked +his whip and took the right-hand path. + +Julien began to fear that the fellow had boasted too much when he +declared that he knew the best way. The ruts became deeper and deeper; +the road was descending into a hole; suddenly, the wheels became +embedded up to the hub in thick, sticky mire, and the horse refused +to move. The driver jumped to the ground, swearing furiously; then he +called Julien to help him to lift out the wheel. But the young man, +slender and frail as he was, and not accustomed to using his muscles, +was not able to render much assistance. + +“Thunder and lightning!” cried the driver, “it is impossible to get out +of this--let go the wheel, Monsieur, you have no more strength than a +chicken, and, besides, you don’t know how to go about it. What a devil +of a road! But we can’t spend the night here!” + +“If we were to call out,” suggested Julien, somewhat mortified at the +inefficiency of his assistance, “some one would perhaps come to our +aid.” + +They accordingly shouted with desperation; and after five or six +minutes, a voice hailed back. A woodcutter, from one of the neighboring +clearings, had heard the call, and was running toward them. + +“This way!” cried the guide, “we are stuck fast in the mud. Give us a +lift.” + +The man came up and walked round the vehicle, shaking his head. + +“You’ve got on to a blind road,” said he, “and you’ll have trouble in +getting out of it, seeing as how there’s not light to go by. You had +better unharness the horse, and wait for daylight, if you want to get +your carriage out.” + +“And where shall we go for a bed?” growled the driver; “there isn’t even +a house near in this accursed wild country of yours!” + +“Excuse me-you are not far from La Thuiliere; the farm people will not +refuse you a bed, and to-morrow morning they will help you to get your +carriage out of the mud. Unharness, comrade; I will lead you as far as +the Plancheau-Vacher; and from there you will see the windows of the +farmhouse.” + +The driver, still grumbling, decided to take his advice. They +unharnessed the horse; took one of the lanterns of the carriage as +a beacon, and followed slowly the line of pasture-land, under the +woodchopper’s guidance. At the end of about ten minutes, the forester +pointed out a light, twinkling at the extremity of a rustic path, +bordered with moss. + +“You have only to go straight ahead,” said he, “besides, the barking +of the dogs will guide you. Ask for Mamselle Vincart. Good-night, +gentlemen.” + +He turned on his heel, while Julien, bewildered, began to reproach +himself for not having thanked him enough. The conductor went along with +his lantern; young de Buxieres followed him with eyes downcast. Thus +they continued silently until they reached the termination of the mossy +path, where a furious barking saluted their ears. + +“Here we are,” growled the driver, “fortunately the dogs are not yet let +loose, or we should pass a bad quarter of an hour!” + +They pushed open a side-wicket and, standing in the courtyard, could see +the house. With the exception of the luminous spot that reddened one of +the windows of the ground floor, the long, low facade was dark, and, as +it were, asleep. On the right, standing alone, outlined against the sky, +was the main building of the ancient forge, now used for granaries and +stables; inside, the frantic barking of the watch-dogs mingled with +the bleating of the frightened sheep, the neighing of horses, and the +clanking of wooden shoes worn by the farm hands. At the same moment, +the door of the house opened, and a servant, attracted by the uproar, +appeared on the threshold, a lantern in her hand. + +“Hallo! you people,” she exclaimed sharply to the newcomers, who were +advancing toward her, “what do you want?” + +The driver related, in a few words, the affair of the cabriolet, +and asked whether they would house him at the farm until the next +day--himself and the gentleman he was conducting to Vivey. + +The girl raised the lantern above her head in order to scrutinize the +two strangers; doubtless their appearance and air of respectability +reassured her, for she replied, in a milder voice: + +“Well, that does not depend on me--I am not the mistress here, but +come in, all the same--Mamselle Reine can not be long now, and she will +answer for herself.” + +As soon as the driver had fastened his horse to one of the outside posts +of the wicket-gate, the servant brought them into a large, square hall, +in which a lamp, covered with a shade, gave a moderate light. She placed +two chairs before the fire, which she drew together with the poker. + +“Warm yourselves while you are waiting,” continued she, “it will not be +long, and you must excuse me--I must go and milk the cows--that is work +which will not wait.” + +She reached the courtyard, and shut the gate after her, while Julien +turned to examine the room into which they had been shown, and felt a +certain serenity creep over him at the clean and cheerful aspect of this +homely but comfortable interior. The room served as both kitchen and +dining-room. On the right of the flaring chimney, one of the cast-iron +arrangements called a cooking-stove was gently humming; the saucepans, +resting on the bars, exhaled various appetizing odors. In the centre, +the long, massive table of solid beech was already spread with its +coarse linen cloth, and the service was laid. White muslin curtains +fell in front of the large windows, on the sills of which potted +chrysanthemums spread their white, brown, and red blossoms. + +Round the walls a shining battery of boilers, kettles, basins, and +copper plates were hung in symmetrical order. On the dresser, near the +clock, was a complete service of old Aprey china, in bright and varied +colors, and not far from the chimney, which was ornamented with a +crucifix of yellow copper, was a set of shelves, attached to the +wall, containing three rows of books, in gray linen binding. Julien, +approaching, read, not without surprise, some of the titles: Paul and +Virginia, La Fontaine’s Fables, Gessner’s Idylls, Don Quixote, and +noticed several odd volumes of the Picturesque Magazine. + +Hanging from the whitened ceiling were clusters of nuts, twisted hemp, +strings of yellow maize, and chaplets of golden pippins tied with straw, +all harmonizing in the dim light, and adding increased fulness to the +picture of thrift and abundance. + +“It’s jolly here!” said the driver, smacking his lips, “and the smell +which comes from that oven makes one hungry. I wish Mamselle Reine would +arrive!” + +Just as he said this, a mysterious falsetto voice, which seemed to come +from behind the copper basins, repeated, in an acrid voice: “Reine! +Reine!” + +“What in the world is that?” exclaimed the driver, puzzled. + +Both looked toward the beams; at the same moment there was a rustling +of wings, a light hop, and a black-and-white object flitted by, resting, +finally, on one of the shelves hanging from the joists. + +“Ha, ha!” said the driver, laughing, “it is only a magpie!” + +He had hardly said it, when, like a plaintive echo, another voice, a +human voice this time, childish and wavering, proceeding from a dark +corner, faltered: “Rei-eine--Rei-eine!” + +“Hark!” murmured Julien, “some one answered.” + +His companion seized the lamp, and advanced toward the portion of the +room left in shadow. Suddenly he stopped short, and stammered some vague +excuse. + +Julien, who followed him, then perceived, with alarm, in a sort of niche +formed by two screens, entirely covered with illustrations from Epinal, +a strange-looking being stretched in an easy-chair, which was covered +with pillows and almost hidden under various woolen draperies. He was +dressed in a long coat of coarse, pale-blue cloth. He was bareheaded, +and his long, white hair formed a weird frame for a face of bloodless +hue and meagre proportions, from which two vacant eyes stared fixedly. +He sat immovable and his arms hung limply over his knees. + +“Monsieur,” said Julien, bowing ceremoniously, “we are quite ashamed at +having disturbed you. Your servant forgot to inform us of your presence, +and we were waiting for Mademoiselle Reine, without thinking that--” + +The old man continued immovable, not seeming to understand; he kept +repeating, in the same voice, like a frightened child: + +“Rei-eine! Rei-eine!” + +The two bewildered travellers gazed at this sepulchral-looking +personage, then at each other interrogatively, and began to feel very +uncomfortable. The magpie, perched upon the hanging shelf, suddenly +flapped his wings, and repeated, in his turn, in falsetto: + +“Reine, queen of the woods!” + +“Here I am, papa, don’t get uneasy!” said a clear, musical voice behind +them. + +The door had been suddenly opened, and Reine Vincart had entered. She +wore on her head a white cape or hood, and held in front of her an +enormous bouquet of glistening leaves, which seemed to have been +gathered as specimens of all the wild fruit-trees of the forest: the +brown beam-berries, the laburnums, and wild cherry, with their +red, transparent fruit, the bluish mulberry, the orange-clustered +mountain-ash. All this forest vegetation, mingling its black or purple +tints with the dark, moist leaves, brought out the whiteness of the +young girl’s complexion, her limpid eyes, and her brown curls escaping +from her hood. + +Julien de Buxieres and his companion had turned at the sound of Reine’s +voice. As soon as she perceived them, she went briskly toward them, +exclaiming: + +“What are you doing here? Don’t you see that you are frightening him?” + +Julien, humbled and mortified, murmured an excuse, and got confused +in trying to relate the incident of the carriage. She interrupted him +hurriedly: + +“The carriage, oh, yes--La Guitiote spoke to me about it. Well, your +carriage will be attended to! Go and sit down by the fire, gentlemen; we +will talk about it presently.” + +She had taken the light from the driver, and placed it on an adjacent +table with her plants. In the twinkling of an eye, she removed her hood, +unfastened her shawl, and then knelt down in front of the sick man, +after kissing him tenderly on the forehead. From the corner where Julien +had seated himself, he could hear her soothing voice. Its caressing +tones contrasted pleasantly with the harsh accent of a few minutes +before. + +“You were longing for me, papa,” said she, “but you see, I could not +leave before all the sacks of potatoes had been laid in the wagon. Now +everything has been brought in, and we can sleep in peace. I thought of +you on the way, and I have brought you a fine bouquet of wild fruits. +We shall enjoy looking them over tomorrow, by daylight. Now, this is the +time that you are to drink your bouillon like a good papa, and then as +soon as we have had our supper Guite and I will put you to bed nice and +warm, and I will sing you a song to send you to sleep.” + +She rose, took from the sideboard a bowl which she filled from a +saucepan simmering on the stove, and then, without taking any notice of +her visitors, she returned to the invalid. Slowly and with delicate care +she made him swallow the soup by spoonfuls. Julien, notwithstanding the +feeling of ill-humor caused by the untoward happenings of the evening, +could not help admiring the almost maternal tenderness with which the +young girl proceeded in this slow and difficult operation. When the bowl +was empty she returned to the stove, and at last bethought herself of +her guests. + +“Excuse me, Monsieur, but I had to attend to my father first. If I +understood quite aright, you were going to Vivey.” + +“Yes, Mademoiselle, I had hoped to sleep there tonight.” + +“You have probably come,” continued she, “on business connected with the +chateau. Is not the heir of Monsieur Odouart expected very shortly?” + +“I am that heir,” replied Julien, coloring. + +“You are Monsieur de Buxieres?” exclaimed Reine, in astonishment. +Then, embarrassed at having shown her surprise too openly, she checked +herself, colored in her turn, and finally gave a rapid glance at her +interlocutor. She never should have imagined this slender young man, +so melancholy in aspect, to be the new proprietor--he was so unlike the +late Odouart de Buxieres! + +“Pardon me, Monsieur,” continued she, “you must have thought my first +welcome somewhat unceremonious, but my first thought was for my father. +He is a great invalid, as you may have noticed, and for the first moment +I feared that he had been startled by strange faces.” + +“It is I, Mademoiselle,” replied Julien, with embarrassment, “it is I +who ought to ask pardon for having caused all this disturbance. But I do +not intend to trouble you any longer. If you will kindly furnish us with +a guide who will direct us to the road to Vivey, we will depart to-night +and sleep at the chateau.” + +“No, indeed,” protested Reine, very cordially. “You are my guests, and +I shall not allow you to leave us in that manner. Besides, you would +probably find the gates closed down there, for I do not think they +expected you so soon.” + +During this interview, the servant who had received the travellers had +returned with her milk-pail; behind her, the other farm-hands, men and +women, arranged themselves silently round the table. + +“Guitiote,” said Reine, “lay two more places at the table. The horse +belonging to these gentlemen has been taken care of, has he not?” + +“Yes, Mamselle, he is in the stable,” replied one of the grooms. + +“Good! Bernard, to-morrow you will take Fleuriot with you, and go +in search of their carriage which has been swamped in the +Planche-au-Vacher. That is settled. Now, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you +proceed to table--and your coachman also? Upon my word, I do not know +whether our supper will be to your liking. I can only offer you a plate +of soup, a chine of pork, and cheese made in the country; but you must +be hungry, and when one has a good appetite, one is not hard to please.” + +Every one had been seated at the table; the servants at the lower end, +and Reine Vincart, near the fireplace, between M. de Buxieres and the +driver. La Guite helped the cabbage-soup all around; soon nothing was +heard but the clinking of spoons and smacking of lips. Julien, scarcely +recovered from his bewilderment, watched furtively the pretty, robust +young girl presiding at the supper, and keeping, at the same time, a +watchful eye over all the details of service. He thought her strange; +she upset all his ideas. His own imagination and his theories pictured +a woman, and more especially a young girl, as a submissive, modest, +shadowy creature, with downcast look, only raising her eyes to consult +her husband or her mother as to what is allowable and what is forbidden. +Now, Reine did not fulfil any of the requirements of this ideal. +She seemed to be hardly twenty-two years old, and she acted with the +initiative genius, the frankness and the decision of a man, retaining +all the while the tenderness and easy grace of a woman. Although it was +evident that she was accustomed to govern and command, there was +nothing in her look, gesture, or voice which betrayed any assumption of +masculinity. She remained a young girl while in the very act of playing +the virile part of head of the house. But what astonished Julien quite +as much was that she seemed to have received a degree of education +superior to that of people of her condition, and he wondered at the +amount of will-power by which a nature highly cultivated, relatively +speaking, could conform to the unrefined, rough surroundings in which +she was placed. + +While Julien was immersed in these reflections, and continued eating +with an abstracted air, Reine Vincart was rapidly examining the +reserved, almost ungainly, young man, who did not dare address any +conversation to her, and who was equally stiff and constrained with +those sitting near him. She made a mental comparison of him with +Claudet, the bold huntsman, alert, resolute, full of dash and spirit, +and a feeling of charitable compassion arose in her heart at the thought +of the reception which the Sejournant family would give to this new +master, so timid and so little acquainted with the ways and dispositions +of country folk. Julien did not impress her as being able to defend +himself against the ill-will of persons who would consider him an +intruder, and would certainly endeavor to make him pay dearly for the +inheritance of which he had deprived them. + +“You do not take your wine, Monsieur de Buxieres!” said she, noticing +that her guest’s glass was still full. + +“I am not much of a wine-drinker,” replied he, “and besides, I never +take wine by itself--I should be obliged if you would have some water +brought.” + +Reine smiled, and passed him the water-bottle. + +“Indeed?” she said, “in that case, you have not fallen among congenial +spirits, for in these mountains they like good dinners, and have a +special weakness for Burgundy. You follow the chase, at any rate?” + +“No, Mademoiselle, I do not know how to handle a gun!” + +“I suppose it is not your intention to settle in Vivey?” + +“Why not?” replied he; “on the contrary, I intend to inhabit the +chateau, and establish myself there definitely.” + +“What!” exclaimed Reine, laughing, “you neither drink nor hunt, and +you intend to live in our woods! Why, my poor Monsieur, you will die of +ennui.” + +“I shall have my books for companions; besides, solitude never has had +any terrors for me.” + +The young girl shook her head incredulously. + +“I shouldn’t wonder,” she continued, “if you do not even play at cards.” + +“Never; games of chance are repugnant to me.” + +“Take notice that I do not blame you,” she replied, gayly, “but I must +give you one piece of advice: don’t speak in these neighborhoods of your +dislike of hunting, cards, or good wine; our country folk would feel +pity for you, and that would destroy your prestige.” + +Julien gazed at her with astonishment. She turned away to give +directions to La Guite about the beds for her guests--then the supper +went on silently. As soon as they had swallowed their last mouthful, the +menservants repaired to their dormitory, situated in the buildings of +the ancient forge. Reine Vincart rose also. + +“This is the time when I put my father to bed--I am obliged to take +leave of you, Monsieur de Buxieres. Guitiote will conduct you to your +room. For you, driver, I have had a bed made in a small room next to the +furnace; you will be nice and warm. Good-night, gentlemen, sleep well!” + +She turned away, and went to rejoin the paralytic sufferer, who, as she +approached, manifested his joy by a succession of inarticulate sounds. + +The room to which Guitiote conducted Julien was on the first floor, and +had a cheerful, hospitable appearance. The walls were whitewashed; +the chairs, table, and bed were of polished oak; a good fire of +logs crackled in the fireplace, and between the opening of the white +window-curtains could be seen a slender silver crescent of moon gliding +among the flitting clouds. The young man went at once to his bed; but +notwithstanding the fatigues of the day, sleep did not come to him. +Through the partition he could hear the clear, sonorous voice of Reine +singing her father to sleep with one of the popular ballads of the +country, and while turning and twisting in the homespun linen sheets, +scented with orrisroot, he could not help thinking of this young girl, +so original in her ways, whose grace, energy, and frankness fascinated +and shocked him at the same time. At last he dozed off; and when the +morning stir awoke him, the sun was up and struggling through the foggy +atmosphere. + +The sky had cleared during the night; there had been a frost, and the +meadows were powdered white. The leaves, just nipped with the frost, +were dropping softly to the ground, and formed little green heaps at the +base of the trees. Julien dressed himself hurriedly, and descended to +the courtyard, where the first thing he saw was the cabriolet, which had +been brought in the early morning and which one of the farm-boys was in +the act of sousing with water in the hope of freeing the hood and wheels +from the thick mud which covered them. When he entered the diningroom, +brightened by the rosy rays of the morning sun, he found Reine Vincart +there before him. She was dressed in a yellow striped woolen skirt, +and a jacket of white flannel carelessly belted at the waist. Her dark +chestnut hair, parted down the middle and twisted into a loose knot +behind, lay in ripples round her smooth, open forehead. + +“Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres,” said she, in her cordial tone, +“did you sleep well? Yes? I am glad. You find me busy attending to +household matters. My father is still in bed, and I am taking advantage +of the fact to arrange his little corner. The doctor said he must not +be put near the fire, so I have made a place for him here; he enjoys it +immensely, and I arranged this nook to protect him from draughts.” + +And she showed him how she had put the big easy chair, padded with +cushions, in the bright sunlight which streamed through the window, and +shielded by the screens, one on each side. She noticed that Julien was +examining, with some curiosity, the uncouth pictures from Epinal, with +which the screens were covered. + +“This,” she explained, “is my own invention. My father is a little weak +in the head, but he understands a good many things, although he can not +talk about them. He used to get weary of sitting still all day in his +chair, so I lined the screens with these pictures in order that he might +have something to amuse him. He is as pleased as a child with the bright +colors, and I explain the subjects to him. I don’t tell him much at a +time, for fear of fatiguing him. We have got now to Pyramus and Thisbe, +so that we shall have plenty to occupy us before we reach the end.” + +She caught a pitying look from her guest which seemed to say: “The poor +man may not last long enough to reach the end.” Doubtless she had +the same fear, for her dark eyes suddenly glistened, she sighed, and +remained for some moments without speaking. + +In the mean time the magpie, which Julien had seen the day before, was +hopping around its mistress, like a familiar spirit; it even had the +audacity to peck at her hair and then fly away, repeating, in its +cracked voice: + +“Reine, queen of the woods!” + +“Why ‘queen of the woods?”’ asked Julien, coloring. + +“Ah!” replied the young girl, “it is a nickname which the people around +here give me, because I am so fond of the trees. I spend all the time I +can in our woods, as much as I can spare from the work of the farm. + +“Margot has often heard my father call me by that name; she remembers +it, and is always repeating it.” + +“Do you like living in this wild country?” + +“Very much. I was born here, and I like it.” + +“But you have not always lived here?” + +“No; my mother, who had lived in the city, placed me at school in her +own country, in Dijon. I received there the education of a young lady, +though there is not much to show for it now. I stayed there six years; +then my mother died, my father fell ill, and I came home.” + +“And did you not suffer from so sudden a change?” + +“Not at all. You see I am really by nature a country girl. I wish you +might not have more trouble than I had, in getting accustomed to your +new way of living, in the chateau at Vivey. But,” she added, going +toward the fire, “I think they are harnessing the horse, and you must be +hungry. Your driver has already primed himself with some toast and white +wine. I will not offer you the same kind of breakfast. I will get you +some coffee and cream.” + +He bent his head in acquiescence, and she brought him the coffee +herself, helping him to milk and toasted bread. He drank rapidly the +contents of the cup, nibbled at a slice of toast, and then, turning to +his hostess, said, with a certain degree of embarrassment: + +“There is nothing left for me to do, Mademoiselle, but to express my +most heartfelt thanks for your kind hospitality. It is a good omen for +me to meet with such cordiality on my arrival in an unknown part of +the country. May I ask you one more question?” he continued, looking +anxiously at her; “why do you think it will be so difficult for me to +get accustomed to the life they lead here?” + +“Why?” replied she, shaking her head, “because, to speak frankly, +Monsieur, you do not give me the idea of having much feeling for the +country. You are not familiar with our ways; you will not be able to +speak to the people in their language, and they will not understand +yours--you will be, in their eyes, ‘the city Monsieur,’ whom they will +mistrust and will try to circumvent. I should like to find that I am +mistaken, but, at present, I have the idea that you will encounter +difficulties down there of which you do not seem to have any +anticipation--” + +She was intercepted by the entrance of the driver, who was becoming +impatient. The horse was in harness, and they were only waiting for M. +de Buxieres. Julien rose, and after awkwardly placing a piece of silver +in the hand of La Guite, took leave of Reine Vincart, who accompanied +him to the threshold. + +“Thanks, once more, Mademoiselle,” murmured he, “and au revoir, since we +shall be neighbors.” + +He held out his hand timidly and she took it with frank cordiality. +Julien got into the cabriolet beside the driver, who began at once to +belabor vigorously his mulish animal. + +“Good journey and good luck, Monsieur,” cried Reine after him, and the +vehicle sped joltingly away. + + + + +CHAPTER III. CONSCIENCE HIGHER THAN THE LAW + +On leaving La Thuiliere, the driver took the straight line toward the +pasturelands of the Planche-au-Vacher. + +According to the directions they had received from the people of the +farm, they then followed a rocky road, which entailed considerable +jolting for the travellers, but which led them without other difficulty +to the bottom of a woody dell, where they were able to ford the stream. +As soon as they had, with difficulty, ascended the opposite hill, +the silvery fog that had surrounded them began to dissipate, and they +distinguished a road close by, which led a winding course through the +forest. + +“Ah! now I see my way!” said the driver, “we have only to go straight +on, and in twenty minutes we shall be at Vivey. This devil of a fog cuts +into one’s skin like a bunch of needles. With your permission, Monsieur +de Buxieres, and if it will not annoy you, I will light my pipe to warm +myself.” + +Now that he knew he was conducting the proprietor of the chateau, he +repented having treated him so cavalierly the day before; he became +obsequious, and endeavored to gain the good-will of his fare by showing +himself as loquacious as he had before been cross and sulky. But Julien +de Buxieres, too much occupied in observing the details of the country, +or in ruminating over the impressions he had received during the +morning, made but little response to his advances, and soon allowed the +conversation to drop. + +The sun’s rays had by this time penetrated the misty atmosphere, and the +white frost had changed to diamond drops, which hung tremblingly on +the leafless branches. A gleam of sunshine showed the red tints of the +beech-trees, and the bright golden hue of the poplars, and the forest +burst upon Julien in all the splendor of its autumnal trappings. +The pleasant remembrance of Reine Vincart’s hospitality doubtless +predisposed him to enjoy the charm of this sunshiny morning, for he +became, perhaps for the first time in his life, suddenly alive to +the beauty of this woodland scenery. By degrees, toward the left, +the brushwood became less dense, and several gray buildings appeared +scattered over the glistening prairie. Soon after appeared a park, +surrounded by low, crumbling walls, then a group of smoky roofs, and +finally, surmounting a massive clump of ash-trees, two round towers with +tops shaped like extinguishers. The coachman pointed them out to the +young man with the end of his whip. + +“There is Vivey,” said he, “and here is your property, Monsieur de +Buxieres.” + +Julien started, and, notwithstanding his alienation from worldly things, +he could not repress a feeling of satisfaction when he reflected that, +by legal right, he was about to become master of the woods, the fields, +and the old homestead of which the many-pointed slate roofs gleamed in +the distance. This satisfaction was mingled with intense curiosity, +but it was also somewhat shadowed by a dim perspective of the technical +details incumbent on his taking possession. No doubt he should be +obliged, in the beginning, to make himself personally recognized, to +show the workmen and servants of the chateau that the new owner was +equal to the situation. Now, Julien was not, by nature, a man of action, +and the delicately expressed fears of Reine Vincart made him uneasy in +his mind. When the carriage, suddenly turning a corner, stopped in front +of the gate of entrance, and he beheld, through the cast-iron railing, +the long avenue of ash-trees, the grass-grown courtyard, the silent +facade, his heart began to beat more rapidly, and his natural timidity +again took possession of him. + +“The gate is closed, and they don’t seem to be expecting you,” remarked +the driver. + +They dismounted. Noticing that the side door was half open, the coachman +gave a vigorous pull on the chain attached to the bell. At the sound +of the rusty clamor, a furious barking was heard from an adjoining +outhouse, but no one inside the house seemed to take notice of the +ringing. + +“Come, let us get in all the same,” said the coachman, giving another +pull, and stealing a furtive look at his companion’s disconcerted +countenance. + +He fastened his horse to the iron fence, and both passed through the +side gate to the avenue, the dogs all the while continuing their +uproar. Just as they reached the courtyard, the door opened and Manette +Sejournant appeared on the doorstep. + +“Good-morning, gentlemen,” said she, in a slow, drawling voice, “is it +you who are making all this noise?” + +The sight of this tall, burly woman, whose glance betokened both +audacity and cunning, increased still more Julien’s embarrassment. He +advanced awkwardly, raised his hat and replied, almost as if to excuse +himself: + +“I beg pardon, Madame--I am the cousin and heir of the late Claude de +Buxieres. I have come to install myself in the chateau, and I had sent +word of my intention to Monsieur Arbillot, the notary--I am surprised he +did not notify you.” + +“Ah! it is you, Monsieur Julien de Buxieres!” exclaimed Madame +Sejournant, scrutinizing the newcomer with a mingling of curiosity +and scornful surprise which completed the young man’s discomfiture. +“Monsieur Arbillot was here yesterday--he waited for you all day, and as +you did not come, he went away at nightfall.” + +“I presume you were in my cousin’s service?” said Julien, amiably, being +desirous from the beginning to evince charitable consideration with +regard to his relative’s domestic affairs. + +“Yes, Monsieur,” replied Manette, with dignified sadness; “I attended +poor Monsieur de Buxieres twenty-six years, and can truly say I served +him with devotion! But now I am only staying here in charge of the +seals--I and my son Claudet. We have decided to leave as soon as the +notary does not want us any more.” + +“I regret to hear it, Madame,” replied Julien, who was beginning to feel +uncomfortable. “There must be other servants around--I should be obliged +if you would have our carriage brought into the yard. And then, if +you will kindly show us the way, we will go into the house, for I am +desirous to feel myself at home--and my driver would not object to some +refreshment.” + +“I will send the cowboy to open the gate,” replied the housekeeper. “If +you will walk this way, gentlemen, I will take you into the only room +that can be used just now, on account of the seals on the property.” + +Passing in front of them, she directed her steps toward the kitchen, and +made way for them to pass into the smoky room, where a small servant was +making coffee over a clear charcoal fire. As the travellers entered, the +manly form of Claudet Sejournant was outlined against the bright light +of the window at his back. + +“My son,” said Manette, with a meaning side look, especially for his +benefit, “here is Monsieur de Buxieres, come to take possession of his +inheritance.” + +The grand chasserot attempted a silent salutation, and then the young +men took a rapid survey of each other. + +Julien de Buxieres was startled by the unexpected presence of so +handsome a young fellow, robust, intelligent, and full of energy, whose +large brown eyes gazed at him with a kind of surprised and pitying +compassion which was very hard for Julien to bear. He turned uneasily +away, making a lame excuse of ordering some wine for his coachman; +and while Manette, with an air of martyrdom, brought a glass and +a half-empty bottle, Claudet continued his surprised and inquiring +examination of the legal heir of Claude de Buxieres. + +The pale, slight youth, buttoned up in a close-fitting, long frock-coat, +which gave him the look of a priest, looked so unlike any of the +Buxieres of the elder branch that it seemed quite excusable to hesitate +about the relationship. Claudet maliciously took advantage of the fact, +and began to interrogate his would-be deposer by pretending to doubt his +identity. + +“Are you certainly Monsieur Julien de Buxieres?” asked he, surveying him +suspiciously from head to foot. + +“Do you take me for an impostor?” exclaimed the young man. + +“I do not say that,” returned Claudet, crossly, “but after all, you do +not carry your name written on your face, and, by Jove! as guardian of +the seals, I have some responsibility--I want information, that is all!” + +Angry at having to submit to these inquiries in the presence of the +coachman who had brought him from Langres, Julien completely lost +control of his temper. + +“Do you require me to show my papers?” he inquired, in a haughty, +ironical tone of voice. + +Manette, foreseeing a disturbance, hastened to interpose, in her +hypocritical, honeyed voice: + +“Leave off, Claudet, let Monsieur alone. He would not be here, would he, +if he hadn’t a right? As to asking him to prove his right, that is not +our business--it belongs to the justice and the notary. You had better, +my son, go over to Auberive, and ask the gentlemen to come to-morrow to +raise the seals.” + +At this moment, the cowboy, who had been sent to open the gate, entered +the kitchen. + +“The carriage is in the courtyard,” said he, “and Monsieur’s boxes are +in the hall. Where shall I put them, Madame Sejoumant?” + +Julien’s eyes wandered from Manette to the young boy, with an expression +of intense annoyance and fatigue. + +“Why, truly,” said Manette, “as a matter of fact, there is only the +room of our deceased master, where the seals have been released. Would +Monsieur object to taking up his quarters there?” + +“I am willing,” muttered Julien; “have my luggage carried up there, and +give orders for it to be made ready immediately.” + +The housekeeper gave a sign, and the boy and the servant disappeared. + +“Madame,” resumed Julien, turning toward Manette, “if I understand you +right, I can no longer reckon upon your services to take care of my +household. Could you send me some one to supply your place?” + +“Oh! as to that matter,” replied the housekeeper, still in her wheedling +voice, “a day or two more or less! I am not so very particular, and +I don’t mind attending to the house as long as I remain. At what hour +would you wish to dine, Monsieur?” + +“At the hour most convenient for you,” responded Julien, quickly, +anxious to conciliate her; “you will serve my meals in my room.” + +As the driver had now finished his bottle, they left the room together. + +As soon as the door was closed, Manette and her son exchanged sarcastic +looks. + +“He a Buxieres!” growled Claudet. “He looks like a student priest in +vacation.” + +“He is an ‘ecrigneule’,” returned Manette, shrugging her shoulders. + +‘Ecrigneule’ is a word of the Langrois dialect, signifying a puny, +sickly, effeminate being. In the mouth of Madame Sejournant, this +picturesque expression acquired a significant amount of scornful energy. + +“And to think,” sighed Claudet, twisting his hands angrily in his bushy +hair, “that such a slip of a fellow is going to be master here!” + +“Master?” repeated Manette, shaking her head, “we’ll see about that! +He does not know anything at all, and has not what is necessary for +ordering about. In spite of his fighting-cock airs, he hasn’t two +farthings’ worth of spunk--it would be easy enough to lead him by the +nose. Do you see, Claudet, if we were to manage properly, instead of +throwing the handle after the blade, we should be able before two weeks +are, over to have rain or sunshine here, just as we pleased. We must +only have a little more policy.” + +“What do you mean by policy, mother?” + +“I mean--letting things drag quietly on--not breaking all the windows +at the first stroke. The lad is as dazed as a young bird that has fallen +from its nest. What we have to do is to help him to get control of +himself, and accustom him not to do without us. As soon as we have made +ourselves necessary to him, he will be at our feet.” + +“Would you wish me to become the servant of the man who has cheated me +out of my inheritance?” protested Claudet, indignantly. + +“His servant--no, indeed! but his companion--why not? And it would be +so easy if you would only make up your mind to it, Claude. I tell you +again, he is not ill-natured-he looks like a man who is up to his neck +in devotion. When he once feels we are necessary to his comfort, and +that some reliable person, like the curate, for example, were to whisper +to him that you are the son of Claudet de Buxieres, he would have +scruples, and at last, half on his own account, and half for the sake of +religion, he would begin to treat you like a relative.” + +“No;” said Claudet, firmly, “these tricky ways do not suit me. Monsieur +Arbillot proposed yesterday that I should do what you advise. He +even offered to inform this gentleman of my relationship to Claude de +Buxieres. I refused, and forbade the notary to open his mouth on the +subject. What! should I play the part of a craven hound before this +younger son whom my father detested, and beg for a portion of the +inheritance? Thank you! I prefer to take myself out of the way at once!” + +“You prefer to have your mother beg her bread at strangers’ doors!” + replied Manette, bitterly, shedding tears of rage. + +“I have already told you, mother, that when one has a good pair of arms, +and the inclination to use them, one has no need to beg one’s bread. +Enough said! I am going to Auberive to notify the justice and the +notary.” + +While Claudet was striding across the woods, the boy carried the luggage +of the newly arrived traveller into the chamber on the first floor, and +Zelie, the small servant, put the sheets on the bed, dusted the room, +and lighted the fire. In a few minutes, Julien was alone in his new +domicile, and began to open his boxes and valises. The chimney, which +had not been used since the preceding winter, smoked unpleasantly, and +the damp logs only blackened instead of burning. The boxes lay +wide open, and the room of the deceased Claude de Buxieres had the +uncomfortable aspect of a place long uninhabited. Julien had seated +himself in one of the large armchairs, covered in Utrecht velvet, +and endeavored to rekindle the dying fire. He felt at loose ends and +discouraged, and had no longer the courage to arrange his clothes in +the open wardrobes, which stood open, emitting a strong odor of decaying +mold. + +The slight breath of joyous and renewed life which had animated him on +leaving the Vincart farm, had suddenly evaporated. His anticipations +collapsed in the face of these bristling realities, among which he felt +his isolation more deeply than ever before. He recalled the cordiality +of Reine’s reception, and how she had spoken of the difficulties he +should have to encounter. How little he had thought that her forebodings +would come true the very same day! The recollection of the cheerful and +hospitable interior of La Thuiliere contrasted painfully with his cold, +bare Vivey mansion, tenanted solely by hostile domestics. Who were these +people--this Manette Sejournant with her treacherous smile, and this +fellow Claudet, who had, at the very first, subjected him to such +offensive questioning? Why did they seem so ill-disposed toward him? +He felt as if he were completely enveloped in an atmosphere of +contradiction and ill-will. He foresaw what an amount of quiet but +steady opposition he should have to encounter from these subordinates, +and he became alarmed at the prospect of having to display so much +energy in order to establish his authority in the chateau. He, who had +pictured to himself a calm and delightful solitude, wherein he could +give himself up entirely to his studious and contemplative tastes. What +a contrast to the reality! + +Rousing himself at last, he proceeded mechanically to arrange his +belongings in the room, formerly inhabited by his cousin de Buxieres. He +had hardly finished when Zelie made her appearance with some plates and +a tablecloth, and began to lay the covers. Seeing the fire had gone out, +the little servant uttered an exclamation of dismay. + +“Oh!” cried she, “so the wood didn’t flare!” + +He gazed at her as if she were talking Hebrew, and it was at least a +minute before he understood that by “flare” she meant kindle. + +“Well, well!” she continued, “I’ll go and fetch some splinters.” + +She returned in a few moments, with a basket filled with the large +splinters thrown off by the woodchoppers in straightening the logs: she +piled these up on the andirons, and then, applying her mouth vigorously +to a long hollow tin tube, open at both ends, which she carried with +her, soon succeeded in starting a steady flame. + +“Look there!” said she, in a tone implying a certain degree of contempt +for the “city Monsieur” who did not even know how to keep up a fire, +“isn’t that clever? Now I must lay the cloth.” + +While she went about her task, arranging the plates, the water-bottle, +and glasses symmetrically around the table, Julien tried to engage her +in conversation. But the little maiden, either because she had been +cautioned beforehand, or because she did not very well comprehend M. +de Buxieres’s somewhat literary style of French, would answer only in +monosyllables, or else speak only in patois, so that Julien had to +give up the idea of getting any information out of her. Certainly, +Mademoiselle Vincart was right in saying that he did not know the +language of these people. + +He ate without appetite the breakfast on which Manette had employed +all her culinary art, barely tasted the roast partridge, and to Zelie’s +great astonishment, mingled the old Burgundy wine with a large quantity +of water. + +“You will inform Madame Sejournant,” said he to the girl, as he folded +his napkin, “that I am not a great eater, and that one dish will suffice +me in future.” + +He left her to clear away, and went out to look at the domain which he +was to call his own. It did not take him very long. The twenty or thirty +white houses, which constituted the village and lay sleeping in the +wooded hollow like eggs in a nest, formed a curious circular line around +the chateau. In a few minutes he had gone the whole length of it, and +the few people he met gave him only a passing glance, in which curiosity +seemed to have more share than any hospitable feeling. He entered the +narrow church under the patronage of Our Lady; the gray light which +entered through the moldy shutters showed a few scattered benches of +oak, and the painted wooden altar. He knelt down and endeavored to +collect his thoughts, but the rude surroundings of this rustic sanctuary +did not tend to comfort his troubled spirit, and he became conscious +of a sudden withering of all religious fervor. He turned and left the +place, taking a path that led through the forest. It did not interest +him more than the village; the woods spoke no language which his heart +could understand; he could not distinguish an ash from an oak, and all +the different plants were included by him under one general term of +“weeds”; but he needed bodily fatigue and violent physical agitation to +dissipate the overpowering feeling of discouragement that weighed down +his spirits. He walked for several hours without seeing anything, nearly +got lost, and did not reach home till after dark. Once more the little +servant appeared with his meal, which he ate in an abstracted manner, +without even asking whether he were eating veal or mutton; then he went +immediately to bed, and fell into an uneasy sleep. And thus ended his +first day. + +The next morning, about nine o’clock, he was informed that the justice +of the peace, the notary, and the clerk, were waiting for him below. He +hastened down and found the three functionaries busy conferring in a low +voice with Manette and Claudet. The conversation ceased suddenly upon +his arrival, and during the embarrassing silence that followed, all eyes +were directed toward Julien, who saluted the company and delivered to +the justice the documents proving his identity, begging him to proceed +without delay to the legal breaking of the seals. They accordingly +began operations, and went through all the house without interruption, +accompanied by Claudet, who stood stiff and sullen behind the justice, +taking advantage of every little opportunity to testify his dislike and +ill-feeling toward the legal heir of Claude de Buxieres. Toward eleven +o’clock, the proceedings came to an end, the papers were signed, +and Julien was regularly invested with his rights. But the tiresome +formalities were not yet over: he had to invite the three officials +to breakfast. This event, however, had been foreseen by Manette. Since +early morning she had been busy preparing a bountiful repast, and had +even called Julien de Buxieres aside in order to instruct him in the +hospitable duties which his position and the customs of society imposed +upon him. + +As they entered the dining-room, young de Buxieres noticed that covers +were laid for five people; he began to wonder who the fifth guest could +be, when an accidental remark of the clerk showed him that the unknown +was no other than Claudet. The fact was that Manette could not bear the +idea that her son, who had always sat at table with the late Claude +de Buxieres, should be consigned to the kitchen in presence of these +distinguished visitors from Auberive, and had deliberately laid a place +for him at the master’s table, hoping that the latter would not dare +put any public affront upon Claudet. She was not mistaken in her idea. +Julien, anxious to show a conciliatory spirit, and making an effort +to quell his own repugnance, approached the ‘grand chasserot’, who was +standing at one side by himself, and invited him to take his seat at the +table. + +“Thank you,” replied Claudet, coldly, “I have breakfasted.” So saying, +he turned his back on M. de Buxieres, who returned to the hall, vexed +and disconcerted. + +The repast was abundant, and seemed of interminable length to Julien. +The three guests, whose appetites had been sharpened by their morning +exercise, did honor to Madame Sejournant’s cooking; they took their wine +without water, and began gradually to thaw under the influence of +their host’s good Burgundy; evincing their increased liveliness by the +exchange of heavy country witticisms, or relating noisy and interminable +stories of their hunting adventures. Their conversation was very trying +to Julien’s nerves. Nevertheless, he endeavored to fulfil his duties as +master of the house, throwing in a word now and then, so as to appear +interested in their gossip, but he ate hardly a mouthful. His features +had a pinched expression, and every now and then he caught himself +trying to smother a yawn. His companions at the table could not +understand a young man of twenty-eight years who drank nothing but +water, scorned all enjoyment in eating, and only laughed forcedly under +compulsion. At last, disturbed by the continued taciturnity of their +host, they rose from the table sooner than their wont, and prepared to +take leave. Before their departure, Arbillot the notary, passed his arm +familiarly through that of Julien and led him into an adjoining room, +which served as billiard-hall and library. + +“Monsieur de Buxieres,” said he, pointing to a pile of law papers heaped +upon the green cloth of the table; “see what I have prepared for you; +you will find there all the titles and papers relating to the +real estate, pictures, current notes, and various matters of your +inheritance. You had better keep them under lock and key, and study +them at your leisure. You will find them very interesting. I need hardly +say,” he added, “that I am at your service for any necessary advice +or explanation. But, in respect to any minor details, you can apply to +Claudet Sejournant, who is very intelligent in such matters, and a good +man of business. And, by the way, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you allow +me to commend the young man especially to your kindly consideration.” + +But Julien interrupted him with an imperious gesture, and replied, +frowning angrily: + +“If you please, Maitre Arbillot, we will not enter upon that subject. +I have already tried my best to show a kindly feeling toward Monsieur +Claudet, but I have been only here twenty-four hours, and he has already +found opportunities for affronting me twice. I beg you not to speak of +him again.” + +The notary, who was just lighting his pipe, stopped suddenly. Moved by a +feeling of good-fellowship for the ‘grand chasserot’, who had, however, +enjoined him to silence, he had it on the tip of his tongue to inform +Julien of the facts concerning the parentage of Claudet de Buxieres; +but, however much he wished to render Claudet a service, he was still +more desirous of respecting the feelings of his client; so, between the +hostility of one party and the backwardness of the other, he chose the +wise part of inaction. + +“That is sufficient, Monsieur de Buxieres,” replied he, “I will not +press the matter.” + +Thereupon he saluted his client, and went to rejoin the justice and the +clerk, and the three comrades wended their way to Auberive through the +woods, discussing the incidents of the breakfast, and the peculiarities +of the new proprietor. + +“This de Buxieres,” said M. Destourbet, “does not at all resemble his +deceased cousin Claude!” + +“I can quite understand why the two families kept apart from each +other,” observed the notary, jocosely. + +“Poor ‘chasserot’!” whined Seurrot the clerk, whom the wine had rendered +tender-hearted; “he will not have a penny. I pity him with all my +heart!” + +As soon as the notary had departed, Julien came to the determination +of transforming into a study the hall where he had been conferring +with Maitre Arbillot, which was dignified with the title of “library,” + although it contained at the most but a few hundred odd volumes. The +hall was spacious, and lighted by two large windows opening on the +garden; the floor was of oak, and there was a great fireplace where the +largest logs used in a country in which the wood costs nothing could +find ample room to blaze and crackle. It took the young man several days +to make the necessary changes, and during that time he enjoyed a respite +from the petty annoyances worked by the steady hostility of Manette +Sejournant and her son. To the great indignation of the inhabitants of +the chateau, he packed off the massive billiard-table, on which Claude +de Buxieres had so often played in company with his chosen friends, to +the garret; after which the village carpenter was instructed to make the +bookshelves ready for the reception of Julien’s own books, which were +soon to arrive by express. When he had got through with these labors, he +turned his attention to the documents placed in his hands by the notary, +endeavoring to find out by himself the nature of his revenues. He +thought this would be a very easy matter, but he soon found that it was +encumbered with inextricable difficulties. + +A large part of the products of the domain consisted of lumber ready for +sale. Claude de Buxieres had been in the habit of superintending, either +personally or through his intermediate agents, one half of the annual +amount of lumber felled for market, the sale of which was arranged with +the neighboring forge owners by mutual agreement; the other half was +disposed of by notarial act. This latter arrangement was clear and +comprehensible; the price of sale and the amounts falling due were +both clearly indicated in the deed. But it was quite different with the +bargains made by the owner himself, which were often credited by notes +payable at sight, mostly worded in confused terms, unintelligible to any +but the original writer. Julien became completely bewildered among these +various documents, the explanations in which were harder to understand +than conundrums. Although greatly averse to following the notary’s +advice as to seeking Claudet’s assistance, he found himself compelled to +do so, but was met by such laconic and surly answers that he concluded +it would be more dignified on his part to dispense with the services of +one who was so badly disposed toward him. He therefore resolved to have +recourse to the debtors themselves, whose names he found, after much +difficulty, in the books. These consisted mostly of peasants of the +neighborhood, who came to the chateau at his summons; but as soon as +they came into Julien’s presence, they discovered, with that cautious +perception which is an instinct with rustic minds, that before them +stood a man completely ignorant of the customs of the country, and very +poorly informed on Claude de Buxieres’s affairs. They made no scruple of +mystifying this “city gentleman,” by means of ambiguous statements and +cunning reticence. The young man could get no enlightenment from them; +all he clearly understood was, that they were making fun of him, +and that he was not able to cope with these country bumpkins, whose +shrewdness would have done honor to the most experienced lawyer. + +After a few days he became discouraged and disgusted. He could see +nothing but trouble ahead; he seemed surrounded by either open enemies +or people inclined to take advantage of him. It was plain that all the +population of the village looked upon him as an intruder, a troublesome +master, a stranger whom they would like to intimidate and send about his +business. Manette Sejournant, who was always talking about going, still +remained in the chateau, and was evidently exerting her influence to +keep her son also with her. The fawning duplicity of this woman was +unbearable to Julien; he had not the energy necessary either to subdue +her, or to send her away, and she appeared every morning before him +with a string of hypocritical grievances, and opposing his orders with +steady, irritating inertia. It seemed as if she were endeavoring to +render his life at Vivey hateful to him, so that he would be compelled +finally to beat a retreat. + +One morning in November he had reached such a state of moral fatigue +and depression that, as he sat listlessly before the library fire, the +question arose in his mind whether it would not be better to rent the +chateau, place the property in the hands of a manager, and take +himself and his belongings back to Nancy, to his little room in the Rue +Stanislaus, where, at any rate, he could read, meditate, or make plans +for the future without being every moment tormented by miserable, petty +annoyances. His temper was becoming soured, his nerves were unstrung, +and his mind was so disturbed that he fancied he had none but enemies +around him. A cloudy melancholy seemed to invade his brain; he was +seized with a sudden fear that he was about to have an attack of +persecution-phobia, and began to feel his pulse and interrogate his +sensations to see whether he could detect any of the premonitory +symptoms. + +While he was immersing himself in this unwholesome atmosphere of +hypochondria, the sound of a door opening and shutting made him start; +he turned quickly around, saw a young woman approaching and smiling at +him, and at last recognized Reine Vincart. + +She wore the crimped linen cap and the monk’s hood in use among the +peasants of the richer class. Her wavy, brown hair, simply parted in +front, fell in rebellious curls from under the border of her cap, of +which the only decoration was a bow of black ribbon; the end floating +gracefully over her shoulders. The sharp November air had imparted a +delicate rose tint to her pale complexion, and additional vivacity to +her luminous, dark eyes. + +“Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres,” said she, in her clear, pleasantly +modulated voice; “I think you may remember me? It is not so long since +we saw each other at the farm.” + +“Mademoiselle Vincart!” exclaimed Julien. “Why, certainly I remember +you!” + +He drew a chair toward the fire, and offered it to her. This charming +apparition of his cordial hostess at La Thuiliere evoked the one +pleasant remembrance in his mind since his arrival in Vivey. It shot, +like a ray of sunlight, across the heavy fog of despair which had +enveloped the new master of the chateau. It was, therefore, with real +sincerity that he repeated: + +“I both know you and am delighted to see you. I ought to have called +upon you before now, to thank you for your kind hospitality, but I have +had so much to do, and,” his face clouding over, “so many annoyances!” + +“Really?” said she, softly, gazing pityingly at him; “you must not take +offence, but, it is easy to see you have been worried! Your features are +drawn and you have an anxious look. Is it that the air of Vivey does not +agree with you?” + +“It is not the air,” replied Julien, in an irritated tone, “it is the +people who do not agree with me. And, indeed,” sighed he, “I do not +think I agree any better with them. But I need not annoy other persons +merely because I am annoyed myself! Mademoiselle Vincart, what can I do +to be of service to you? Have you anything to ask me?” + +“Not at all!” exclaimed Reine, with a frank smile; “I not only have +nothing to ask from you, but I have brought something for you--six +hundred francs for wood we had bought from the late Monsieur de +Buxieres, during the sale of the Ronces forest.” She drew from under her +cloak a little bag of gray linen, containing gold, five-franc pieces and +bank-notes. “Will you be good enough to verify the amount?” continued +she, emptying the bag upon the table; “I think it is correct. You must +have somewhere a memorandum of the transaction in writing.” + +Julien began to look through the papers, but he got bewildered with the +number of rough notes jotted down on various slips of paper, until at +last, in an impatient fit of vexation, he flung the whole bundle away, +scattering the loose sheets all over the floor. + +“Who can find anything in such a chaos?” he exclaimed. “I can’t see my +way through it, and when I try to get information from the people here, +they seem to have an understanding among themselves to leave me under +a wrong impression, or even to make my uncertainties still greater! Ah! +Mademoiselle Reine, you were right! I do not understand the ways of your +country folk. Every now and then I am tempted to leave everything just +as it stands, and get away from this village, where the people mistrust +me and treat me like an enemy!” + +Reine gazed at him with a look of compassionate surprise. Stooping +quietly down, she picked up the scattered papers, and while putting them +in order on the table, she happened to see the one relating to her own +business. + +“Here, Monsieur de Buxieres,” said she, “here is the very note you were +looking for. You seem to be somewhat impatient. Our country folk are not +so bad as you think; only they do not yield easily to new influences. +The beginning is always difficult for them. I know something about it +myself. When I returned from Dijon to take charge of the affairs at La +Thuiliere, I had no more experience than you, Monsieur, and I had great +difficulty in accomplishing anything. Where should we be now, if I had +suffered myself to be discouraged, like you, at the very outset?” + +Julien raised his eyes toward the speaker, coloring with embarrassment +to hear himself lectured by this young peasant girl, whose ideas, +however, had much more virility than his own. + +“You reason like a man, Mademoiselle Vincart,” remarked he, admiringly, +“pray, how old are you?” + +“Twenty-two years; and you, Monsieur de Buxieres?” + +“I shall soon be twenty-eight.” + +“There is not much difference between us; still, you are the older, and +what I have done, you can do also.” + +“Oh!” sighed he, “you have a love of action. I have a love of repose--I +do not like to act.” + +“So much the worse!” replied Reine, very decidedly. “A man ought to show +more energy. Come now, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you allow me to speak +frankly to you? If you wish people to come to you, you must first get +out of yourself and go to seek them; if you expect your neighbor to show +confidence and good-will toward you, you must be open and good-natured +toward him.” + +“That plan has not yet succeeded with two persons around here,” replied +Julien, shaking his head. + +“Which persons?” + +“The Sejournants, mother and son. I tried to be pleasant with Claudet, +and received from both only rebuffs and insolence.” + +“Oh! as to Claudet,” resumed she, impulsively, “he is excusable. You can +not expect he will be very gracious in his reception of the person who +has supplanted him--” + +“Supplanted?--I do not understand.” + +“What!” exclaimed Reine, “have they not told you anything, then? That +is wrong. Well, at the risk of meddling in what does not concern me, I +think it is better to put you in possession of the facts: Your deceased +cousin never was married, but he had a child all the same--Claudet is +his son, and he intended that he should be his heir also. Every one +around the country knows that, for Monsieur de Buxieres made no secret +of it.” + +“Claudet, the son of Claude de Buxieres?” ejaculated Julien, with +amazement. + +“Yes; and if the deceased had had the time to make his will, you would +not be here now. But,” added the young girl, coloring, “don’t tell +Claudet I have spoken to you about it. I have been talking here too +long. Monsieur de Buxieres, will you have the goodness to reckon up your +money and give me a receipt?” + +She had risen, and Julien gazed wonderingly at the pretty country girl +who had shown herself so sensible, so resolute, and so sincere. He bent +his head, collected the money on the table, scribbled hastily a receipt +and handed it to Reine. + +“Thank you, Mademoiselle,” said he, “you are the first person who has +been frank with me, and I am grateful to you for it.” + +“Au revoir, Monsieur de Buxieres.” + +She had already gained the door while he made an awkward attempt to +follow her. She turned toward him with a smile on her lips and in her +eyes. + +“Come, take courage!” she added, and then vanished. + +Julien went back dreamily, and sat down again before the hearth. The +revelation made by Reine Vincart had completely astounded him. Such was +his happy inexperience of life, that he had not for a moment suspected +the real position of Manette and her son at the chateau. And it was this +young girl who had opened his eyes to the fact! He experienced a certain +degree of humiliation in having had so little perception. Now that +Reine’s explanation enabled him to view the matter from a different +standpoint, he found Claudet’s attitude toward him both intelligible +and excusable. In fact, the lad was acting in accordance with a very +legitimate feeling of mingled pride and anger. After all, he really was +Claude de Buxieres’s son--a natural son, certainly, but one who had been +implicitly acknowledged both in private and in public by his father. If +the latter had had time to draw up the incomplete will which had +been found, he would, to all appearances, have made Claudet his heir. +Therefore, the fortune of which Julien had become possessed, he owed to +some unexpected occurrence, a mere chance. Public opinion throughout the +entire village tacitly recognized and accepted the ‘grand chasserot’ as +son of the deceased, and if this recognition had been made legally, he +would have been rightful owner of half the property. + +“Now that I have been made acquainted with this position of affairs, +what is my duty?” asked Julien of himself. Devout in feeling and in +practice, he was also very scrupulous in all matters of conscience, and +the reply was not long in coming: that both religion and uprightness +commanded him to indemnify Claudet for the wrong caused to him by the +carelessness of Claude de Buxieres. Reine had simply told him the facts +without attempting to give him any advice, but it was evident that, +according to her loyal and energetic way of thinking, there was +injustice to be repaired. Julien was conscious that by acting to that +effect he would certainly gain the esteem and approbation of his amiable +hostess of La Thuiliere, and he felt a secret satisfaction in the idea. +He rose suddenly, and, leaving the library, went to the kitchen, where +Manette Sejournant was busy preparing the breakfast. + +“Where is your son?” said he. “I wish to speak with him.” + +Manette looked inquiringly at him. + +“My son,” she replied, “is in the garden, fixing up a box to take away +his little belongings in--he doesn’t want to stay any longer at other +peoples’ expense. And, by the way, Monsieur de Buxieres, have the +goodness to provide yourself with a servant to take my place; we shall +not finish the week here.” + +Without making any reply, Julien went out by the door, leading to the +garden, and discovered Claudet really occupied in putting together the +sides of a packing-case. Although the latter saw the heir of the de +Buxieres family approaching, he continued driving in the nails without +appearing to notice his presence. + +“Monsieur Claudet,” said Julien, “can you spare me a few minutes? I +should like to talk to you.” + +Claudet raised his head, hesitated for a moment, then, throwing away his +hammer and putting on his loose jacket, muttered: + +“I am at your service.” + +They left the outhouse together, and entered an avenue of leafy +lime-trees, which skirted the banks of the stream. + +“Monsieur,” said Julien, stopping in the middle of the walk, “excuse me +if I venture on a delicate subject--but I must do so--now that I know +all.” + +“Beg pardon--what do you know?” demanded Claudet, reddening. + +“I know that you are the son of my cousin de Buxieres,” replied the +young man with considerable emotion. + +The ‘grand chasserot’ knitted his brows. + +“Ah!” said he, bitterly, “my mother’s tongue has been too long, or else +that blind magpie of a notary has been gossiping, notwithstanding my +instructions.” + +“No; neither your mother nor Maitre Arbillot has been speaking to me. +What I know I have learned from a stranger, and I know also that you +would be master here if Claude de Buxieres had taken the precaution to +write out his will. His negligence on that point has been a wrong to +you, which it is my duty to repair.” + +“What’s that!” exclaimed Claudet. Then he muttered between his teeth: +“You owe me nothing. The law is on your side.” + +“I am not in the habit of consulting the law when it is a question of +duty. Besides, Monsieur de Buxieres treated you openly as his son; if he +had done what he ought, made a legal acknowledgment, you would have the +right, even in default of a will, to one half of his patrimony. This +half I come to offer to you, and beg of you to accept it.” + +Claudet was astonished, and opened his great, fierce brown eyes with +amazement. The proposal seemed so incredible that he thought he must be +dreaming, and mistrusted what he heard. + +“What! You offer me half the inheritance?” faltered he. + +“Yes; and I am ready to give you a certified deed of relinquishment as +soon as you wish--” + +Claudet interrupted him with a violent shrug of the shoulders. + +“I make but one condition,” pursued Julien. + +“What is it?” asked Claudet, still on the defensive. + +“That you will continue to live here, with me, as in your father’s +time.” + +Claudet was nearly overcome by this last suggestion, but a lingering +feeling of doubt and a kind of innate pride prevented him from giving +way, and arrested the expression of gratitude upon his lips. + +“What you propose is very generous, Monsieur,” said he, “but you have +not thought much about it, and later you might regret it. If I were to +stay here, I should be a restraint upon you--” + +“On the contrary, you would be rendering me a service, for I feel myself +incapable of managing the property,” replied Julien, earnestly. Then, +becoming more confidential as his conscience was relieved of its burden, +he continued, pleasantly: “You see I am not vain about admitting the +fact. Come, cousin, don’t be more proud than I am. Accept freely what I +offer with hearty goodwill!” + +As he concluded these words, he felt his hand seized, and affectionately +pressed in a strong, robust grip. + +“You are a true de Buxieres!” exclaimed Claudet, choking with emotion. +“I accept--thanks--but, what have I to give you in exchange?--nothing +but my friendship; but that will be as firm as my grip, and will last +all my life.” + + + + +BOOK 2. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE DAWN OF LOVE + +Winter had come, and with it all the inclement accompaniments usual in +this bleak and bitter mountainous country: icy rains, which, mingled +with sleet, washed away whirlpools of withered leaves that the swollen +streams tossed noisily into the ravines; sharp, cutting winds from the +north, bleak frosts hardening the earth and vitrifying the cascades; +abundant falls of snow, lasting sometimes an entire week. The roads had +become impassable. A thick, white crust covered alike the pasture-lands, +the stony levels, and the wooded slopes, where the branches creaked +under the weight of their snowy burdens. A profound silence encircled +the village, which seemed buried under the successive layers of +snowdrifts. Only here and there, occasionally, did a thin line of blue +smoke, rising from one of the white roofs, give evidence of any latent +life among the inhabitants. The Chateau de Buxieres stood in the midst +of a vast carpet of snow on which the sabots of the villagers had +outlined a narrow path, leading from the outer steps to the iron gate. +Inside, fires blazed on all the hearths, which, however, did not modify +the frigid atmosphere of the rudely-built upper rooms. + +Julien de Buxieres was freezing, both physically and morally, in his +abode. His generous conduct toward Claudet had, in truth, gained him the +affection of the ‘grand chasserot’, made Manette as gentle as a lamb, +and caused a revulsion of feeling in his favor throughout the village; +but, although his material surroundings had become more congenial, he +still felt around him the chill of intellectual solitude. The days also +seemed longer since Claudet had taken upon himself the management of +all details. Julien found that re-reading his favorite books was not +sufficient occupation for the weary hours that dragged slowly along +between the rising and the setting of the sun. The gossipings of +Manette, the hunting stories of Claudet had no interest for young de +Buxieres, and the acquaintances he endeavored to make outside left only +a depressing feeling of ennui and disenchantment. + +His first visit had been made to the cure of Vivey, where he hoped to +meet with some intellectual resources, and a tone of conversation more +in harmony with his tastes. In this expectation, also, he had been +disappointed. The Abbe Pernot was an amiable quinquagenarian, and a ‘bon +vivant’, whose mind inclined more naturally toward the duties of daily +life than toward meditation or contemplative studies. The ideal did +not worry him in the least; and when he had said his mass, read his +breviary, confessed the devout sinners and visited the sick, he gave the +rest of his time to profane but respectable amusements. He was of robust +temperament, with a tendency to corpulency, which he fought against by +taking considerable exercise; his face was round and good-natured, his +calm gray eyes reflected the tranquillity and uprightness of his soul, +and his genial nature was shown in his full smiling mouth, his thick, +wavy, gray hair, and his quick and cordial gestures. + +When Julien was ushered into the presbytery, he found the cure installed +in a small room, which he used for working in, and which was littered +up with articles bearing a very distant connection to his pious calling: +nets for catching larks, hoops and other nets for fishing, stuffed +birds, and a collection of coleopterx. At the other end of the room +stood a dusty bookcase, containing about a hundred volumes, which seemed +to have been seldom consulted. The Abbe, sitting on a low chair in the +chimney-corner, his cassock raised to his knees, was busy melting glue +in an old earthen pot. + +“Aha, good-day! Monsieur de Buxieres,” said he in his rich, jovial +voice, “you have caught me in an occupation not very canonical; but +what of it? As Saint James says: ‘The bow can not be always bent.’ I am +preparing some lime-twigs, which I shall place in the Bois des Ronces +as soon as the snow is melted. I am not only a fisher of souls, but I +endeavor also to catch birds in my net, not so much for the purpose of +varying my diet, as of enriching my collection!” + +“You have a great deal of spare time on your hands, then?” inquired +Julien, with some surprise. + +“Well, yes--yes--quite a good deal. The parish is not very extensive, +as you have doubtless noticed; my parishioners are in the best possible +health, thank God! and they live to be very old. I have barely two or +three marriages in a year, and as many burials, so that, you see, one +must fill up one’s time somehow to escape the sin of idleness. Every +man must have a hobby. Mine is ornithology; and yours, Monsieur de +Buxieres?” + +Julien was tempted to reply: “Mine, for the moment, is ennui.” He was +just in the mood to unburden himself to the cure as to the mental thirst +that was drying up his faculties, but a certain instinct warned him +that the Abbe was not a man to comprehend the subtle complexities of his +psychological condition, so he contented himself with replying, briefly: + +“I read a great deal. I have, over there in the chateau, a pretty fair +collection of historical and religious works, and they are at your +service, Monsieur le Cure!” + +“A thousand thanks,” replied the Abbe Pernot, making a slight grimace; +“I am not much of a reader, and my little stock is sufficient for my +needs. You remember what is said in the Imitation: ‘Si scires totam +Bibliam exterius et omnium philosophorum dicta, quid totum prodesset +sine caritate Dei et gratia?’ Besides, it gives me a headache to read +too steadily. I require exercise in the open air. Do you hunt or fish, +Monsieur de Buxieres?” + +“Neither the one nor the other.” + +“So much the worse for you. You will find the time hang very heavily on +your hands in this country, where there are so few sources of amusement. +But never fear! You can not be always reading, and when the fine weather +comes you will yield to the temptation; all the more likely because you +have Claudet Sejournant with you. A jolly fellow he is; there is not one +like him for killing a snipe or sticking a trout! Our trout here on the +Aubette, Monsieur de Buxieres, are excellent--of the salmon kind, and +very meaty.” + +Then came an interval of silence. The Abbe began to suspect that this +conversation was not one of profound interest to his visitor, and he +resumed: + +“Speaking of Claudet, Monsieur, allow me to offer you my +congratulations. You have acted in a most Christian-like and equitable +manner, in making amends for the inconceivable negligence of the +deceased Claude de Buxieres. Then, on the other hand, Claudet +deserves what you have done for him. He is a good fellow, a little too +quick-tempered and violent perhaps, but he has a heart of gold. Ah! +it would have been no use for the deceased to deny it--the blood of de +Buxieres runs in his veins!” + +“If public rumor is to be believed,” said Julien timidly, rising to go, +“my deceased cousin Claude was very much addicted to profane pleasures.” + +“Yes, yes, indeed!” sighed the Abbe, “he was a devil incarnate--but +what a magnificent man! What a wonderful huntsman! Notwithstanding his +backslidings, there was a great deal of good in him, and I am fain to +believe that God has taken him under His protecting mercy.” + +Julien took his leave, and returned to the chateau, very much +discouraged. “This priest,” thought he to himself, “is a man of +expediency. He allows himself certain indulgences which are to be +regretted, and his mind is becoming clogged by continual association +with carnal-minded men. His thoughts are too much given to earthly +things, and I have no more faith in him than in the rest of them.” + +So he shut himself up again in his solitude, with one more illusion +destroyed. He asked himself, and his heart became heavy at the thought, +whether, in course of time, he also would undergo this stultification, +this moral depression, which ends by lowering us to the level of the +low-minded people among whom we live. + +Among all the persons he had met since his arrival at Vivey, only +one had impressed him as being sympathetic and attractive: Reine +Vincart--and even her energy was directed toward matters that Julien +looked upon as secondary. And besides, Reine was a woman, and he was +afraid of women. He believed with Ecclesiastes the preacher, that “they +are more bitter than death... and whoso pleaseth God shall escape from +them.” He had therefore no other refuge but in his books or his own +sullen reflections, and, consequently, his old enemy, hypochondria, +again made him its prey. + +Toward the beginning of January, the snow in the valley had somewhat +melted, and a light frost made access to the woods possible. As the +hunting season seldom extended beyond the first days of February, the +huntsmen were all eager to take advantage of the few remaining weeks to +enjoy their favorite pastime. Every day the forest resounded with the +shouts of beaters-up and the barking of the hounds. From Auberive, +Praslay and Grancey, rendezvous were made in the woods of Charbonniere +or Maigrefontaine; nothing was thought of but the exploits of certain +marksmen, the number of pieces bagged, and the joyous outdoor breakfasts +which preceded each occasion. One evening, as Julien, more moody than +usual, stood yawning wearily and leaning on the corner of the stove, +Claudet noticed him, and was touched with pity for this young fellow, +who had so little idea how to employ his time, his youth, or his money. +He felt impelled, as a conscientious duty, to draw him out of his +unwholesome state of mind, and initiate him into the pleasures of +country life. + +“You do not enjoy yourself with us, Monsieur Julien,” said he, kindly; +“I can’t bear to see you so downhearted. You are ruining yourself with +poring all day long over your books, and the worst of it is, they do not +take the frowns out of your face. Take my word for it, you must change +your way of living, or you will be ill. Come, now, if you will trust in +me, I will undertake to cure your ennui before a week is over.” + +“And what is your remedy, Claudet?” demanded Julien, with a forced +smile. + +“A very simple one: just let your books go, since they do not succeed +in interesting you, and live the life that every one else leads. The de +Buxieres, your ancestors, followed the same plan, and had no fault to +find with it. You are in a wolf country--well, you must howl with the +wolves!” + +“My dear fellow,” replied Julien, shaking his head, “one can not remake +one’s self. The wolves themselves would discover that I howled out of +tune, and would send me back to my books.” + +“Nonsense! try, at any rate. You can not imagine what pleasure there is +in coursing through the woods, and suddenly, at a sharp turn, catching +sight of a deer in the distance, then galloping to the spot where he +must pass, and holding him with the end of your gun! You have no idea +what an appetite one gets with such exercise, nor how jolly it is +to breakfast afterward, all together, seated round some favorite old +beech-tree. Enjoy your youth while you have it. Time enough to stay in +your chimney-corner and spit in the ashes when rheumatism has got hold +of you. Perhaps you will say you never have followed the hounds, and do +not know how to handle a gun?” + +“That is the exact truth.” + +“Possibly, but appetite comes with eating, and when once you have tasted +of the pleasures of the chase, you will want to imitate your companions. +Now, see here: we have organized a party at Charbonniere to-morrow, +for the gentlemen of Auberive; there will be some people you +know--Destourbet, justice of the Peace, the clerk Seurrot, Maitre +Arbillot and the tax-collector, Boucheseiche. Hutinet went over the +ground yesterday, and has appointed the meeting for ten o’clock at the +Belle-Etoile. Come with us; there will be good eating and merriment, and +also some fine shooting, I pledge you my word!” + +Julien refused at first, but Claudet insisted, and showed him the +necessity of getting more intimately acquainted with the notables of +Auberive--people with whom he would be continually coming in contact as +representing the administration of justice and various affairs in the +canton. He urged so well that young de Buxieres ended by giving his +consent. Manette received immediate instructions to prepare eatables for +Hutinet, the keeper, to take at early dawn to the Belle-Etoile, and it +was decided that the company should start at precisely eight o’clock. + +The next morning, at the hour indicated, the ‘grand chasserot’ +was already in the courtyard with his two hounds, Charbonneau and +Montagnard, who were leaping and barking sonorously around him. Julien, +reminded of his promise by the unusual early uproar, dressed himself +with a bad grace, and went down to join Claudet, who was bristling with +impatience. They started. There had been a sharp frost during the night; +some hail had fallen, and the roads were thinly coated with a white +dust, called by the country people, in their picturesque language, “a +sugarfrost” of snow. A thick fog hung over the forest, so that they had +to guess their way; but Claudet knew every turn and every sidepath, +and thus he and his companion arrived by the most direct line at the +rendezvous. They soon began to hear the barking of the dogs, to which +Montagnard and Charbonneau replied with emulative alacrity, and +finally, through the mist, they distinguished the group of huntsmen from +Auberive. + +The Belle-Etoile was a circular spot, surrounded by ancient ash-trees, +and formed the central point for six diverging alleys which stretched +out indefinitely into the forest. The monks of Auberive, at the epoch +when they were the lords and owners of the land, had made this place +a rendezvous for huntsmen, and had provided a table and some stone +benches, which, thirty years ago, were still in existence. The +enclosure, which had been chosen for the breakfast on the present +occasion, was irradiated by a huge log-fire; a very respectable display +of bottles, bread, and various eatables covered the stone table, and the +dogs, attached by couples to posts, pulled at their leashes and barked +in chorus, while their masters, grouped around the fire, warmed their +benumbed fingers over the flames, and tapped their heels while waiting +for the last-comers. + +At sight of Julien and Claudet, there was a joyous hurrah of welcome. +Justice Destourbet exchanged a ceremonious hand-shake with the new +proprietor of the chateau. The scant costume and tight gaiters of the +huntsman’s attire, displayed more than ever the height and slimness of +the country magistrate. By his side, the registrar Seurrot, his legs +encased in blue linen spatterdashes, his back bent, his hands crossed +comfortably over his “corporation,” sat roasting himself at the flame, +while grumbling when the wind blew the smoke in his eyes. Arbillot, the +notary, as agile and restless as a lizard, kept going from one to the +other with an air of mysterious importance. He came up to Claudet, drew +him aside, and showed him a little figure in a case. + +“Look here!” whispered he, “we shall have some fun; as I passed by the +Abbe Pernot’s this morning, I stole one of his stuffed squirrels.” + +He stooped down, and with an air of great mystery poured into his ear +the rest of the communication, at the close of which his small black +eyes twinkled maliciously, and he passed the end of his tongue over his +frozen moustache. + +“Come with me,” continued he; “it will be a good joke on the collector.” + +He drew Claudet and Hutinet toward one of the trenches, where the fog +hid them from sight. + +During this colloquy, Boucheseiche the collector, against whom they were +thus plotting, had seized upon Julien de Buxieres, and was putting +him through a course of hunting lore. Justin Boucheseiche was a man of +remarkable ugliness; big, bony, freckled, with red hair, hairy hands, +and a loud, rough voice. + +He wore a perfectly new hunting costume, cap and gaiters of leather, a +havana-colored waistcoat, and had a complete assortment of pockets of +all sizes for the cartridges. He pretended to be a great authority on +all matters relating to the chase, although he was, in fact, the worst +shot in the whole canton; and when he had the good luck to meet with +a newcomer, he launched forth on the recital of his imaginary prowess, +without any pity for the hearer. So that, having once got hold of +Julien, he kept by his side when they sat down to breakfast. + +All these country huntsmen were blessed with healthy appetites. They +ate heartily, and drank in the same fashion, especially the collector +Boucheseiche, who justified his name by pouring out numerous bumpers of +white wine. During the first quarter of an hour nothing could be heard +but the noise of jaws masticating, glasses and forks clinking; but when +the savory pastries, the cold game and the hams had disappeared, and +had been replaced by goblets of hot Burgundy and boiling coffee, then +tongues became loosened. Julien, to his infinite disgust, was forced +again to be present at a conversation similar to the one at the time of +the raising of the seals, the coarseness of which had so astonished and +shocked him. After the anecdotes of the chase were exhausted, the guests +began to relate their experiences among the fair sex, losing nothing of +the point from the effect of the numerous empty bottles around. All +the scandalous cases in the courts of justice, all the coarse jokes +and adventures of the district, were related over again. Each tried +to surpass his neighbor. To hear these men of position boast of their +gallantries with all classes, one would have thought that the entire +canton underwent periodical changes and became one vast Saturnalia, +where rustic satyrs courted their favorite nymphs. But nothing came of +it, after all; once the feast was digested, and they had returned to the +conjugal abode, all these terrible gay Lotharios became once more +chaste and worthy fathers of families. Nevertheless, Julien, who was +unaccustomed to such bibulous festivals and such unbridled license of +language, took it all literally, and reproached himself more than ever +with having yielded to Claudet’s entreaties. + +At last the table was deserted, and the marking of the limits of the +hunt began. + +As they were following the course of the trenches, the notary stopped +suddenly at the foot of an ash-tree, and took the arm of the collector, +who was gently humming out of tune. + +“Hush! Collector,” he whispered, “do you see that fellow up there, on +the fork of the tree? He seems to be jeering at us.” + +At the same time he pointed out a squirrel, sitting perched upon a +branch, about halfway up the tree. The animal’s tail stood up behind +like a plume, his ears were upright, and he had his front paws in his +mouth, as if cracking a nut. + +“A squirrel!” cried the impetuous Boucheseiche, immediately falling into +the snare; “let no one touch him, gentlemen--I will settle his account +for him.” + +The rest of the hunters had drawn back in a circle, and were exchanging +sly glances. The collector loaded his gun, shouldered it, covered the +squirrel, and then let go. + +“Hit!” exclaimed he, triumphantly, as soon as the smoke had dispersed. + +In fact, the animal had slid down the branch, head first, but, somehow, +he did not fall to the ground. + +“He has caught hold of something,” said the notary, facetiously. + +“Ah! you will hold on, you rascal, will you?” shouted Boucheseiche, +beside himself with excitement, and the next moment he sent a second +shot, which sent the hair flying in all directions. + +The creature remained in the same position. Then there was a general +roar. + +“He is quite obstinate!” remarked the clerk, slyly. + +Boucheseiche, astonished, looked attentively at the tree, then at the +laughing crowd, and could not understand the situation. + +“If I were in your place, Collector,” said Claudet, in an insinuating +manner, “I should climb up there, to see--” + +But Justin Boucheseiche was not a climber. He called a youngster, who +followed the hunt as beater-up. + +“I will give you ten sous,” said he; “to mount that tree and bring me my +squirrel!” + +The young imp did not need to be told twice. In the twinkling of an eye +he threw his arms around the tree, and reached the fork. When there, he +uttered an exclamation. + +“Well?” cried the collector; impatiently, “throw him down!” + +“I can’t, Monsieur,” replied the boy, “the squirrel is fastened by a +wire.” Then the laughter burst forth more boisterously than before. + +“A wire, you young rascal! Are you making fun of me?” shouted +Boucheseiche, “come down this moment!” + +“Here he is, Monsieur,” replied the lad, throwing himself down with the +squirrel which he tossed at the collector’s feet. + +When Boucheseiche verified the fact that the squirrel was a stuffed +specimen, he gave a resounding oath. + +“In the name of---! who is the miscreant that has perpetrated this +joke?” + +No one could reply for laughing. Then ironical cheers burst forth from +all sides. + +“Brave Boucheseiche! That’s a kind of game one doesn’t often get hold +of!” + +“We never shall see any more of that kind!” + +“Let us carry Boucheseiche in triumph!” + +And so they went on, marching around the tree. Arbillot seized a slip of +ivy and crowned Boucheseiche, while all the others clapped their hands +and capered in front of the collector, who, at last, being a good fellow +at heart, joined in the laugh at his own expense. + +Julien de Buxieres alone could not share the general hilarity. The +uproar caused by this simple joke did not even chase the frown from +his brow. He was provoked at not being able to bring himself within +the diapason of this somewhat vulgar gayety: he was aware that his +melancholy countenance, his black clothes, his want of sympathy jarred +unpleasantly on the other jovial guests. He did not intend any longer +to play the part of a killjoy. Without saying anything to Claudet, +therefore, he waited until the huntsmen had scattered in the brushwood, +and then, diving into a trench, in an opposite direction, he gave them +all the slip, and turned in the direction of Planche-au-Vacher. + +As he walked slowly, treading under foot the dry frosty leaves, he +reflected how the monotonous crackling of this foliage, once so full +of life, now withered and rendered brittle by the frost, seemed to +represent his own deterioration of feeling. It was a sad and suitable +accompaniment of his own gloomy thoughts. + +He was deeply mortified at the sorry figure he had presented at the +breakfast-table. He acknowledged sorrowfully to himself that, at +twenty-eight years of age, he was less young and less really alive than +all these country squires, although all, except Claudet, had passed +their fortieth year. Having missed his season of childhood, was he +also doomed to have no youth? Others found delight in the most ordinary +amusements, why, to him, did life seem so insipid and colorless? + +Why was he so unfortunately constituted that all human joys lost their +sweetness as soon as he opened his heart to them? Nothing made any +powerful impression on him; everything that happened seemed to be a +perpetual reiteration, a song sung for the hundredth time, a story a +hundred times related. + +He was like a new vase, cracked before it had served its use, and he +felt thoroughly ashamed of the weakness and infirmity of his inner self. +Thus pondering, he traversed much ground, hardly knowing where he +was going. The fog, which now filled the air and which almost hid the +trenches with its thin bluish veil, made it impossible to discover his +bearings. At last he reached the border of some pastureland, which he +crossed, and then he perceived, not many steps away, some buildings with +tiled roofs, which had something familiar to him in their aspect. After +he had gone a few feet farther he recognized the court and facade of +La Thuiliere; and, as he looked over the outer wall, a sight altogether +novel and unexpected presented itself. + +Standing in the centre of the courtyard, her outline showing in dark +relief against the light “sugar-frosting,” stood Reine Vincart, her back +turned to Julien. She held up a corner of her apron with one hand, and +with the other took out handfuls of grain, which she scattered among +the birds fluttering around her. At each moment the little band was +augmented by a new arrival. All these little creatures were of species +which do not emigrate, but pass the winter in the shelter of the wooded +dells. There were blackbirds with yellow bills, who advanced boldly +over the snow up to the very feet of the distributing fairy; robin +redbreasts, nearly as tame, hopping gayly over the stones, bobbing their +heads and puffing out their red breasts; and tomtits, prudently watching +awhile from the tops of neighboring trees, then suddenly taking flight, +and with quick, sharp cries, seizing the grain on the wing. It was +charming to see all these little hungry creatures career around Reine’s +head, with a joyous fluttering of wings. When the supply was exhausted, +the young girl shook her apron, turned around, and recognized Julien. + +“Were you there, Monsieur de Buxieres?” she exclaimed; “come inside the +courtyard! Don’t be afraid; they have finished their meal. Those are +my boarders,” she added, pointing to the birds, which, one by one, were +taking their flight across the fields. “Ever since the first fall of +snow, I have been distributing grain to them once a day. I think they +must tell one another under the trees there, for every day their number +increases. But I don’t complain of that. Just think, these are not birds +of passage; they do not leave us at the first cold blast, to find a +warmer climate; the least we can do is to recompense them by feeding +them when the weather is too severe! Several know me already, and are +very tame. There is a blackbird in particular, and a blue tomtit, that +are both extremely saucy!” + +These remarks were of a nature to please Julien. They went straight to +the heart of the young mystic; they recalled to his mind St. Francis of +Assisi, preaching to the fish and conversing with the birds, and he +felt an increase of sympathy for this singular young girl. He would have +liked to find a pretext for remaining longer with her, but his natural +timidity in the presence of women paralyzed his tongue, and, already, +fearing he should be thought intruding, he had raised his hat to take +leave, when Reine addressed him: + +“I do not ask you to come into the house, because I am obliged to go +to the sale of the Ronces woods, in order to speak to the men who are +cultivating the little lot that we have bought. I wager, Monsieur de +Buxieres, that you are not yet acquainted with our woods?” + +“That is true,” he replied, smiling. + +“Very well, if you will accompany me, I will show you the canton they +are about to develop. It will not be time lost, for it will be a good +thing for the people who are working for you to know that you are +interested in their labors.” + +Julien replied that he should be happy to be under her guidance. + +“In that case,” said Reine, “wait for me here. I shall be back in a +moment.” + +She reappeared a few minutes later, wearing a white hood with a cape, +and a knitted woolen shawl over her shoulders. + +“This way!” said she, showing a path that led across the pasture-lands. + +They walked along silently at first. The sky was clear, the wind had +freshened. Suddenly, as if by enchantment, the fog, which had hung over +the forest, became converted into needles of ice. Each tree was powdered +over with frozen snow, and on the hillsides overshadowing the valley the +massive tufts of forest were veiled in a bluish-white vapor. + +Never had Julien de Buxieres been so long in tete-a-tete with a young +woman. The extreme solitude, the surrounding silence, rendered this dual +promenade more intimate and also more embarrassing to a young man +who was alarmed at the very thought of a female countenance. His +ecclesiastical education had imbued Julien with very rigorous ideas as +to the careful and reserved behavior which should be maintained between +the sexes, and his intercourse with the world had been too infrequent +for the idea to have been modified in any appreciable degree. It was +natural, therefore, that this walk across the fields in the company +of Reine should assume an exaggerated importance in his eyes. He felt +himself troubled and yet happy in the chance afforded him to become more +closely acquainted with this young girl, toward whom a secret sympathy +drew him more and more. But he did not know how to begin conversation, +and the more he cudgelled his brains to find a way of opening the +attack, the more he found himself at sea. Once more Reine came to his +assistance. + +“Well, Monsieur de Buxieres,” said she, “do matters go more to your +liking now? You have acted most generously toward Claudet, and he ought +to be pleased.” + +“Has he spoken to you, then?” + +“No; not himself, but good news, like bad, flies fast, and all the +villagers are singing your praises.” + +“I only did a very simple and just thing,” replied Julien. + +“Precisely, but those are the very things that are the hardest to do. +And according as they are done well or ill, so is the person that does +them judged by others.” + +“You have thought favorably of me then, Mademoiselle Vincart,” he +ventured, with a timid smile. + +“Yes; but my opinion is of little importance. You must be pleased with +yourself--that is more essential. I am sure that it must be pleasanter +now for you to live at Vivey?” + +“Hm!--more bearable, certainly.” + +The conversation languished again. As they approached the confines +of the farm they heard distant barking, and then the voices of human +beings. Finally two gunshots broke on the air. + +“Ha, ha!” exclaimed Reine, listening, “the Auberive Society is following +the hounds, and Claudet must be one of the party. How is it you were not +with them?” + +“Claudet took me there, and I was at the breakfast--but, Mademoiselle, +I confess that that kind of amusement is not very tempting to me. At the +first opportunity I made my escape, and left the party to themselves.” + +“Well, now, to be frank with you, you were wrong. Those gentlemen will +feel aggrieved, for they are very sensitive. You see, when one has to +live with people, one must yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh +their amusements.” + +“You are saying exactly what Claudet said last night.” + +“Claudet was right.” + +“What am I to do? The chase has no meaning for me. I can not feel any +interest in the butchery of miserable animals that are afterward sent +back to their quarters.” + +“I can understand that you do not care for the chase for its own sake; +but the ride in the open air, in the open forest? Our forests are so +beautiful--look there, now! does not that sight appeal to you?” + +From the height they had now gained, they could see all over the valley, +illuminated at intervals by the pale rays of the winter sun. Wherever +its light touched the brushwood, the frosty leaves quivered like +diamonds, while a milky cloud enveloped the parts left in shadow. Now +and then, a slight breeze stirred the branches, causing a shower of +sparkling atoms to rise in the air, like miniature rainbows. The entire +forest seemed clothed in the pure, fairy-like robes of a virgin bride. + +“Yes, that is beautiful,” admitted Julien, hesitatingly; “I do not think +I ever saw anything similar: at any rate, it is you who have caused me +to notice it for the first time. But,” continued he, “as the sun rises +higher, all this phantasmagoria will melt and vanish. The beauty of +created things lasts only a moment, and serves as a warning for us not +to set our hearts on things that perish.” + +Reine gazed at him with astonishment. + +“Do you really think so?” exclaimed she: “that is very sad, and I do not +know enough to give an opinion. All I know is, that if God has created +such beautiful things it is in order that we may enjoy them. And that is +the reason why I worship these woods with all my heart. Ah! if you could +only see them in the month of June, when the foliage is at its fulness. +Flowers everywhere--yellow, blue, crimson! Music also everywhere--the +song of birds, the murmuring of waters, and the balmy scents in the air. +Then there are the lime-trees, the wild cherry, and the hedges red with +strawberries--it is intoxicating. And, whatever you may say, Monsieur de +Buxieres, I assure you that the beauty of the forest is not a thing to +be despised. Every season it is renewed: in autumn, when the wild fruits +and tinted leaves contribute their wealth of color; in winter, with its +vast carpets of snow, from which the tall ash springs to such a stately +height-look, now! up there!” + +They were in the depths of the forest. Before them were colonnades of +slim, graceful trees, rising in one unbroken line toward the skies, +their slender branches forming a dark network overhead, and their lofty +proportions lessening in the distance, until lost in the solemn gloom +beyond. A religious silence prevailed, broken only by the occasional +chirp of the wren, or the soft pattering of some smaller fourfooted +race. + +“How beautiful!” exclaimed Reine, with animation; “one might imagine +one’s self in a cathedral! Oh! how I love the forest; a feeling of awe +and devotion comes over me, and makes me want to kneel down and pray!” + +Julien looked at her with an uneasy kind of admiration. She was walking +slowly now, grave and thoughtful, as if in church. Her white hood had +fallen on her shoulders, and her hair, slightly stirred by the wind, +floated like a dark aureole around her pale face. Her luminous eyes +gleamed between the double fringes of her eyelids, and her mobile +nostrils quivered with suppressed emotion. As she passed along, the +brambles from the wayside, intermixed with ivy, and other hardy plants, +caught on the hem of her dress and formed a verdant train, giving +her the appearance of the high-priestess of some mysterious temple of +Nature. At this moment, she identified herself so perfectly with her +nickname, “queen of the woods,” that Julien, already powerfully affected +by her peculiar and striking style of beauty, began to experience a +superstitious dread of her influence. His Catholic scruples, or the +remembrance of certain pious lectures administered in his childhood, +rendered him distrustful, and he reproached himself for the interest +he took in the conversation of this seductive creature. He recalled +the legends of temptations to which the Evil One used to subject the +anchorites of old, by causing to appear before them the attractive but +illusive forms of the heathen deities. He wondered whether he were not +becoming the sport of the same baleful influence; if, like the Lamias +and Dryads of antiquity, this queen of the woods were not some spirit of +the elements, incarnated in human form and sent to him for the purpose +of dragging his soul down to perdition. + +In this frame of mind he followed in her footsteps, cautiously, and at a +distance, when she suddenly turned, as if waiting for him to rejoin her. +He then perceived that they had reached the end of the copse, and before +them lay an open space, on which the cut lumber lay in cords, forming +dark heaps on the frosty ground. Here and there were allotments of +chosen trees and poles, among which a thin spiral of smoke indicated the +encampment of the cutters. Reine made straight for them, and immediately +presented the new owner of the chateau to the workmen. They made their +awkward obeisances, scrutinizing him in the mistrustful manner customary +with the peasants of mountainous regions when they meet strangers. +The master workman then turned to Reine, replying to her remarks in a +respectful but familiar tone: + +“Make yourself easy, mamselle, we shall do our best and rush things in +order to get through with the work. Besides, if you will come this way +with me, you will see that there is no idling; we are just now going to +fell an oak, and before a quarter of an hour is over it will be lying on +the ground, cut off as neatly as if with a razor.” + +They drew near the spot where the first strokes of the axe were already +resounding. The giant tree did not seem affected by them, but remained +haughty and immovable. Then the blows redoubled until the trunk began to +tremble from the base to the summit, like a living thing. The steel +had made the bark, the sapwood, and even the core of the tree, fly +in shivers; but the oak had resumed its impassive attitude, and bore +stoically the assaults of the workmen. Looking upward, as it reared +its proud and stately head, one would have affirmed that it never could +fall. Suddenly the woodsmen fell back; there was a moment of solemn and +terrible suspense; then the enormous trunk heaved and plunged down among +the brushwood with an alarming crash of breaking branches. A sound as of +lamentation rumbled through the icy forest, and then all was still. + +The men, with unconscious emotion, stood contemplating the monarch oak +lying prostrate on the ground. Reine had turned pale; her dark eyes +glistened with tears. + +“Let us go,” murmured she to Julien; “this death of a tree affects me as +if it were that of a Christian.” + +They took leave of the woodsmen, and reentered the forest. Reine kept +silence and her companion was at a loss to resume the conversation; so +they journeyed along together quietly until they reached a border line, +whence they could perceive the smoke from the roofs of Vivey. + +“You have only to go straight down the hill to reach your home,” said +she, briefly; “au revoir, Monsieur de Buxieres.” + +Thus they quitted each other, and, looking back, he saw that +she slackened her speed and went dreamily on in the direction of +Planche-au-Vacher. + + + + +CHAPTER V. LOVE’S INDISCRETION + +In the mountainous region of Langres, spring can hardly be said to +appear before the end of May. Until that time the cold weather holds its +own; the white frosts, and the sharp, sleety April showers, as well +as the sudden windstorms due to the malign influence of the ice-gods, +arrest vegetation, and only a few of the more hardy plants venture to +put forth their trembling shoots until later. But, as June approaches +and the earth becomes warmed through by the sun, a sudden metamorphosis +is effected. Sometimes a single night is sufficient for the floral +spring to burst forth in all its plenitude. The hedges are alive with +lilies and woodruffs; the blue columbines shake their foolscap-like +blossoms along the green side-paths; the milky spikes of the Virgin +plant rise slender and tall among the bizarre and many-colored orchids. +Mile after mile, the forest unwinds its fairy show of changing scenes. +Sometimes one comes upon a spot of perfect verdure; at other times one +wanders in almost complete darkness under the thick interlacing boughs +of the ashtrees, through which occasional gleams of light fall on the +dark soil or on the spreading ferns. Now the wanderer emerges upon +an open space so full of sunshine that the strawberries are already +ripening; near them are stacked the tender young trees, ready for +spacing, and the billets of wood piled up and half covered with thistle +and burdock leaves; and a little farther away, half hidden by tall +weeds, teeming with insects, rises the peaked top of the woodsman’s hut. +Here one walks beside deep, grassy trenches, which appear to continue +without end, along the forest level; farther, the wild mint and the +centaurea perfume the shady nooks, the oaks and lime-trees arch their +spreading branches, and the honeysuckle twines itself round the knotty +shoots of the hornbeam, whence the thrush gives forth her joyous, +sonorous notes. + +Not only in the forest, but also in the park belonging to the chateau, +and in the village orchards, spring had donned a holiday costume. +Through the open windows, between the massive bunches of lilacs, +hawthorn, and laburnum blossoms, Julien de Buxieres caught glimpses of +rolling meadows and softly tinted vistas. The gentle twittering of the +birds and the mysterious call of the cuckoo, mingled with the perfume +of flowers, stole into his study, and produced a sense of enjoyment as +novel to him as it was delightful. Having until the present time lived a +sedentary life in cities, he had had no opportunity of experiencing this +impression of nature in her awakening and luxuriant aspect; never had +he felt so completely under the seductive influence of the goddess Maia +than at this season when the abundant sap exudes in a white foam from +the trunk of the willow; when between the plant world and ourselves a +magnetic current seems to exist, which seeks to wed their fraternizing +emanations with our own personality. He was oppressed by the vividness +of the verdure, intoxicated with the odor of vegetation, agitated by the +confused music of the birds, and in this May fever of excitement, his +thoughts wandered with secret delight to Reine Vincart, to this queen +of the woods, who was the personification of all the witchery of the +forest. Since their January promenade in the glades of Charbonniere, he +had seen her at a distance, sometimes on Sundays in the little church at +Vivey, sometimes like a fugitive apparition at the turn of a road. They +had also exchanged formal salutations, but had not spoken to each other. +More than once, after the night had fallen, Julien had stopped in front +of the courtyard of La Thuiliere, and watched the lamps being lighted +inside. But he had not ventured to knock at the door of the house; a +foolish timidity had prevented him; so he had returned to the chateau, +dissatisfied and reproaching himself for allowing his awkward shyness to +interpose, as it were, a wall of ice between himself and the only person +whose acquaintance seemed to him desirable. + +At other times he would become alarmed at the large place a woman +occupied in his thoughts, and he congratulated himself on having +resisted the dangerous temptation of seeing Mademoiselle Vincart again. +He acknowledged that this singular girl had for him an attraction +against which he ought to be on his guard. Reine might be said to live +alone at La Thuiliere, for her father could hardly be regarded seriously +as a protector. Julien’s visits might have compromised her, and the +young man’s severe principles of rectitude forbade him to cause scandal +which he could not repair. He was not thinking of marriage, and even had +his thoughts inclined that way, the proprieties and usages of society +which he had always in some degree respected, would not allow him to +wed a peasant girl. It was evident, therefore, that both prudence and +uprightness would enjoin him to carry on any future relations with +Mademoiselle Vincart with the greatest possible reserve. + +Nevertheless, and in spite of these sage reflections, the enchanting +image of Reine haunted him more than was at all reasonable. Often, +during his hours of watchfulness, he would see her threading the avenues +of the forest, her dark hair half floating in the breeze, and wearing +her white hood and her skirt bordered with ivy. Since the spring had +returned, she had become associated in his mind with all the magical +effects of nature’s renewal. He discovered the liquid light of her dark +eyes in the rippling darkness of the streams; the lilies recalled the +faintly tinted paleness of her cheeks; the silene roses, scattered +throughout the hedges, called forth the remembrance of the young +maiden’s rosy lips, and the vernal odor of the leaves appeared to him +like an emanation of her graceful and wholesome nature. + +This state of feeling began to act like an obsession, a sort of +witchcraft, which alarmed him. What was she really, this strange +creature? A peasant indeed, apparently; but there was also something +more refined and cultivated about her, due, doubtless, to her having +received her education in a city school. She both felt and expressed +herself differently from ordinary country girls, although retaining the +frankness and untutored charm of rustic natures. She exercised an uneasy +fascination over Julien, and at times he returned to the superstitious +impression made upon him by Reine’s behavior and discourse in the +forest. He again questioned with himself whether this female form, +in its untamed beauty, did not enfold some spirit of temptation, some +insidious fairy, similar to the Melusine, who appeared to Count Raymond +in the forest of Poitiers. + +Most of the time he would himself laugh at this extravagant supposition, +but, while endeavoring to make light of his own cowardice, the idea +still haunted and tormented him. Sometimes, in the effort to rid himself +of the persistence of his own imagination, he would try to exorcise the +demon who had got hold of him, and this exorcism consisted in despoiling +the image of his temptress of the veil of virginal purity with which his +admiration had first invested her. Who could assure him, after all, that +this girl, with her independent ways, living alone at her farm, +running through the woods at all hours, was as irreproachable as he +had imagined? In the village, certainly, she was respected by all; but +people were very tolerant--very easy, in fact--on the question of morals +in this district, where the gallantries of Claude de Buxieres were +thought quite natural, where the illegitimacy of Claudet offended +no one’s sense of the proprieties, and where the after-dinner +conversations, among the class considered respectable, were such as +Julien had listened to with repugnance. Nevertheless, even in his most +suspicious moods, Julien had never dared broach the subject to Claudet. + +Every time that the name of Reine Vincart had come to his lips, a +feeling of bashfulness, in addition to his ordinary timidity, had +prevented him from interrogating Claudet concerning the character of +this mysterious queen of the woods. Like all novices in love-affairs +Julien dreaded that his feelings should be divined, at the mere mention +of the young girl’s name. He preferred to remain isolated, concentrating +in himself his desires, his trouble and his doubts. + +Yet, whatever efforts he made, and however firmly he adhered to his +resolution of silence, the hypochondria from which he suffered could +not escape the notice of the ‘grand chasserot’. He was not clear-sighted +enough to discern the causes, but he could observe the effects. It +provoked him to find that all his efforts to enliven his cousin had +proved futile. He had cudgelled his brains to comprehend whence came +these fits of terrible melancholy, and, judging Julien by himself, came +to the conclusion that his ennui proceeded from an excess of strictness +and good behavior. + +“Monsieur de Buxieres,” said he, one evening when they were walking +silently, side by side, in the avenues of the park, which resounded with +the song of the nightingales, “there is one thing that troubles me, and +that is that you do not confide in me.” + +“What makes you think so, Claudet?” demanded Julien, with surprise. + +“Paybleu! the way you act. You are, if I may say so, too secretive. +When you wanted to make amends for Claude de Buxieres’s negligence, +and proposed that I should live here with you, I accepted without any +ceremony. I hoped that in giving me a place at your fire and your table, +you would also give me one in your affections, and that you would allow +me to share your sorrows, like a true brother comrade--” + +“I assure you, my dear fellow, that you are mistaken. If I had any +serious trouble on my mind, you should be the first to know it.” + +“Oh! that’s all very well to say; but you are unhappy all the same--one +can see it in your mien, and shall I tell you the reason? It is that you +are too sedate, Monsieur de Buxieres; you have need of a sweetheart to +brighten up your days.” + +“Ho, ho!” replied Julien, coloring, “do you wish to have me married, +Claudet?” + +“Ah! that’s another affair. No; but still I should like to see you take +some interest in a woman--some gay young person who would rouse you up +and make you have a good time. There is no lack of such in the district, +and you would only have the trouble of choosing.” + +M. de Buxieres’s color deepened, and he was visibly annoyed. + +“That is a singular proposition,” exclaimed he, after awhile; “do you +take me for a libertine?” + +“Don’t get on your high horse, Monsieur de Buxieres! There would be no +one hurt. The girls I allude to are not so difficult to approach.” + +“That has nothing to do with it, Claudet; I do not enjoy that kind of +amusement.” + +“It is the kind that young men of our age indulge in, all the same. +Perhaps you think there would be difficulties in the way. They would not +be insurmountable, I can assure you; those matters go smoothly enough +here. You slip your arm round her waist, give her a good, sounding +salute, and the acquaintance is begun. You have only to improve it!” + +“Enough of this,” interrupted Julien, harshly, “we never can agree on +such topics!” + +“As you please, Monsieur de Buxieres; since you do not like the subject, +we will not bring it up again. If I mentioned it at all, it was that I +saw you were not interested in either hunting or fishing, and thought +you might prefer some other kind of game. I do wish I knew what to +propose that would give you a little pleasure,” continued Claudet, who +was profoundly mortified at the ill-success of his overtures. “Now! +I have it. Will you come with me to-morrow, to the Ronces woods? The +charcoal-dealers who are constructing their furnaces for the sale, will +complete their dwellings this evening and expect to celebrate in the +morning. They call it watering the bouquet, and it is the occasion of a +little festival, to which we, as well at the presiding officials of the +cutting, are invited. Naturally, the guests pay their share in bottles +of wine. You can hardly be excused from showing yourself among these +good people. It is one of the customs of the country. I have promised +to be there, and it is certain that Reine Vincart, who has bought the +Ronces property, will not fail to be present at the ceremony.” + +Julien had already the words on his lips for declining Claudet’s offer, +when the name of Reine Vincart produced an immediate change in his +resolution. It just crossed his mind that perhaps Claudet had thrown +out her name as a bait and an argument in favor of his theories on the +facility of love-affairs in the country. However that might be, the +allusion to the probable presence of Mademoiselle Vincart at the coming +fete, rendered young Buxieres more tractable, and he made no further +difficulties about accompanying his cousin. + +The next morning, after partaking hastily of breakfast, they started +on their way toward the cutting. The charcoal-dealers had located +themselves on the border of the forest, not far from the spot where, +in the month of January, Reine and Julien had visited the wood cutters. +Under the sheltering branches of a great ash tree, the newly erected +but raised its peaked roof covered with clods of turf, and two furnaces, +just completed, occupied the ground lately prepared. One of them, ready +for use, was covered with the black earth called ‘frazil’, which is +extracted from the site of old charcoal works; the other, in course of +construction, showed the successive layers of logs ranged in circles +inside, ready for the fire. The workmen moved around, going and coming; +first, the head-man or patron, a man of middle age, of hairy chest, +embrowned visage, and small beady eyes under bushy eyebrows; his wife, +a little, shrivelled, elderly woman; their daughter, a thin awkward +girl of seventeen, with fluffy hair and a cunning, hard expression; +and finally, their three boys, robust young fellows, serving their +apprenticeship at the trade. This party was reenforced by one or +two more single men, and some of the daughters of the woodchoppers, +attracted by the prospect of a day of dancing and joyous feasting. + +These persons were sauntering in and out under the trees, waiting +for the dinner, which was to be furnished mainly by the guests, the +contribution of the charcoal-men being limited to a huge pot of potatoes +which the patroness was cooking over the fire, kindled in front of the +hut. + +The arrival of Julien and Claudet, attended by the small cowboy, puffing +and blowing under a load of provisions, was hailed with exclamations +of gladness and welcome. While one of the assistants was carefully +unrolling the big loaves of white bread, the enormous meat pastry, and +the bottles encased in straw, Reine Vincart appeared suddenly on the +scene, accompanied by one of the farm-hands, who was also tottering +under the weight of a huge basket, from the corners of which peeped the +ends of bottles, and the brown knuckle of a smoked ham. At sight of the +young proprietress of La Thuiliere, the hurrahs burst forth again, with +redoubled and more sustained energy. As she stood there smiling, under +the greenish shadow cast by the ashtrees, Reine appeared to Julien +even more seductive than among the frosty surroundings of the previous +occasion. Her simple and rustic spring costume was marvellously +becoming: a short blue-and-yellow striped skirt, a tight jacket of +light-colored material, fitted closely to the waist, a flat linen collar +tied with a narrow blue ribbon, and a bouquet of woodruff at her bosom. +She wore stout leather boots, and a large straw hat, which she threw +carelessly down on entering the hut. Among so many faces of a different +type, all somewhat disfigured by hardships of exposure, this lovely face +with its olive complexion, lustrous black eyes, and smiling red lips, +framed in dark, soft, wavy hair resting on her plump shoulders, seemed +to spread a sunshiny glow over the scene. It was a veritable portrayal +of the “queen of the woods,” appearing triumphant among her rustic +subjects. As an emblem of her royal prerogative, she held in her hand an +enormous bouquet of flowers she had gathered on her way: honeysuckles, +columbine, all sorts of grasses with shivering spikelets, black alder +blossoms with their white centres, and a profusion of scarlet poppies. +Each of these exhaled its own salubrious springlike perfume, and a light +cloud of pollen, which covered the eyelashes and hair of the young girl +with a delicate white powder. + +“Here, Pere Theotime,” said she, handing her collection over to the +master charcoal-dealer, “I gathered these for you to ornament the roof +of your dwelling.” + +She then drew near to Claudet; gave him her hand in comrade fashion, and +saluted Julien: + +“Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres, I am very glad to see you here. Was +it Claudet who brought you, or did you come of your own accord?” + +While Julien, dazed and bewildered, was seeking a reply, she passed +quickly to the next group, going from one to another, and watching with +interest the placing of the bouquet on the summit of the hut. One of the +men brought a ladder and fastened the flowers to a spike. When they +were securely attached and began to nod in the air, he waved his hat and +shouted: “Hou, houp!” This was the signal for going to table. + +The food had been spread on the tablecloth under the shade of the +ash-trees, and all the guests sat around on sacks of charcoal; for Reine +and Julien alone they had reserved two stools, made by the master, and +thus they found themselves seated side by side. Soon a profound, almost +religious, silence indicated that the attack was about to begin; after +which, and when the first fury of their appetites had been appeased, the +tongues began to be loosened: jokes and anecdotes, seasoned with +loud bursts of laughter, were bandied to and fro under the spreading +branches, and presently the wine lent its aid to raise the spirits of +the company to an exuberant pitch. But there was a certain degree +of restraint observed by these country folk. Was it owing to Reine’s +presence? Julien noticed that the remarks of the working-people were in +a very much better tone than those of the Auberive gentry, with whom he +had breakfasted; the gayety of these children of the woods, although of +a common kind, was always kept within decent limits, and he never once +had occasion to feel ashamed. He felt more at ease among them than +among the notables of the borough, and he did not regret having accepted +Claudet’s invitation. + +“I am glad I came,” murmured he in Reine’s ear, “and I never have eaten +with so much enjoyment!” + +“Ah! I am glad of it,” replied the young girl, gayly, “perhaps now you +will begin to like our woods.” + +When nothing was left on the table but bones and empty bottles, Pere +Theotime took a bottle of sealed wine, drew the cork, and filled the +glasses. + +“Now,” said he, “before christening our bouquet, we will drink to +Monsieur de Buxieres, who has brought us his good wine, and to our sweet +lady, Mademoiselle Vincart.” + +The glasses clinked, and the toasts were drunk with fervor. + +“Mamselle Reine,” resumed Pere Theotime, with a certain amount of +solemnity, “you can see, the hut is built; it will be occupied to-night, +and I trust good work will be done. You can perceive from here our first +furnace, all decorated and ready to be set alight. But, in order that +good luck shall attend us, you yourself must set light to the fire. I +ask you, therefore, to ascend to the top of the chimney and throw in the +first embers; may I ask this of your good-nature?” + +“Why, certainly!” replied Reine, “come, Monsieur de Buxieres, you must +see how we light a charcoal furnace.” + +All the guests jumped from their seats; one of the men took the ladder +and leaned it against the sloping side of the furnace. Meanwhile, Pere +Theotime was bringing an earthen vase full of burning embers. Reine +skipped lightly up the steps, and when she reached the top, stood erect +near the orifice of the furnace. + +Her graceful outline came out in strong relief against the clear sky; +one by one, she took the embers handed her by the charcoal-dealer, and +threw them into the opening in the middle of the furnace. Soon there was +a crackling inside, followed by a dull rumbling; the chips and rubbish +collected at the bottom had caught fire, and the air-holes left at +the base of the structure facilitated the passage of the current, and +hastened the kindling of the wood. + +“Bravo; we’ve got it!” exclaimed Pere Theotime. + +“Bravo!” repeated the young people, as much exhilarated with the open +air as with the two or three glasses of white wine they had drunk. Lads +and lasses joined hands and leaped impetuously around the furnace. + +“A song, Reine! Sing us a song!” cried the young girls. + +She stood at the foot of the ladder, and, without further solicitation, +intoned, in her clear and sympathetic voice, a popular song, with a +rhythmical refrain: + + My father bid me + Go sell my wheat. + To the market we drove + “Good-morrow, my sweet! + How much, can you say, + Will its value prove?” + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove. + + “A hundred francs + Will its value prove.” + “When you sell your wheat, + Do you sell your love?” + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove! + + “My heart, Monsieur, + Will never rove, + I have promised it + To my own true love.” + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove. + + “For me he braves + The wind and the rain; + For me he weaves + A silver chain.” + + On my ‘broidered glove. + Lies the rose again. + +Repeating the refrain in chorus, boys and girls danced and leaped in the +sunlight. Julien leaned against the trunk of a tree, listening to the +sonorous voice of Reine, and could not take his eyes off the singer. +When she had ended her song, Reine turned in another direction; but the +dancers had got into the spirit of it and could not stand still; one +of the men came forward, and started another popular air, which all the +rest repeated in unison: + + Up in the woods + Sleeps the fairy to-day: + The king, her lover, + Has strolled that way! + Will those who are young + Be married or nay? + Yea, yea! + +Carried away by the rhythm, and the pleasure of treading the soft grass +under their feet, the dancers quickened their pace. The chain of young +folks disconnected for a moment, was reformed, and twisted in and out +among the trees; sometimes in light, sometimes in shadow, until they +disappeared, singing, into the very heart of the forest. With the +exception of Pere Theotime and his wife, who had gone to superintend the +furnace, all the guests, including Claudet, had joined the gay throng. +Reine and Julien, the only ones remaining behind, stood in the shade +near the borderline of the forest. It was high noon, and the sun’s rays, +shooting perpendicularly down, made the shade desirable. Reine proposed +to her companion to enter the hut and rest, while waiting for the return +of the dancers. Julien accepted readily; but not without being surprised +that the young girl should be the first to suggest a tete-a-tete in the +obscurity of a remote hut. Although more than ever fascinated by +the unusual beauty of Mademoiselle Vincart, he was astonished, and +occasionally shocked, by the audacity and openness of her action toward +him. Once more the spirit of doubt took possession of him, and he +questioned whether this freedom of manners was to be attributed to +innocence or effrontery. After the pleasant friendliness of the midday +repast, and the enlivening effect of the dance round the furnace, he was +both glad and troubled to find himself alone with Reine. He longed to +let her know what tender admiration she excited in his mind; but he did +not know how to set about it, nor in what style to address a girl of so +strange and unusual a disposition. So he contented himself with fixing +an enamored gaze upon her, while she stood leaning against one of the +inner posts, and twisted mechanically between her fingers a branch of +wild honeysuckle. Annoyed at his taciturnity, she at last broke the +silence: + +“You are not saying anything, Monsieur de Buxieres; do you regret having +come to this fete?” + +“Regret it, Mademoiselle?” returned he; “it is a long time since I have +had so pleasant a day, and I thank you, for it is to you I owe it.” + +“To me? You are joking. It is the good-humor of the people, the spring +sunshine, and the pure air of the forest that you must thank. I have no +part in it.” + +“You are everything in it, on the contrary,” said he, tenderly. “Before +I knew you, I had met with country people, seen the sun and trees, and +so on, and nothing made any impression on me. But, just now, when you +were singing over there, I felt gladdened and inspired; I felt the +beauty of the woods, I sympathized with these good people, and these +grand trees, all these things among which you live so happily. It is you +who have worked this miracle. Ah! you are well named. You are truly the +fairy of the feast, the queen of the woods!” + +Astonished at the enthusiasm of her companion, Reine looked at him +sidewise, half closing her eyes, and perceived that he was altogether +transformed. He appeared to have suddenly thawed. He was no longer the +awkward, sickly youth, whose every movement was paralyzed by timidity, +and whose words froze on his tongue; his slender frame had become +supple, his blue eyes enlarged and illuminated; his delicate features +expressed refinement, tenderness, and passion. The young girl was moved +and won by so much emotion, the first that Julien had ever manifested +toward her. Far from being offended at this species of declaration, she +replied, gayly: + +“As to the queen of the woods working miracles, I know none so powerful +as these flowers.” + +She unfastened the bouquet of white starry woodruff from her corsage, +and handed them over to him in their envelope of green leaves. + +“Do you know them?” said she; “see how sweet they smell! And the odor +increases as they wither.” + +Julien had carried the bouquet to his lips, and was inhaling slowly the +delicate perfume. + +“Our woodsmen,” she continued, “make with this plant a broth which cures +from ill effects of either cold or heat as if by enchantment; they also +infuse it into white wine, and convert it into a beverage which they +call May wine, and which is very intoxicating.” + +Julien was no longer listening to these details. He kept his eyes +steadily fixed on Mademoiselle Vincart, and continued to inhale +rapturously the bouquet, and to experience a kind of intoxication. + +“Let me keep these flowers,” he implored, in a choking voice. + +“Certainly,” replied she, gayly; “keep them, if it will give you +pleasure.” + +“Thank you,” he murmured, hiding them in his bosom. + +Reine was surprised at his attaching such exaggerated importance to so +slight a favor, and a sudden flush overspread her cheeks. She almost +repented having given him the flowers when she saw what a tender +reception he had given them, so she replied, suggestively: + +“Do not thank me; the gift is not significant. Thousands of similar +flowers grow in the forest, and one has only to stoop and gather them.” + +He dared not reply that this bouquet, having been worn by her, was worth +much more to him than any other, but he thought it, and the thought +aroused in his mind a series of new ideas. As Reine had so readily +granted this first favor, was she not tacitly encouraging him to ask +for others? Was he dealing with a simple, innocent girl, or a village +coquette, accustomed to be courted? And on this last supposition should +he not pass for a simpleton in the eyes of this experienced girl, if +he kept himself at too great a distance. He remembered the advice of +Claudet concerning the method of conducting love-affairs smoothly with +certain women of the country. Whether she was a coquette or not, Reine +had bewitched him. The charm had worked more powerfully still since he +had been alone with her in this obscure hut, where the cooing of the +wild pigeons faintly reached their ears, and the penetrating odors of +the forest pervaded their nostrils. Julien’s gaze rested lovingly on +Reine’s wavy locks, falling heavily over her neck, on her half-covered +eyes with their luminous pupils full of golden specks of light, on her +red lips, on the two little brown moles spotting her somewhat decollete +neck. He thought her adorable, and was dying to tell her so; but when +he endeavored to formulate his declaration, the words stuck fast in his +throat, his veins swelled, his throat became dry, his head swam. In +this disorder of his faculties he brought to mind the recommendation of +Claudet: “One arm round the waist, two sounding kisses, and the thing is +done.” He rose abruptly, and went up to the young girl: + +“Since you have given me these flowers,” he began, in a husky voice, +“will you also, in sign of friendship, give me your hand, as you gave it +to Claudet?” + +After a moment’s hesitation, she held out her hand; but, hardly had he +touched it when he completely lost control of himself, and slipping the +arm which remained free around Reine’s waist, he drew her toward him +and lightly touched with his lips her neck, the beauty of which had so +magnetized him. + +The young girl was stronger than he; in the twinkling of an eye she tore +herself from his audacious clasp, threw him violently backward, and with +one bound reached the door of the hut. She stood there a moment, pale, +indignant, her eyes blazing, and then exclaimed, in a hollow voice: + +“If you come a step nearer, I will call the charcoalmen!” + +But Julien had no desire to renew the attack; already sobered, cowed, +and repentant, he had retreated to the most obscure corner of the +dwelling. + +“Are you mad?” she continued, with vehemence, “or has the wine got into +your head? It is rather early for you to be adopting the ways of your +deceased cousin! I give you notice that they will not succeed with me!” + And, at the same moment, tears of humiliation filled her eyes. “I did +not expect this of you, Monsieur de Buxieres!” + +“Forgive me!” faltered Julien, whose heart smote him at the sight of +her tears; “I have behaved like a miserable sinner and a brute! It was a +moment of madness--forget it and forgive me!” + +“Nobody ever treated me with disrespect before,” returned the young +girl, in a suffocated voice; “I was wrong to allow you any familiarity, +that is all. It shall not happen to me again!” + +Julien remained mute, overpowered with shame and remorse. Suddenly, +in the stillness around, rose the voices of the dancers returning and +singing the refrain of the rondelay: + + I had a rose-- + On my heart it lay + Will those who are young + Be married, or nay? + Yea, yea! + +“There are our people,” said Reine, softly, “I am going to them; +adieu--do not follow me!” She left the but and hastened toward the +furnace, while Julien, stunned with the rapidity with which this +unfortunate scene had been enacted, sat down on one of the benches, +a prey to confused feelings of shame and angry mortification. No, +certainly, he did not intend to follow her! He had no desire to show +himself in public with this young girl whom he had so stupidly insulted, +and in whose face he never should be able to look again. Decidedly, he +did not understand women, since he could not even tell a virtuous girl +from a frivolous coquette! Why had he not been able to see that the +good-natured, simple familiarity of Reine Vincart had nothing in common +with the enticing allurements of those who, to use Claudet’s words, had +“thrown their caps over the wall.” How was it that he had not read, in +those eyes, pure as the fountain’s source, the candor and uprightness of +a maiden heart which had nothing to conceal. This cruel evidence of his +inability to conduct himself properly in the affairs of life exasperated +and humiliated him, and at the same time that he felt his self-love most +deeply wounded, he was conscious of being more hopelessly enamored +of Reine Vincart. Never had she appeared so beautiful as during the +indignant movement which had separated her from him. Her look of mingled +anger and sadness, the expression of her firm, set lips, the quivering +nostrils, the heaving of her bosom, he recalled it all, and the image of +her proud beauty redoubled his grief and despair. + +He remained a long time concealed in the shadow of the hut. Finally, +when he heard the voices dying away in different directions, and was +satisfied that the charcoal-men were attending to their furnace work, he +made up his mind to come out. But, as he did not wish to meet any one, +instead of crossing through the cutting he plunged into the wood, taking +no heed in what direction he went, and being desirous of walking alone +as long as possible, without meeting a single human visage. + +As he wandered aimlessly through the deepening shadows of the forest, +crossed here and there by golden bars of light from the slanting rays +of the setting sun, he pondered over the probable results of his +unfortunate behavior. Reine would certainly keep silence on the affront +she had received, but would she be indulgent enough to forget or +forgive the insult? The most evident result of the affair would be that +henceforth all friendly relations between them must cease. She certainly +would maintain a severe attitude toward the person who had so grossly +insulted her, but would she be altogether pitiless in her anger? +All through his dismal feelings of self-reproach, a faint hope of +reconciliation kept him from utter despair. As he reviewed the details +of the shameful occurrence, he remembered that the expression of her +countenance had been one more of sorrow than of anger. The tone of +melancholy reproach in which she had uttered the words: “I did not +expect this from you, Monsieur de Buxieres!” seemed to convey the hope +that he might, one day, be forgiven. At the same time, the poignancy of +his regret showed him how much hold the young girl had taken upon his +affections, and how cheerless and insipid his life would be if he were +obliged to continue on unfriendly terms with the woodland queen. + +He had come to this conclusion in his melancholy reflections, when he +reached the outskirts of the forest. + +He stood above the calm, narrow valley of Vivey; on the right, over the +tall ash-trees, peeped the pointed turrets of the chateau; on the left, +and a little farther behind, was visible a whitish line, contrasting +with the surrounding verdure, the winding path to La Thuiliere, through +the meadow-land of Planche-au-Vacher. Suddenly, the sound of voices +reached his ears, and, looking more closely, he perceived Reine and +Claudet walking side by side down the narrow path. The evening air +softened the resonance of the voices, so that the words themselves were +not audible, but the intonation of the alternate speakers, and their +confidential and friendly gestures, evinced a very animated, if not +tender, exchange of sentiments. At times the conversation was enlivened +by Claudet’s bursts of laughter, or an amicable gesture from Reine. At +one moment, Julien saw the young girl lay her hand familiarly on the +shoulder of the ‘grand chssserot’, and immediately a pang of intense +jealousy shot through his heart. At last the young pair arrived at the +banks of a stream, which traversed the path and had become swollen by +the recent heavy rains. Claudet took Reine by the waist and lifted her +in his vigorous arms, while he picked his way across the stream; then +they resumed their way toward the bottom of the pass, and the tall +brushwood hid their retreating forms from Julien’s eager gaze, although +it was long before the vibrations of their sonorous voices ceased +echoing in his ears. + +“Ah!” thought he, quite overcome by this new development, “she stands +less on ceremony with him than with me! How close they kept to each +other in that lonely path! With what animation they conversed! with +what abandon she allowed herself to be carried in his arms! All that +indicates an intimacy of long standing, and explains a good many +things!” + +He recalled Reine’s visit to the chateau, and how cleverly she had +managed to inform him of the parentage existing between Claudet and the +deceased Claude de Buxieres; how she had by her conversation raised +a feeling of pity in his mind for Claudet; and a desire to repair the +negligence of the deceased. + +“How could I be so blind!” thought Julien, with secret scorn of himself; +“I did not see anything, I comprehended none of their artifices! They +love each other, that is sure, and I have been playing throughout the +part of a dupe. I do not blame him. He was in love, and allowed himself +to be persuaded. But she! whom I thought so open, so true, so loyal! Ah! +she is no better than others of her class, and she was coquetting with +me in order to insure her lover a position! Well! one more illusion is +destroyed. Ecclesiastes was right. ‘Inveni amarivrem morte mulierem’, +‘woman is more bitter than death’!” + +Twilight had come, and it was already dark in the forest. Slowly and +reluctantly, Julien descended the slope leading to the chateau, and the +gloom of the woods entered his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. LOVE BY PROXY + +Jealousy is a maleficent deity of the harpy tribe; she embitters +everything she touches. + +Ever since the evening that Julien had witnessed the crossing of the +brook by Reine and Claudet, a secret poison had run through his veins, +and embittered every moment of his life. Neither the glowing sun of +June, nor the glorious development of the woods had any charm for him. +In vain did the fields display their golden treasures of ripening corn; +in vain did the pale barley and the silvery oats wave their luxuriant +growth against the dark background of the woods; all these fairylike +effects of summer suggested only prosaic and misanthropic reflections +in Julien’s mind. He thought of the tricks, the envy and hatred that the +possession of these little squares of ground brought forth among their +rapacious owners. The prolific exuberance of forest vegetation was an +exemplification of the fierce and destructive activity of the blind +forces of Nature. All the earth was a hateful theatre for the continual +enactment of bloody and monotonous dramas; the worm consuming the plant; +the bird mangling the insect, the deer fighting among themselves, and +man, in his turn, pursuing all kinds of game. He identified nature with +woman, both possessing in his eyes an equally deceiving appearance, the +same beguiling beauty, and the same spirit of ambuscade and perfidy. +The people around him inspired him only with mistrust and suspicion. In +every peasant he met he recognized an enemy, prepared to cheat him with +wheedling words and hypocritical lamentations. Although during the few +months he had experienced the delightful influence of Reine Vincart, +he had been drawn out of his former prejudices, and had imagined he was +rising above the littleness of every-day worries; he now fell back +into hard reality; his feet were again embedded in the muddy ground of +village politics, and consequently village life was a burden to him. + +He never went out, fearing to meet Reine Vincart. He fancied that the +sight of her might aggravate the malady from which he suffered and for +which he eagerly sought a remedy. + +But, notwithstanding the cloistered retirement to which he had condemned +himself, his wound remained open. Instead of solitude having a healing +effect, it seemed to make his sufferings greater. When, in the evening, +as he sat moodily at his window, he would hear Claudet whistle to his +dog, and hurry off in the direction of La Thuiliere, he would say to +himself: “He is going to keep an appointment with Reine.” Then a feeling +of blind rage would overpower him; he felt tempted to leave his room and +follow his rival secretly--a moment afterward he would be ashamed of his +meanness. Was it not enough that he had once, although involuntarily, +played the degrading part of a spy! What satisfaction could he derive +from such a course? Would he be much benefited when he returned home +with rage in his heart and senses, after watching a love-scene between +the young pair? This consideration kept him in his seat, but his +imagination ran riot instead; it went galloping at the heels of Claudet, +and accompanied him down the winding paths, moistened by the evening +dew. As the moon rose above the trees, illuminating the foliage with her +mild bluish rays, he pictured to himself the meeting of the two lovers +on the flowery turf bathed in the silvery light. His brain seemed on +fire. He saw Reine in white advancing like a moonbeam, and Claudet +passing his arm around the yielding waist of the maiden. He tried to +substitute himself in idea, and to imagine the delight of the first +words of welcome, and the ecstasy of the prolonged embrace. A shiver ran +through his whole body; a sharp pain transfixed his heart; his throat +closed convulsively; half fainting, he leaned against the window-frame, +his eyes closed, his ears stopped, to shut out all sights or sounds, +longing only for oblivion and complete torpor of body and mind. + +He did not realize his longing. The enchanting image of the woodland +queen, as he had beheld her in the dusky light of the charcoal-man’s +hut, was ever before him. He put his hands over his eyes. She was there +still, with her deep, dark eyes and her enticing cherry lips. Even the +odor of the honeysuckle arising from the garden assisted the reality of +the vision, by recalling the sprig of the same flower which Reine was +twisting round her fingers at their last interview. This sweet breath +of flowers in the night seemed like an emanation from the young girl +herself, and was as fleeting and intangible as the remembrance of +vanished happiness. Again and again did his morbid nature return to past +events, and make his present position more unbearable. + +“Why,” thought he, “did I ever entertain so wild a hope? This +wood-nymph, with her robust yet graceful figure, her clear-headedness, +her energy and will-power, could she ever have loved a being so weak +and unstable as myself? No, indeed; she needs a lover full of life and +vigor; a huntsman, with a strong arm, able to protect her. What figure +should I cut by the side of so hearty and well-balanced a fellow?” + +In these fits of jealousy, he was not so angry with Claudet for being +loved by Reine as for having so carefully concealed his feelings. And +yet, while inwardly blaming him for this want of frankness, he did not +realize that he himself was open to a similar accusation, by hiding from +Claudet what was troubling him so grievously. + +Since the evening of the inauguration festival, he had become sullen +and taciturn. Like all timid persons, he took refuge in a moody silence, +which could not but irritate his cousin. They met every day at the same +table; to all appearance their intimacy was as great as ever, but, in +reality, there was no mutual exchange of feeling. Julien’s continued +ill-humor was a source of anxiety to Claudet, who turned his brain +almost inside out in endeavoring to discover its cause. He knew he had +done nothing to provoke any coolness; on the contrary, he had set his +wits to work to show his gratitude by all sorts of kindly offices. + +By dint of thinking the matter over, Claudet came to the conclusion +that perhaps Julien was beginning to repent of his generosity, and that +possibly this coolness was a roundabout way of manifesting his change of +feeling. This seemed to be the only plausible solution of his cousin’s +behavior. “He is probably tired,” thought he, “of keeping us here at the +chateau, my mother and myself.” + +Claudet’s pride and self-respect revolted at this idea. He did not +intend to be an incumbrance on any one, and became offended in his turn +at the mute reproach which he imagined he could read in his cousin’s +troubled countenance. This misconception, confirmed by the obstinate +silence of both parties, and aggravated by its own continuance, at last +produced a crisis. + +It happened one night, after they had taken supper together, and +Julien’s ill-humor had been more evident than usual. Provoked at his +persistent taciturnity, and more than ever convinced that it was his +presence that young de Buxieres objected to, Claudet resolved to force +an explanation. Instead, therefore, of quitting the dining-room after +dessert, and whistling to his dog to accompany him in his habitual +promenade, the ‘grand chasserot’ remained seated, poured out a small +glass of brandy, and slowly filled his pipe. Surprised to see that +he was remaining at home, Julien rose and began to pace the floor, +wondering what could be the reason of this unexpected change. As +suspicious people are usually prone to attribute complicated motives for +the most simple actions, he imagined that Claudet, becoming aware of +the jealous feeling he had excited, had given up his promenade solely +to mislead and avert suspicion. This idea irritated him still more, and +halting suddenly in his walk, he went up to Claudet and said, brusquely: + +“You are not going out, then?” + +“No;” replied Claudet, “if you will permit me, I will stay and keep you +company. Shall I annoy you?” + +“Not in the least; only, as you are accustomed to walk every evening, +I should not wish you to inconvenience yourself on my account. I am not +afraid of being alone, and I am not selfish enough to deprive you of +society more agreeable than mine.” + +“What do you mean by that?” cried Claudet, pricking up his ears. + +“Nothing,” muttered Julien, between his set teeth, “except that your +fancied obligation of keeping me company ought not to prevent you +missing a pleasant engagement, or keeping a rendezvous.” + +“A rendezvous,” replied his interlocutor, with a forced laugh, “so you +think, when I go out after supper, I go to seek amusement. A rendezvous! +And with whom, if you please?” + +“With your mistress, of course,” replied Julien, sarcastically, “from +what you said to me, there is no scarcity here of girls inclined to be +good-natured, and you have only the trouble of choosing among them. I +supposed you were courting some woodman’s young daughter, or some pretty +farmer girl, like--like Reine Vincart.” + +“Refine Vincart!” repeated Claudet, sternly, “what business have you +to mix up her name with those creatures to whom you refer? Mademoiselle +Vincart,” added he, “has nothing in common with that class, and you have +no right, Monsieur de Buxieres, to use her name so lightly!” + +The allusion to Reine Vincart had agitated Claudet to such a degree that +he did not notice that Julien, as he pronounced her name, was as much +moved as himself. + +The vehemence with which Claudet resented the insinuation increased +young de Buxieres’s irritation. + +“Ha, ha!” said he, laughing scornfully, “Reine Vincart is an exceedingly +pretty girl!” + +“She is not only pretty, she is good and virtuous, and deserves to be +respected.” + +“How you uphold her! One can see that you are interested in her.” + +“I uphold her because you are unjust toward her. But I wish you to +understand that she has no need of any one standing up for her--her good +name is sufficient to protect her. Ask any one in the village--there is +but one voice on that question.” + +“Come,” said Julien, huskily, “confess that you are in love with her.” + +“Well! suppose I am,” said Claudet, angrily, “yes, I love her! There, +are you satisfied now?” + +Although de Buxieres knew what he had to expect, he was not the less +affected by so open an avowal thrust at him, as it were. He stood for a +moment, silent; then, with a fresh burst of rage: + +“You love her, do you? Why did you not tell me before? Why were you not +more frank with me?” + +As he spoke, gesticulating furiously, in front of the open window, the +deep red glow of the setting sun, piercing through the boughs of the +ash-trees, threw its bright reflections on his blazing eyeballs and +convulsed features. His interlocutor, leaning against the opposite +corner of the window-frame, noticed, with some anxiety, the extreme +agitation of his behavior, and wondered what could be the cause of such +emotion. + +“I? Not frank with you! Ah, that is a good joke, Monsieur de Buxieres! +Naturally, I should not go proclaiming on the housetops that I have a +tender feeling for Mademoiselle Vincart, but, all the same, I should +have told you had you asked me sooner. I am not reserved; but, you must +excuse my saying it, you are walled in like a subterranean passage. One +can not get at the color of your thoughts. I never for a moment +imagined that you were interested in Reine, and you never have made me +sufficiently at home to entertain the idea of confiding in you on that +subject.” + +Julien remained silent. He had reseated himself at the table, where, +leaning his head in his hands, he pondered over what Claudet had said. +He placed his hand so as to screen his eyes, and bit his lips as if a +painful struggle was going on within him. The splendors of the setting +sun had merged into the dusky twilight, and the last piping notes of the +birds sounded faintly among the sombre trees. A fresh breeze had sprung +up, and filled the darkening room with the odor of honeysuckle. + +Under the soothing influence of the falling night, Julien slowly raised +his head, and addressing Claudet in a low and measured voice like a +father confessor interrogating a penitent, said: + +“Does Reine know that you love her?” + +“I think she must suspect it,” replied Claudet, “although I never have +ventured to declare myself squarely. But girls are very quick, Reine +especially. They soon begin to suspect there is some love at bottom, +when a young man begins to hang around them too frequently.” + +“You see her often, then?” + +“Not as often as I should like. But, you know, when one lives in the +same district, one has opportunities of meeting--at the beech harvest, +in the woods, at the church door. And when you meet, you talk but +little, making the most of your time. Still, you must not suppose, as +I think you did, that we have rendezvous in the evening. Reine respects +herself too much to go about at night with a young man as escort, and +besides, she has other fish to fry. She has a great deal to do at the +farm, since her father has become an invalid.” + +“Well, do you think she loves you?” said Julien, with a movement of +nervous irritation. + +“I can not tell,” replied Claudet shrugging his shoulders, “she has +confidence in me, and shows me some marks of friendship, but I never +have ventured to ask her whether she feels anything more than friendship +for me. Look here, now. I have good reasons for keeping back; she +is rich and I am poor. You can understand that I would not, for any +consideration, allow her to think that I am courting her for her +money--” + +“Still, you desire to marry her, and you hope that she will not say +no--you acknowledge that!” cried Julien, vociferously. + +Claudet, struck with the violence and bitterness of tone of his +companion, came up to him. + +“How angrily you say that, Monsieur de Buxieres!” exclaimed he in his +turn; “upon my word, one might suppose the affair is very displeasing to +you. Will you let me tell you frankly an idea that has already entered +my head several times these last two or three days, and which has come +again now, while I have been listening to you? It is that perhaps you, +yourself, are also in love with Reine?” + +“I!” protested Julien. He felt humiliated at Claudet’s perspicacity; but +he had too much pride and selfrespect to let his preferred rival know of +his unfortunate passion. He waited a moment to swallow something in his +throat that seemed to be choking him, and then, trying in vain to steady +his voice, he added: + +“You know that I have an aversion for women; and for that matter, I +think they return it with interest. But, at all events, I am not foolish +enough to expose myself to their rebuffs. Rest assured, I shall not +follow at your heels!” + +Claudet shook his head incredulously. + +“You doubt it,” continued de Buxieres; “well, I will prove it to you. +You can not declare your wishes because Reine is rich and you are poor? +I will take charge of the whole matter.” + +“I--I do not understand you,” faltered Claudet, bewildered at the +strange turn the conversation was taking. + +“You will understand-soon,” asserted Julien, with a gesture of both +decision and resignation. + +The truth was, he had made one of those resolutions which seem illogical +and foolish at first sight, but are natural to minds at once timid and +exalted. The suffering caused by Claudet’s revelations had become so +acute that he was alarmed. He recognized with dismay the disastrous +effects of this hopeless love, and determined to employ a heroic remedy +to arrest its further ravages. This was nothing less than killing +his love, by immediately getting Claudet married to Reine Vincart. +Sacrifices like this are easier to souls that have been subjected since +their infancy to Christian discipline, and accustomed to consider the +renunciation of mundane joys as a means of securing eternal salvation. +As soon as this idea had developed in Julien’s brain, he seized upon it +with the precipitation of a drowning man, who distractedly lays hold of +the first object that seems to offer him a means of safety, whether it +be a dead branch or a reed. + +“Listen,” he resumed; “at the very first explanation that we had +together, I told you I did not intend to deprive you of your right to a +portion of your natural father’s inheritance. Until now, you have taken +my word for it, and we have lived at the chateau like two brothers. But +now that a miserable question of money alone prevents you from marrying +the woman you love, it is important that you should be legally provided +for. We will go to-morrow to Monsieur Arbillot, and ask him to draw up +the deed, making over to you from me one half of the fortune of Claude +de Buxieres. You will then be, by law, and in the eyes of all, one of +the desirable matches of the canton, and you can demand the hand of +Mademoiselle Vincart, without any fear of being thought presumptuous or +mercenary.” + +Claudet, to whom this conclusion was wholly unexpected, was +thunderstruck. His emotion was so great that it prevented him from +speaking. In the obscurity of the room his deep-set eyes seemed larger, +and shone with the tears he could not repress. + +“Monsieur Julien,” said he, falteringly, “I can not find words to thank +you. I am like an idiot. And to think that only a little while ago I +suspected you of being tired of me, and regretting your benefits toward +me! What an animal I am! I measure others by myself. Well! can you +forgive me? If I do not express myself well, I feel deeply, and all I +can say is that you have made me very happy!” He sighed heavily. “The +question is now,” continued he, “whether Reine will have me! You may not +believe me, Monsieur de Buxieres, but though I may seem very bold and +resolute, I feel like a wet hen when I get near her. I have a dreadful +panic that she will send me away as I came. I don’t know whether I can +ever find courage to ask her.” + +“Why should she refuse you?” said Julien, sadly, “she knows that you +love her. Do you suppose she loves any one else?” + +“That I don’t know. Although Reine is very frank, she does not let every +one know what is passing in her mind, and with these young girls, I +tell you, one is never sure of anything. That is just what I fear may be +possible.” + +“If you fear the ordeal,” said de Buxieres, with a visible effort, +“would you like me to present the matter for you?” + +“I should be very glad. It would be doing me a great service. It would +be adding one more kindness to those I have already received, and some +day I hope to make it all up to you.” + +The next morning, according to agreement, Julien accompanied Claudet to +Auberive, where Maitre Arbillot drew up the deed of gift, and had it at +once signed and recorded. Afterward the young men adjourned to breakfast +at the inn. The meal was brief and silent. Neither seemed to have any +appetite. As soon as they had drunk their coffee, they turned back on +the Vivey road; but, when they had got as far as the great limetree, +standing at the entrance to the forest, Julien touched Claudet lightly +on the shoulder. + +“Here,” said he, “we must part company. You will return to Vivey, and I +shall go across the fields to La Thuiliere. I shall return as soon as +I have had an interview with Mademoiselle Vincart. Wait for me at the +chateau.” + +“The time will seem dreadfully long to me,” sighed Claudet; “I shall not +know how to dispose of my body until you return.” + +“Your affair will be all settled within two or three hours from now. +Stay near the window of my room, and you will catch first sight of me +coming along in the distance. If I wave my hat, it will be a sign that I +bring a favorable answer.” + +Claudet pressed his hand; they separated, and Julien descended the newly +mown meadow, along which he walked under the shade of trees scattered +along the border line of the forest. + +The heat of the midday sun was tempered by a breeze from the east, +which threw across the fields and woods the shadows of the white fleecy +clouds. The young man, pale and agitated, strode with feverish haste +over the short-cropped grass, while the little brooklet at his side +seemed to murmur a flute-like, soothing accompaniment to the tumultuous +beatings of his heart. He was both elated and depressed at the prospect +of submitting his already torn and lacerated feelings to so severe +a trial. The thought of beholding Reine again, and of sounding her +feelings, gave him a certain amount of cruel enjoyment. He would speak +to her of love--love for another, certainly--but he would throw into +the declaration he was making, in behalf of another, some of his own +tenderness; he would have the supreme and torturing satisfaction of +watching her countenance, of anticipating her blushes, of gathering +the faltering avowal from her lips. He would once more drink of the +intoxication of her beauty, and then he would go and shut himself up at +Vivey, after burying at La Thuiliere all his dreams and profane desires. +But, even while the courage of this immolation of his youthful love +was strong within him, he could not prevent a dim feeling of hope from +crossing his mind. Claudet was not certain that he was beloved; and +possibly Reine’s answer would be a refusal. Then he should have a free +field. + +By a very human, but very illogical impulse, Julien de Buxieres had +hardly concluded the arrangement with Claudet which was to strike +the fatal blow to his own happiness when he began to forestall the +possibilities which the future might have in store for him. The odor of +the wild mint and meadow-sweet, dotting the banks of the stream, again +awoke vague, happy anticipations. Longing to reach Reine Vincart’s +presence, he hastened his steps, then stopped suddenly, seized with an +overpowering panic. He had not seen her since the painful episode in the +hut, and it must have left with her a very sorry impression. What could +he do, if she refused to receive him or listen to him? + +While revolting these conflicting thoughts in his mind, he came to +the fields leading directly to La Thuiliere, and just beyond, across a +waving mass of oats and rye, the shining tops of the farm-buildings came +in sight. A few minutes later, he pushed aside a gate and entered the +yard. + +The shutters were closed, the outer gate was closed inside, and the +house seemed deserted. Julien began to think that the young girl he +was seeking had gone into the fields with the farm-hands, and stood +uncertain and disappointed in the middle of the courtyard. At this +sudden intrusion into their domain, a brood of chickens, who had been +clucking sedately around, and picking up nourishment at the same time, +scattered screaming in every direction, heads down, feet sprawling, +until by unanimous consent they made a beeline for a half-open door, +leading to the orchard. Through this manoeuvre, the young man’s +attention was brought to the fact that through this opening he could +reach the rear facade of the building. He therefore entered a grassy +lane, winding round a group of stones draped with ivy; and leaving +the orchard on his left, he pushed on toward the garden itself--a real +country garden with square beds bordered by mossy clumps alternating +with currant-bushes, rows of raspberry-trees, lettuce and cabbage beds, +beans and runners climbing up their slender supports, and, here and +there, bunches of red carnations and peasant roses. + +Suddenly, at the end of a long avenue, he discovered Reine Vincart, +seated on the steps before an arched door, communicating with the +kitchen. A plum-tree, loaded with its violet fruit, spread its light +shadow over the young girl’s head, as she sat shelling fresh-gathered +peas and piling the faint green heaps of color around her. The sound of +approaching steps on the grassy soil caused her to raise her head, but +she did not stir. In his intense emotion, Julien thought the alley never +would come to an end. He would fain have cleared it with a single bound, +so as to be at once in the presence of Mademoiselle Vincart, whose +immovable attitude rendered his approach still more difficult. +Nevertheless, he had to get over the ground somehow at a reasonable +pace, under penalty of making himself ridiculous, and he therefore +found plenty of time to examine Reine, who continued her work with +imperturbable gravity, throwing the peas as she shelled them into an +ash-wood pail at her feet. + +She was bareheaded, and wore a striped skirt and a white jacket fitted +to her waist. The checkered shadows cast by the tree made spots of light +and darkness over her face and her uncovered neck, the top button of her +camisole being unfastened on account of the heat. De Buxieres had been +perfectly well recognized by her, but an emotion, at least equal to +that experienced by the young man, had transfixed her to the spot, and +a subtle feminine instinct had urged her to continue her employment, +in order to hide the sudden trembling of her fingers. During the last +month, ever since the adventure in the hut, she had thought often of +Julien; and the remembrance of the audacious kiss which the young de +Buxieres had so impetuously stolen from her neck, invariably brought the +flush of shame to her brow. But, although she was very indignant at +the fiery nature of his caress, as implying a want of respect little in +harmony with Julien’s habitual reserve, she was astonished at herself +for not being still more angry. At first, the affront put upon her had +roused a feeling of indignation, but now, when she thought of it, she +felt only a gentle embarrassment, and a soft beating of the heart. +She began to reflect that to have thus broken loose from all restraint +before her, this timid youth must have been carried away by an +irresistible burst of passion, and any woman, however high-minded she +may be, will forgive such violent homage rendered to the sovereign power +of her beauty. Besides his feeding of her vanity, another independent +and more powerful motive predisposed her to indulgence: she felt a +tender and secret attraction toward Monsieur de Buxieres. This healthy +and energetic girl had been fascinated by the delicate charm of a nature +so unlike her own in its sensitiveness and disposition to self-blame. +Julien’s melancholy blue eyes had, unknown to himself, exerted +a magnetic influence on Reine’s dark, liquid orbs, and, without +endeavoring to analyze the sympathy that drew her toward a nature +refined and tender even to weakness, without asking herself where this +unreflecting instinct might lead her, she was conscious of a growing +sentiment toward him, which was not very much unlike love itself. + +Julien de Buxieres’s mood was not sufficiently calm to observe anything, +or he would immediately have perceived the impression that his sudden +appearance had produced upon Reine Vincart. As soon as he found himself +within a few steps of the young girl, he saluted her awkwardly, and she +returned his bow with marked coldness. Extremely disconcerted at this +reception, he endeavored to excuse himself for having invaded her +dwelling in so unceremonious a manner. + +“I am all the more troubled,” added he, humbly, “that after what has +happened, my visit must appear to you indiscreet, if not improper.” + +Reine, who had more quickly recovered her self-possession, pretended +not to understand the unwise allusion that had escaped the lips of her +visitor. She rose, pushed away with her foot the stalks and pods, which +encumbered the passage, and replied, very shortly: + +“You are excused, Monsieur. There is no need of an introduction to enter +La Thuiliere. Besides, I suppose that the motive which has brought you +here can only be a proper one.” + +While thus speaking, she shook her skirt down, and without any +affectation buttoned up her camisole. + +“Certainly, Mademoiselle,” faltered Julien, “it is a most serious and +respectable motive that causes me to wish for an interview, and--if--I +do not disturb you--” + +“Not in the least, Monsieur; but, if you wish to speak with me, it is +unnecessary for you to remain standing. Allow me to fetch you a chair.” + +She went into the house, leaving the young man overwhelmed with the +coolness of his reception; a few minutes later she reappeared, bringing +a chair, which she placed under the tree. “Sit here, you will be in the +shade.” + +She seated herself on the same step as before, leaning her back against +the wall, and her head on her hand. + +“I am ready to listen to you,” she said. + +Julien, much less under his own control than she, discovered that +his mission was more difficult than he had imagined it would be; he +experienced a singular amount of embarrassment in unfolding his subject; +and was obliged to have recourse to prolonged inquiries concerning the +health of Monsieur Vincart. + +“He is still in the same condition,” said Reine, “neither better nor +worse, and, with the illness which afflicts him, the best I can hope +for is that he may remain in that condition. But,” continued she, with +a slight inflection of irony; “doubtless it is not for the purpose of +inquiring after my father’s health that you have come all the way from +Vivey?” + +“That is true, Mademoiselle,” replied he, coloring. “What I have to +speak to you about is a very delicate matter. You will excuse me, +therefore, if I am somewhat embarrassed. I beg of you, Mademoiselle, to +listen to me with indulgence.” + +“What can he be coming to?” thought Reine, wondering why he made so many +preambles before beginning. And, at the same time, her heart began to +beat violently. + +Julien took the course taken by all timid people after meditating for +a long while on the best way to prepare the young girl for the +communication he had taken upon himself to make--he lost his head and +inquired abruptly: + +“Mademoiselle Reine, do you not intend to marry?” + +Reine started, and gazed at him with a frightened air. + +“I!” exclaimed she, “Oh, I have time enough and I am not in a hurry.” + Then, dropping her eyes: “Why do you ask that?” + +“Because I know of some one who loves you and who would be glad to marry +you.” + +She became very pale, took up one of the empty pods, twisted it +nervously around her finger without speaking. + +“Some one belonging to our neighborhood?” she faltered, after a few +moments’ silence. + +“Yes; some one whom you know, and who is not a recent arrival here. Some +one who possesses, I believe, sterling qualities sufficient to make a +good husband, and means enough to do credit to the woman who will wed +him. Doubtless you have already guessed to whom I refer?” + +She sat motionless, her lips tightly closed, her features rigid, but +the nervous twitching of her fingers as she bent the green stem back and +forth, betrayed her inward agitation. + +“No; I can not tell,” she replied at last, in an almost inaudible voice. + +“Truly?” he exclaimed, with an expression of astonishment, in which was +a certain amount of secret satisfaction; “you can not tell whom I mean? +You have never thought of the person of whom I am speaking in that +light?” + +“No; who is that person?” + +She had raised her eyes toward his, and they shone with a deep, +mysterious light. + +“It is Claudet Sejournant,” replied Julien, very gently; and in an +altered tone. + +The glow that had illumined the dark orbs of the young girl faded away, +her eyelids dropped, and her countenance became as rigid as before; but +Julien did not notice anything. The words he had just uttered had cost +him too much agony, and he dared not look at his companion, lest he +should behold her joyful surprise, and thereby aggravate his suffering. + +“Ah!” said Reine, coldly, “in that case, why did not Claudet come +himself and state his own case?” + +“His courage failed him at the last moment--and so--” + +“And so,” continued she, with sarcastic bitterness of tone, “you took +upon yourself to speak for him?” + +“Yes; I promised him I would plead his cause. I was sure, moreover, that +I should not have much difficulty in gaining the suit. Claudet has loved +you for a long time. He is good-hearted, and a fine fellow to look at. +And as to worldly advantages, his position is now equal to your own. +I have made over to him, by legal contract, the half of his father’s +estate. What answer am I to take back?” + +He spoke with difficulty in broken sentences, without turning his eyes +toward Mademoiselle Vincart. The silence that followed his last question +seemed to him unbearable, and the contrasting chirping of the noisy +grasshoppers, and the buzzing of the flies in the quiet sunny garden, +resounded unpleasantly in his ears. + +Reine remained speechless. She was disconcerted and well-nigh +overpowered by the unexpected announcement, and her brain seemed unable +to bear the crowd of tumultuous and conflicting emotions which presented +themselves. Certainly, she had already suspected that Claudet had a +secret liking for her, but she never had thought of encouraging the +feeling. The avowal of his hopes neither surprised nor hurt her; that +which pained her was the intervention of Julien, who had taken in +hand the cause of his relative. Was it possible that this same M. de +Buxieres, who had made so audacious a display of his tender feeling in +the hut, could now come forward as Claudet’s advocate, as if it were +the most natural thing in the world for him to do? In that case, his +astonishing behavior at the fete, which had caused her so much pain, +and which she had endeavored to excuse in her own mind as the untutored +outbreak of his pentup love, that fiery caress, was only the insulting +manifestation of a brutal caprice? The transgressor thought so little +of her, she was of such small importance in his eyes, that he had no +hesitation in proposing that she marry Claudet? She beheld herself +scorned, humiliated, insulted by the only man in whom she ever had felt +interested. In the excess of her indignation she felt herself becoming +hardhearted and violent; a profound discouragement, a stony indifference +to all things, impelled her to extreme measures, and, not being able at +the moment to find any one on whom she could put them in operation, she +was almost tempted to lay violent hands on herself. + +“What shall I say to Claudet?” repeated Julien, endeavoring to conceal +the suffering which was devouring his heart by an assumption of outward +frigidity. + +She turned slowly round, fixed her searching eyes, which had become as +dark as waters reflecting a stormy sky, upon his face, and demanded, in +icy tones: + +“What do you advise me to say?” + +Now, if Julien had been less of a novice, he would have understood that +a girl who loves never addresses such a question; but the feminine heart +was a book in which he was a very poor speller. He imagined that Reine +was only asking him as a matter of form, and that it was from a feeling +of maidenly reserve that she adopted this passive method of escaping +from openly declaring her wishes. She no doubt desired his friendly +aid in the matter, and he felt as if he ought to grant her that +satisfaction. + +“I have the conviction,” stammered he, “that Claudet will make a good +husband, and you will do well to accept him.” + +Reine bit her lip, and her paleness increased so as to set off still +more the fervid lustre of her eyes. The two little brown moles stood out +more visibly on her white neck, and added to her attractions. + +“So be it!” exclaimed she, “tell Claudet that I consent, and that he +will be welcome at La Thuiliere.” + +“I will tell him immediately.” He bent gravely and sadly before +Reine, who remained standing and motionless against the door. “Adieu, +Mademoiselle!” + +He turned away abruptly; plunged into the first avenue he came to, lost +his way twice and finally reached the courtyard, and thence escaped at +breakneck speed across the fields. + +Reine maintained her statue-like pose as long as the young man’s +footsteps resounded on the stony paths; but when they died gradually +away in the distance, when nothing could be heard save the monotonous +trill of the grasshoppers basking in the sun, she threw herself down on +the green heap of rubbish; she covered her face with her hands and gave +way to a passionate outburst of tears and sobs. + +In the meanwhile, Julien de Buxieres, angry with himself, irritated +by the speedy success of his mission, was losing his way among the +pasturages, and getting entangled in the thickets. All the details of +the interview presented themselves before his mind with remorseless +clearness. He seemed more lonely, more unfortunate, more disgusted with +himself and with all else than he ever had been before. Ashamed of +the wretched part he had just been enacting, he felt almost childish +repugnance to returning to Vivey, and tried to pick out the paths that +would take him there by the longest way. But he was not sufficiently +accustomed to laying out a route for himself, and when he thought he had +a league farther to go, and had just leaped over an intervening hedge, +the pointed roofs of the chateau appeared before him at a distance of +not more than a hundred feet, and at one of the windows on the +first floor he could distinguish Claudet, leaning for ward, as if to +interrogate him. + +He remembered then the promise he had made the young huntsman; and +faithful to his word, although with rage and bitterness in his heart, he +raised his hat, and with effort, waved it three times above his head. +At this signal, the forerunner of good news, Claudet replied by a +triumphant shout, and disappeared from the window. A moment later, +Julien heard the noise of furious galloping down the enclosures of +the park. It was the lover, hastening to learn the particulars of the +interview. + + + + +BOOK 3. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE STRANGE, DARK SECRET + +Julien had once entertained the hope that Claudet’s marriage with Reine +would act as a kind of heroic remedy for the cure of his unfortunate +passion, he very soon perceived that he had been wofully mistaken. +As soon as he had informed the grand chasserot of the success of his +undertaking, he became aware that his own burden was considerably +heavier. Certainly it had been easier for him to bear uncertainty than +the boisterous rapture evinced by his fortunate rival. His jealousy rose +against it, and that was all. Now that he had torn from Reine the avowal +of her love for Claudet, he was more than ever oppressed by his hopeless +passion, and plunged into a condition of complete moral and physical +disintegration. It mingled with his blood, his nerves, his thoughts, +and possessed him altogether, dwelling within him like an adored and +tyrannical mistress. Reine appeared constantly before him as he +had contemplated her on the outside steps of the farmhouse, in her +never-to-be-forgotten negligee of the short skirt and the half-open +bodice. He again beheld the silken treasure of her tresses, gliding +playfully around her shoulders, the clear, honest look of her limpid +eyes, the expressive smile of her enchanting lips, and with a sudden +revulsion of feeling he reflected that perhaps before a month was over, +all these charms would belong to Claudet. Then, almost at the same +moment, like a swallow, which, with one rapid turn of its wing, changes +its course, his thoughts went in the opposite direction, and he began +to imagine what would have happened if, instead of replying in the +affirmative, Reine had objected to marrying Claudet. He could picture +himself kneeling before her as before the Madonna, and in a low voice +confessing his love. He would have taken her hands so respectfully, +and pleaded so eloquently, that she would have allowed herself to be +convinced. The little, hands would have remained prisoners in his own; +he would have lifted her tenderly, devotedly, in his arms, and under the +influence of this feverish dream, he fancied he could feel the beating +heart of the young girl against his own bosom. Suddenly he would wake up +out of his illusions, and bite his lips with rage on finding himself in +the dull reality of his own dwelling. + +One day he heard footsteps on the gravel; a sonorous and jovial voice +met his ear. It was Claudet, starting for La Thuiliere. Julien bent +forward to see him, and ground his teeth as he watched his joyous +departure. The sharp sting of jealousy entered his soul, and he rebelled +against the evident injustice of Fate. How had he deserved that life +should present so dismal and forbidding an aspect to him? He had had +none of the joys of infancy; his youth had been spent wearily under the +peevish discipline of a cloister; he had entered on his young manhood +with all the awkwardness and timidity of a night-bird that is made +to fly in the day. Up to the age of twenty-seven years, he had known +neither love nor friendship; his time had been given entirely to earning +his daily bread, and to the cultivation of religious exercises, which +consoled him in some measure for his apparently useless way of living. +Latterly, it is true, Fortune had seemed to smile upon him, by giving +him a little more money and liberty, but this smile was a mere mockery, +and a snare more hurtful than the pettinesses and privations of his past +life. The fickle goddess, continuing her part of mystifier, had opened +to his enraptured sight a magic window through which she had shown him +a charming vision of possible happiness; but while he was still gazing, +she had closed it abruptly in his face, laughing scornfully at his +discomfiture. What sense was there in this perversion of justice, this +perpetual mockery of Fate? At times the influence of his early education +would resume its sway, and he would ask himself whether all this +apparent contradiction were not a secret admonition from on high, +warning him that he had not been created to enjoy the fleeting pleasures +of this world, and ought, therefore, to turn his attention toward things +eternal, and renounce the perishable delights of the flesh? + +“If so,” thought he, irreverently, “the warning comes rather late, and +it would have answered the purpose better had I been allowed to continue +in the narrow way of obscure poverty!” Now that the enervating influence +of a more prosperous atmosphere had weakened his courage, and cooled +the ardor of his piety, his faith began to totter like an old wall. His +religious beliefs seemed to have been wrecked by the same storm which +had destroyed his passionate hopes of love, and left him stranded and +forlorn without either haven or pilot, blown hither and thither solely +by the violence of his passion. + +By degrees he took an aversion to his home, and would spend entire days +in the woods. Their secluded haunts, already colored by the breath of +autumn, became more attractive to him as other refuge failed him. They +were his consolation; his doubts, weakness, and amorous regrets, found +sympathy and indulgence under their silent shelter. He felt less lonely, +less humiliated, less prosaic among these great forest depths, these +lofty ash-trees, raising their verdant branches to heaven. He found he +could more easily evoke the seductive image of Reine Vincart in these +calm solitudes, where the recollections of the previous springtime +mingled with the phantoms of his heated imagination and clothed +themselves with almost living forms. He seemed to see the young girl +rising from the mists of the distant valleys. The least fluttering of +the leaves heralded her fancied approach. At times the hallucination was +so complete that he could see, in the interlacing of the branches, +the undulations of her supple form, and the graceful outlines of her +profile. Then he would be seized by an insane desire to reach the +fugitive and speak to her once more, and would go tearing along the +brushwood for that purpose. Now and then, in the half light formed by +the hanging boughs, he would see rays of golden light, coming +straight down to the ground, and resting there lightly like diaphanous +apparitions. Sometimes the rustling of birds taking flight, would sound +in his ears like the timid frou-frou of a skirt, and Julien, fascinated +by the mysterious charm of these indefinite objects, and following the +impulse of their mystical suggestions, would fling himself impetuously +into the jungle, repeating to him self the words of the “Canticle of +Canticles”: “I hear the voice of my beloved; behold! she cometh leaping +upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.” He would continue to press +forward in pursuit of the intangible apparition, until he sank with +exhaustion near some stream or fountain. Under the influence of the +fever, which was consuming his brain, he would imagine the trickling +water to be the song of a feminine voice. He would wind his arms around +the young saplings, he would tear the berries from the bushes, pressing +them against his thirsty lips, and imagining their odoriferous sweetness +to be a fond caress from the loved one. + +He would return from these expeditions exhausted but not appeased. +Sometimes he would come across Claudet, also returning home from paying +his court to Reine Vincart; and the unhappy Julien would scrutinize his +rival’s countenance, seeking eagerly for some trace of the impressions +he had received during the loving interview. His curiosity was nearly +always baffled; for Claudet seemed to have left all his gayety and +conversational powers at La Thuiliere. During their tete-a-tete meals, +he hardly spoke at all, maintaining a reserved attitude and a taciturn +countenance. Julien, provoked at this unexpected sobriety, privately +accused his cousin of dissimulation, and of trying to conceal his +happiness. His jealousy so blinded him that he considered the silence +of Claudet as pure hypocrisy not recognizing that it was assumed for the +purpose of concealing some unpleasantness rather than satisfaction. + +The fact was that Claudet, although rejoicing at the turn matters had +taken, was verifying the poet’s saying: “Never is perfect happiness +our lot.” When Julien brought him the good news, and he had flown so +joyfully to La Thuiliere, he had certainly been cordially received by +Reine, but, nevertheless, he had noticed with surprise an absent and +dreamy look in her eyes, which did not agree with his idea of a first +interview of lovers. When he wished to express his affection in +the vivacious and significant manner ordinarily employed among the +peasantry, that is to say, by vigorous embracing and resounding kisses, +he met with unexpected resistance. + +“Keep quiet!” was the order, “and let us talk rationally!” + +He obeyed, although not agreeing in her view of the reserve to be +maintained between lovers; but, he made up his mind to return to the +charge and triumph over her bashful scruples. In fact, he began again +the very next day, and his impetuous ardor encountered the same refusal +in the same firm, though affectionate manner. He ventured to complain, +telling Reine that she did not love him as she ought. + +“If I did not feel friendly toward you,” replied the young girl, +laconically, “should I have allowed you to talk to me of marriage?” + +Then, seeing that he looked vexed and worried, and realizing that she +was perhaps treating him too roughly, she continued, more gently: + +“Remember, Claudet, that I am living all alone at the farm. That obliges +me to have more reserve than a girl whose mother is with her. So you +must not be offended if I do not behave exactly as others might, and +rest assured that it will not prevent me from being a good wife to you, +when we are married.” + +“Well, now,” thought Claudet, as he was returning despondently to Vivey: +“I can’t help thinking that a little caress now and then wouldn’t hurt +any one!” + +Under these conditions it is not to be supposed he was in a mood to +relate any of the details of such meagre lovemaking. His self-love was +wounded by Reine’s coldness. Having always been “cock-of-the-walk,” + he could not understand why he had such poor success with the only +one about whom he was in earnest. He kept quiet, therefore, hiding his +anxiety under the mask of careless indifference. Moreover, a certain +primitive instinct of prudence made him circumspect. In his innermost +soul, he still entertained doubts of Julien’s sincerity. Sometimes +he doubted whether his cousin’s conduct had not been dictated by +the bitterness of rejected love, rather than a generous impulse of +affection, and he did not care to reveal Reine’s repulse to one whom +he vaguely suspected of being a former lover. His simple, ardent nature +could not put up with opposition, and he thought only of hastening the +day when Reine would belong to him altogether. But, when he broached +this subject, he had the mortification to find that she was less +impatient than himself. + +“There is no hurry,” she replied, “our affairs are not in order, our +harvests are not housed, and it would be better to wait till the dull +season.” + +In his first moments of joy and effervescence, Claudet had evinced the +desire to announce immediately the betrothal throughout the village. +This Reine had opposed; she thought they should avoid awakening public +curiosity so long beforehand, and she extracted from Claudet a promise +to say nothing until the date of the marriage should be settled. He had +unwillingly consented, and thus, during the last month, the matter had +been dragging on indefinitely: + +With Julien de Buxieres, this interminable delay, these incessant +comings and goings from the chateau to the farm, as well as the +mysterious conduct of the bridegroom-elect, became a subject of serious +irritation, amounting almost to obsession. He would have wished the +affair hurried up, and the sacrifice consummated without hindrance. +He believed that when once the newly-married pair had taken up their +quarters at La Thuiliere, the very certainty that Reine belonged in +future to another would suffice to effect a radical cure in him, and +chase away the deceptive phantoms by which he was pursued. + +One evening, as Claudet was returning home, more out of humor and silent +than usual, Julien asked him, abruptly: + +“Well! how are you getting along? When is the wedding?” + +“Nothing is decided yet,” replied Claudet, “we have time enough!” + +“You think so?” exclaimed de Buxieres, sarcastically; “you have +considerable patience for a lover!” + +The remark and the tone provoked Claudet. + +“The delay is not of my making,” returned he. + +“Ah!” replied the other, quickly, “then it comes from Mademoiselle +Vincart?” And a sudden gleam came into his eyes, as if Claudet’s +assertion had kindled a spark of hope in his breast. The latter noticed +the momentary brightness in his cousin’s usually stormy countenance, and +hastened to reply: + +“Nay, nay; we both think it better to postpone the wedding until the +harvest is in.” + +“You are wrong. A wedding should not be postponed. Besides, this +prolonged love-making, these daily visits to the farm--all that is not +very proper. It is compromising for Mademoiselle Vincart!” + +Julien shot out these remarks with a degree of fierceness and violence +that astonished Claudet. + +“You think, then,” said he, “that we ought to rush matters, and have the +wedding before winter?” + +“Undoubtedly!” + +The next day, at La Thuiliere, the grand chasserot, as he stood in the +orchard, watching Reine spread linen on the grass, entered bravely on +the subject. + +“Reine,” said he, coaxingly, “I think we shall have to decide upon a day +for our wedding.” + +She set down the watering-pot with which she was wetting the linen, and +looked anxiously at her betrothed. + +“I thought we had agreed to wait until the later season. Why do you wish +to change that arrangement?” + +“That is true; I promised not to hurry you, Reine, but it is beyond me +to wait--you must not be vexed with me if I find the time long. Besides, +they know nothing, around the village, of our intentions, and my coming +here every day might cause gossip and make it unpleasant for you. At +any rate, that is the opinion of Monsieur de Buxieres, with whom I was +conferring only yesterday evening.” + +At the name of Julien, Reine frowned and bit her lip. + +“Aha!” said she, “it is he who has been advising you?” + +“Yes; he says the sooner we are married, the better it will be.” + +“Why does he interfere in what does not concern him?” said she, angrily, +turning her head away. She stood a moment in thought, absently pushing +forward the roll of linen with her foot. Then, shrugging her shoulders +and raising her head, she said slowly, while still avoiding Claudet’s +eyes: + +“Perhaps you are right--both of you. Well, let it be so! I authorize you +to go to Monsieur le Cure and arrange the day with him.” + +“Oh, thanks, Reine!” exclaimed Claudet, rapturously; “you make me very +happy!” + +He pressed her hands in his, but though absorbed in his own joyful +feelings, he could not help remarking that the young girl was trembling +in his grasp. He even fancied that there was a suspicious, tearful +glitter in her brilliant eyes. + +He left her, however, and repaired at once to the cure’s house, which +stood near the chateau, a little behind the church. + +The servant showed him into a small garden separated by a low wall +from the cemetery. He found the Abbe Pernot seated on a stone bench, +sheltered by a trellised vine. He was occupied in cutting up pieces of +hazel-nuts to make traps for small birds. + +“Good-evening, Claudet!” said the cure, without moving from his work; +“you find me busy preparing my nets; if you will permit me, I will +continue, for I should like to have my two hundred traps finished by +this evening. The season is advancing, you know! The birds will begin +their migrations, and I should be greatly provoked if I were not +equipped in time for the opportune moment. And how is Monsieur de +Buxieres? I trust he will not be less good-natured than his deceased +cousin, and that he will allow me to spread my snares on the border +hedge of his woods. But,” added he, as he noticed the flurried, +impatient countenance of his visitor, “I forgot to ask you, my dear +young fellow, to what happy chance I owe your visit? Excuse my neglect!” + +“Don’t mention it, Monsieur le Cure. You have guessed rightly. It is a +very happy circumstance which brings me. I am about to marry.” + +“Aha!” laughed the Abbe, “I congratulate you, my dear young friend. This +is really delightful news. It is not good for man to be alone, and I +am glad to know you must give up the perilous life of a bachelor. Well, +tell me quickly the name of your betrothed. Do I know her?” + +“Of course you do, Monsieur le Cure; there are few you know so well. It +is Mademoiselle Vincart.” + +“Reine?” + +The Abbe flung away the pruning-knife and branch that he was cutting, +and gazed at Claudet with a stupefied air. At the same time, his +jovial face became shadowed, and his mouth assumed an expression of +consternation. + +“Yes, indeed, Reine Vincart,” repeated Claudet, somewhat vexed at the +startled manner of his reverence; “are you surprised at my choice?” + +“Excuse me-and-is it all settled?” stammered the Abbe, with +bewilderment, “and--and do you really love each other?” + +“Certainly; we agree on that point; and I have come here to arrange with +you about having the banns published.” + +“What! already?” murmured the cure, buttoning and unbuttoning the top +of his coat in his agitation, “you seem to be in a great hurry to go +to work. The union of the man and the woman--ahem--is a serious matter, +which ought not to be undertaken without due consideration. That is the +reason why the Church has instituted the sacrament of marriage. Hast +thou well considered, my son?” + +“Why, certainly, I have reflected,” exclaimed Claudet with some +irritation, “and my mind is quite made up. Once more, I ask you, +Monsieur le Cure, are you displeased with my choice, or have you +anything to say against Mademoiselle Vincart?” + +“I? no, absolutely nothing. Reine is an exceedingly good girl.” + +“Well, then?” + +“Well, my friend, I will go over to-morrow and see your fiancee, and we +will talk matters over. I shall act for the best, in the interests +of both of you, be assured of that. In the meantime, you will both be +united this evening in my prayers; but, for to-day, we shall have to +stop where we are. Good-evening, Claudet! I will see you again.” + +With these enigmatic words, he dismissed the young lover, who returned +to the chateau, vexed and disturbed by his strange reception. + +The moment the door of the presbytery had closed behind Claudet, the +Abbe Pernot, flinging to one side all his preparations, began to pace +nervously up and down the principal garden-walk. He appeared completely +unhinged. His features were drawn, through an unusual tension of ideas +forced upon him. He had hurriedly caught his skullcap from his head, as +if he feared the heat of his meditation might cause a rush of blood to +the head. He quickened his steps, then stopped suddenly, folded his arms +with great energy, then opened them again abruptly to thrust his hands +into the pockets of his gown, searching through them with feverish +anxiety, as if he expected to find something which might solve obscure +and embarrassing questions. + +“Good Lord! Good Lord! What a dreadful piece of business; and right in +the bird season, too! But I can say nothing to Claudet. It is a secret +that does not belong to me. How can I get out of it? Tutt! tutt! tutt!” + +These monosyllabic ejaculations broke forth like the vexed clucking of +a frightened blackbird; after which relief, the Abbe resumed his fitful +striding up and down the box-bordered alley. This lasted until the hour +of twilight, when Augustine, the servant, as soon as the Angelus had +sounded, went to inform her master that they were waiting prayers for +him in the church. He obeyed the summons, although in a somewhat absent +mood, and hurried over the services in a manner which did not contribute +to the edification of the assistants. As soon as he got home, he ate his +Supper without appetite, mumbled his prayers, and shut himself up in the +room he used as a study and workshop. He remained there until the night +was far advanced, searching through his scanty library to find two dusty +volumes treating of “cases of conscience,” which he looked eagerly over +by the feeble light of his study lamp. During this laborious search he +emitted frequent sighs, and only left off reading occasionally in order +to dose himself plentifully with snuff. At last, as he felt that his +eyes were becoming inflamed, his ideas conflicting in his brain, and as +his lamp was getting low, he decided to go to bed. But he slept badly, +turned over at least twenty times, and was up with the first streak of +day to say his mass in the chapel. He officiated with more dignity and +piety than was his wont; and after reading the second gospel he remained +for a long while kneeling on one of the steps of the altar. After he had +returned to the sacristy, he divested himself quickly of his sacerdotal +robes, reached his room by a passage of communication, breakfasted +hurriedly, and putting on his three-cornered hat, and seizing his +knotty, cherry-wood cane, he shot out of doors as if he had been +summoned to a fire. + +Augustine, amazed at his precipitate departure, went up to the attic, +and, from behind the shelter of the skylight, perceived her master +striding rapidly along the road to Planche-au-Vacher. There she lost +sight of him--the underwood was too thick. But, after a few minutes, the +gaze of the inquisitive woman was rewarded by the appearance of a +dark object emerging from the copse, and defining itself on the bright +pasture land beyond. “Monsieur le Cure is going to La Thuiliere,” + thought she, and with this half-satisfaction she descended to her daily +occupations. + +It was true, the Abbe Pernot was walking, as fast as he could, to the +Vincart farm, as unmindful of the dew that tarnished his shoe-buckles +as of the thorns which attacked his calves. He had that within him which +spurred him on, and rendered him unconscious of the accidents on his +path. Never, during his twenty-five years of priestly office, had a more +difficult question embarrassed his conscience. The case was a grave +one, and moreover, so urgent that the Abbe was quite at a loss how to +proceed. How was it that he never had foreseen that such a combination +of circumstances might occur? A priest of a more fervent spirit, who had +the salvation of his flock more at heart, could not have been taken so +unprepared. Yes; that was surely the cause! The profane occupations in +which he had allowed himself to take so much enjoyment, had distracted +his watchfulness and obscured his perspicacity. Providence was now +punishing him for his lukewarmness, by interposing across his path this +stumbling-block, which was probably sent to him as a salutary warning, +but which he saw no way of getting over. + +While he was thus meditating and reproaching himself, the thrushes were +calling to one another from the branches of their favorite trees; whole +flights of yellowhammers burst forth from the hedges red with haws; but +he took no heed of them and did not even give a single thought to his +neglected nests and snares. + +He went straight on, stumbling over the juniper bushes, and wondering +what he should say when he reached the farm, and how he should begin. +Sometimes he addressed himself, thus: “Have I the right to speak? What +a revelation! And to a young girl! Oh, Lord, lead me in the straight way +of thy truth, and instruct me in the right path!” + +As he continued piously repeating this verse of the Psalmist, in order +to gain spiritual strength, the gray roofs of La Thuiliere rose before +him; he could hear the crowing of the cocks and the lowing of the cows +in the stable. Five minutes after, he had pushed open the door of the +kitchen where La Guite was arranging the bowls for breakfast. + +“Good-morning, Guitiote,” said he, in a choking voice; “is Mademoiselle +Vincart up?” + +“Holy Virgin! Monsieur le Cure! Why, certainly Mademoiselle is up. +She was on foot before any of us, and now she is trotting around the +orchard. I will go fetch her.” + +“No, do not stir. I know the way, and I will go and find her myself.” + +She was in the orchard, was she? The Abbe preferred it should be so; he +thought the interview would be less painful, and that the surrounding +trees would give him ideas. He walked across the kitchen, descended +the steps leading from the ground floor to the garden, and ascended the +slope in search of Reine, whom he soon perceived in the midst of a bower +formed by clustering filbert-trees. + +At sight of the cure, Reine turned pale; he had doubtless come to tell +her the result of his interview with Claudet, and what day had been +definitely chosen for the nuptial celebration. She had been troubled all +night by the reflection that her fate would soon be irrevocably scaled; +she had wept, and her eyes betrayed it. Only the day before, she had +looked upon this project of marriage, which she had entertained in +a moment of anger and injured feeling, as a vague thing, a vaporous +eventuality of which the realization was doubtful; now, all was +arranged, settled, cruelly certain; there was no way of escaping from a +promise which Claudet, alas! was bound to consider a serious one. These +thoughts traversed her mind, while the cure was slowly approaching the +filbert-trees; she felt her heart throb, and her eyes again filled with +tears. Yet her pride would not allow that the Abbe should witness her +irresolution and weeping; she made an effort, overcame the momentary +weakness, and addressed the priest in an almost cheerful voice: + +“Monsieur le Cure, I am sorry that they have made you come up this hill +to find me. Let us go back to the farm, and I will offer you a cup of +coffee.” + +“No, my child,” replied the Abbe, motioning with his hand that she +should stay where she was, “no, thank you! I will not take anything. +Remain where you are. + +“I wish to talk to you, and we shall be less liable to be disturbed +here.” + +There were two rustic seats under the nut-trees; the cure took one and +asked Reine to take the other, opposite to him. There they were, +under the thick, verdant branches, hidden from indiscreet passers-by, +surrounded by silence, installed as in a confessional. + +The morning quiet, the solitude, the half light, all invited meditation +and confidence; nevertheless the young girl and the priest sat +motionless; both agitated and embarrassed and watching each other +without uttering a sound. It was Reine who first broke the silence. + +“You have seen Claudet, Monsieur le Cure?” + +“Yes, yes!” replied the Abbe, sighing deeply. + +“He--spoke to you of our-plans,” continued the young girl, in a +quavering voice, “and you fixed the day?” + +“No, my child, we settled nothing. I wanted to see you first, and +converse with you about something very important.” + +The Abbe hesitated, rubbed a spot of mud off his soutane, raised his +shoulders like a man lifting a heavy burden, then gave a deep cough. + +“My dear child,” continued he at length, prudently dropping his voice a +tone lower, “I will begin by repeating to you what I said yesterday +to Claudet Sejournant: the marriage, that is to say, the indissoluble +union, of man and woman before God, is one of the most solemn and +serious acts of life. The Church has constituted it a sacrament, which +she administers only on certain formal conditions. Before entering into +this bond, one ought, as we are taught by Holy Writ, to sound the heart, +subject the very inmost of the soul to searching examinations. I beg of +you, therefore, answer my questions freely, without false shame, just as +if you were at the tribunal of repentance. Do you love Claudet?” + +Reine trembled. This appeal to her sincerity renewed all her +perplexities and scruples. She raised her full, glistening eyes to the +cure, and replied, after a slight hesitation: + +“I have a sincere affection for Claudet-and-much esteem.” + +“I understand that,” replied the priest, compressing his lips, +“but--excuse me if I press the matter--has the engagement you have +made with him been determined simply by considerations of affection and +suitableness, or by more interior and deeper feelings?” + +“Pardon, Monsieur le Cure,” returned Reine, coloring, “it seems to me +that a sentiment of friendship, joined to a firm determination to prove +a faithful and devoted wife, should be, in your eyes as they are in +mine, a sufficient assurance that--” + +“Certainly, certainly, my dear child; and many husbands would be +contented with less. However, it is not only a question of Claudet’s +happiness, but of yours also. Come now! let me ask you: is your +affection for young Sejournant so powerful that in the event of any +unforeseen circumstance happening, to break off the marriage, you would +be forever unhappy?” + +“Ah!” replied Reine, more embarrassed than ever, “you ask too grave a +question, Monsieur le Cure! If it were broken off without my having to +reproach myself for it, it is probable that I should find consolation in +time.” + +“Very good! Consequently, you do not love Claudet, if I may take the +word love in the sense understood by people of the world. You only like, +you do not love him? Tell me. Answer frankly.” + +“Frankly, Monsieur le Cure, no!” + +“Thanks be to God! We are saved!” exclaimed the Abbe, drawing a long +breath, while Reine, amazed, gazed at him with wondering eyes. + +“I do not understand you,” faltered she; “what is it?” + +“It is this: the marriage can not take place.” + +“Can not? why?” + +“It is impossible, both in the eyes of the Church and in those of the +world.” + +The young girl looked at him with increasing amazement. + +“You alarm me!” cried she. “What has happened? What reasons hinder me +from marrying Claudet?” + +“Very powerful reasons, my dear child. I do not feel at liberty to +reveal them to you, but you must know that I am not speaking without +authority, and that you may rely on the statement I have made.” + +Reine remained thoughtful, her brows knit, her countenance troubled. + +“I have every confidence in you, Monsieur le Cure, but--” + +“But you hesitate about believing me,” interrupted the Abbe, piqued +at not finding in one of his flock the blind obedience on which he had +reckoned. “You must know, nevertheless, that your pastor has no interest +in deceiving you, and that when he seeks to influence you, he has in +view only your well-being in this world and in the next.” + +“I do not doubt your good intentions,” replied Reine, with firmness, +“but a promise can not be annulled without sufficient cause. I have +given my word to Claudet, and I am too loyal at heart to break faith +with him without letting him know the reason.” + +“You will find some pretext.” + +“And supposing that Claudet would be content with such a pretext, my own +conscience would not be,” objected the young girl, raising her clear, +honest glance toward the priest; “your words have entered my soul, they +are troubling me now, and it will be worse when I begin to think this +matter over again. I can not bear uncertainty. I must see my way clearly +before me. I entreat you then, Monsieur le Cure, not to do things by +halves. You have thought it your duty to tell me I can not wed with +Claudet; now tell me why not?” + +“Why not? why not?” repeated the Abbe, angrily. “I distress myself in +telling you that I am not authorized to satisfy your unwise curiosity! +You must humble your intelligence and believe without arguing.” + +“In matters of faith, that may be possible,” urged Reine, obstinately, +“but my marriage has nothing to do with discussing the truths of our +holy religion. I therefore respectfully ask to be enlightened, Monsieur +le Cure; otherwise--” + +“Otherwise?” repeated the Abby Pernot, inquiringly, rolling his eyes +uneasily. + +“Otherwise, I shall keep my word respectably, and I shall marry +Claudet.” + +“You will not do that?” said he, imploringly, joining his hands as if in +supplication; “after being openly warned by me, you dare not burden your +soul with such a terrible responsibility. Come, my child, does not +the possibility of committing a mortal sin alarm your conscience as a +Christian?” + +“I can not sin if I am in ignorance, and as to my conscience, Monsieur +le Cure, do you think it is acting like a Christian to alarm without +enlightening?” + +“Is that your last word?” inquired the Abbe, completely aghast. + +“It is my last word,” she replied, vehemently, moved both by a feeling +of self-respect, and a desire to force the hand of her interlocutor. + +“You are a proud, obstinate girl!” exclaimed the Abbe, rising abruptly, +“you wish to compel me to reveal this secret! Well, have your way! I +will tell you. May the harm which may result from it fall lightly upon +you, and do not hereafter reproach me for the pain I am about to inflict +upon you.” + +He checked himself for a moment, again joined his hands, and raising his +eyes toward heaven ejaculated fervently, as if repeating his devotions +in the oratory: “O Lord, thou knowest I would have spared her this +bitter cup, but, between two evils, I have avoided the greater. If I +forfeit my solemn promise, consider, O Lord, I pray thee, that I do +it to avoid disgrace and exposure for her, and deign to forgive thy +servant!” + +He seated himself again, placed one of his hands before his eyes, and +began, in a hollow voice, Reine, all the while gazing nervously at him: + +“My child, you are forcing me to violate a secret which has been +solemnly confided to me. It concerns a matter not usually talked about +before young girls, but you are, I believe, already a woman in heart +and understanding, and you will hear resignedly what I have to tell you, +however much the recital may trouble you. I have already informed you +that your marriage with Claudet is impossible. I now declare that it +would be criminal, for the reason that incest is an abomination.” + +“Incest!” repeated Reine, pale and trembling, “what do you mean?” + +“I mean,” sighed the cure, “that you are Claudet’s sister, not having +the same mother, but the same father: Claude-Odouart de Buxieres.” + +“Oh! you are mistaken! that cannot be!” + +“I am stating facts. It grieves me to the heart, my dear child, that in +speaking of your deceased mother, I should have to reveal an error over +which she lamented, like David, with tears of blood. She confessed her +sin, not to the priest, but to a friend, a few days before her death. +In justice to her memory, I ought to add that, like most of the +unfortunates seduced by this untamable de Buxieres, she succumbed to his +wily misrepresentations. She was a victim rather than an accomplice. The +man himself acknowledged as much in a note entrusted to my care, which I +have here.” + +And the Abbe’ drew from his pocket an old, worn letter, the writing +yellow with age, and placed it before Reine. In this letter, written +in Claude de Buxieres’s coarse, sprawling hand, doubtless in reply to a +reproachful appeal from his mistress, he endeavored to offer some kind +of honorable amends for the violence he had used, and to calm Madame +Vincart’s remorse by promising, as was his custom, to watch over the +future of the child which should be born to her. + +“That child was yourself, my poor girl,” continued the Abbe, picking up +the letter which Reine had thrown down, after reading it, with a gesture +of sickened disgust. + +She appeared not to hear him. She had buried her face in her hands, to +hide the flushing of her cheeks, and sat motionless, altogether +crushed beneath the shameful revelation; convulsive sobs and tremblings +occasionally agitating her frame. + +“You can now understand,” continued the priest, “how the announcement of +this projected marriage stunned and terrified me. I could not confide to +Claudet the reason for my stupefaction, and I should have been thankful +if you could have understood so that I could have spared you this cruel +mortification, but you would not take any intimation from me. And now, +forgive me for inflicting this cross upon you, and bear it with courage, +with Christian fortitude.” + +“You have acted as was your duty,” murmured Reine, sadly, “and I thank +you, Monsieur le Cure!” + +“And will you promise me to dismiss Claudet at once--today?” + +“I promise you.” + +The Abbe Pernot advanced to take her hand, and administer some words of +consolation; but she evaded, with a stern gesture, the good man’s pious +sympathy, and escaped toward the dwelling. + +The spacious kitchen was empty when she entered. The shutters had been +closed against the sun, and it had become cool and pleasant. Here and +there, among the copper utensils, and wherever a chance ray made a gleam +of light, the magpie was hopping about, uttering short, piercing cries. +In the recess of the niche containing the colored prints, sat the old +man Vincart, dozing, in his usual supine attitude, his hands spread out, +his eyelids drooping, his mouth half open. At the sound of the door, his +eyes opened wide. He rather guessed at, than saw, the entrance of the +young girl, and his pallid lips began their accustomed refrain: “Reine! +Rei-eine!” + +Reine flew impetuously toward the paralytic old man, threw herself +on her knees before him, sobbing bitterly, and covered his hands with +kisses. Her caresses were given in a more respectful, humble, contrite +manner than ever before. + +“Oh! father--father!” faltered she; “I loved you always, I shall love +you now with all my heart and soul!” + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. LOVE’S SAD ENDING + +The kitchen was bright with sunshine, and the industrious bees were +buzzing around the flowers on the window-sills, while Reine was +listlessly attending to culinary duties, and preparing her father’s +meal. The humiliating disclosures made by the Abbe Pernot weighed +heavily upon her mind. She foresaw that Claudet would shortly be at La +Thuiliere in order to hear the result of the cure’s visit; but she did +not feel sufficiently mistress of herself to have a decisive interview +with him at such short notice, and resolved to gain at least one day +by absenting herself from the farm. It seemed to her necessary that she +should have that length of time to arrange her ideas, and evolve some +way of separating Claudet and herself without his suspecting the real +motive of rupture. So, telling La Guite to say that unexpected business +had called her away, she set out for the woods of Maigrefontaine. + +Whenever she had felt the need of taking counsel with herself before +deciding on any important matter, the forest had been her refuge and her +inspiration. The refreshing solitude of the valleys, watered by living +streams, acted as a strengthening balm to her irresolute will; her soul +inhaled the profound peace of these leafy retreats. By the time she had +reached the inmost shade of the forest her mind had become calmer, +and better able to unravel the confusion of thoughts that surged like +troubled waters through her brain. The dominant idea was, that her +self-respect had been wounded; the shock to her maidenly modesty, and +the shame attendant upon the fact, affected her physically, as if she +had been belittled and degraded by a personal stain; and this +downfall caused her deep humiliation. By slow degrees, however, and +notwithstanding this state of abject despair, she felt, cropping +up somewhere in her heart, a faint germ of gladness, and, by close +examination, discovered its origin: she was now loosed from her +obligations toward Claudet, and the prospect of being once more free +afforded her immediate consolation. + +She had so much regretted, during the last few weeks, the feeling of +outraged pride which had incited her to consent to this marriage; her +loyal, sincere nature had revolted at the constraint she had imposed +upon herself; her nerves had been so severely taxed by having to receive +her fiance with sufficient warmth to satisfy his expectations, and yet +not afford any encouragement to his demonstrative tendencies, that the +certainty of her newly acquired freedom created a sensation of relief +and well-being. But, hardly had she analyzed and acknowledged this +sensation when she reproached herself for harboring it when she was +about to cause Claudet such affliction. + +Poor Claudet! what a cruel blow was in store for him! He was so +guilelessly in love, and had such unbounded confidence in the success of +his projects! Reine was overcome by tender reminiscences. She had always +experienced, as if divining by instinct the natural bonds which united +them, a sisterly affection for Claudet. Since their earliest infancy, at +the age when they learned their catechism under the church porch, they +had been united in a bond of friendly fellowship. With Reine, this +tender feeling had always remained one of friendship, but, with Claudet, +it had ripened into love; and now, after allowing the poor young fellow +to believe that his love was reciprocated, she was forced to disabuse +him. It was useless for her to try to find some way of softening the +blow; there was none. Claudet was too much in love to remain satisfied +with empty words; he would require solid reasons; and the only +conclusive one which would convince him, without wounding his self-love, +was exactly the one which the young girl could not give him. She was, +therefore, doomed to send Claudet away with the impression that he had +been jilted by a heartless and unprincipled coquette. And yet something +must be done. The grand chasserot had been too long already in the +toils; there was something barbarously cruel in not freeing him from his +illusions. + +In this troubled state of mind, Reine gazed appealingly at the silent +witnesses of her distress. She heard a voice within her saying to the +tall, vaulted ash, “Inspire me!” to the little rose-colored centaurea +of the wayside, “Teach me a charm to cure the harm I have done!” But +the woods, which in former days had been her advisers and instructors, +remained deaf to her invocation. For the first time, she felt herself +isolated and abandoned to her own resources, even in the midst of her +beloved forest. + +It is when we experience these violent mental crises, that we become +suddenly conscious of Nature’s cold indifference to our sufferings. She +really is nothing more than the reflex of our own sensations, and can +only give us back what we lend her. Beautiful but selfish, she allows +herself to be courted by novices, but presents a freezing, emotionless +aspect to those who have outlived their illusions. + +Reine did not reach home until the day had begun to wane. La Guite +informed her that Claudet had waited for her during part of the +afternoon, and that he would come again the next day at nine o’clock. +Notwithstanding her bodily fatigue, she slept uneasily, and her sleep +was troubled by feverish dreams. Every time she closed her eyes, she +fancied herself conversing with Claudet, and woke with a start at the +sound of his angry voice. + +She arose at dawn, descended at once to the lower floor, to get through +her morning tasks, and as soon as the big kitchen clock struck nine, she +left the house and took the path by which Claudet would come. A feeling +of delicate consideration toward her lover had impelled her to choose +for her explanation any other place than the one where she had first +received his declaration of love, and consented to the marriage. Very +soon he came in sight, his stalwart figure outlined against the gray +landscape. He was walking rapidly; her heart smote her, her hands became +like ice, but she summoned all her fortitude, and went bravely forward +to meet him. + +When he came within forty or fifty feet, he recognized Reine, and took a +short cut across the stubble studded with cobwebs glistening with dew. + +“Aha! my Reine, my queen, good-morning!” cried he, joyously, “it is +sweet of you to come to meet me!” + +“Good-morning, Claudet. I came to meet you because I wish to speak +with you on matters of importance, and I preferred not to have the +conversation take place in our house. Shall we walk as far as the +Planche-au-Vacher?” + +He stopped short, astonished at the proposal and also at the sad and +resolute attitude of his betrothed. He examined her more closely, +noticed her deep-set eyes, her cheeks, whiter than usual. + +“Why, what is the matter, Reine?” he inquired; “you are not yourself; do +you not feel well?” + +“Yes, and no. I have passed a bad night, thinking over matters that are +troubling me, and I think that has produced some fever.” + +“What matters? Any that concern us?” + +“Yes;” replied she, laconically. + +Claudet opened his eyes. The young girl’s continued gravity began to +alarm him; but, seeing that she walked quickly forward, with an absent +air, her face lowered, her brows bent, her mouth compressed, he lost +courage and refrained from asking her any questions. They walked on +thus in silence, until they came to the open level covered with +juniper-bushes, from which solitary place, surrounded by hawthorn +hedges, they could trace the narrow defile leading to Vivey, and the +faint mist beyond. + +“Let us stop here,” said Reine, seating herself on a flat, mossy stone, +“we can talk here without fear of being disturbed.” + +“No fear of that,” remarked Claudet, with a forced smile, “with the +exception of the shepherd of Vivey, who comes here sometimes with his +cattle, we shall not see many passers-by. It must be a secret that you +have to tell me, Reine?” he added. + +“No;” she returned, “but I foresee that my words will give you pain, my +poor Claudet, and I prefer you should hear them without being annoyed by +the farm-people passing to and fro.” + +“Explain yourself!” he exclaimed, impetuously. “For heaven’s sake, don’t +keep me in suspense!” + +“Listen, Claudet. When you asked my hand in marriage, I answered yes, +without taking time to reflect. But, since I have been thinking over our +plans, I have had scruples. My father is becoming every day more of an +invalid, and in his present state I really have no right to live for any +one but him. One would think he was aware of our intentions, for since +you have been visiting at the farm, he is more agitated and suffers +more. I think that any change in his way of living would bring on a +stroke, and I never should forgive myself if I thought I had shortened +his life. That is the reason why, as long as I have him with me, I do +not see that it will be possible for me to dispose of myself. On the +other hand, I do not wish to abuse your patience. I therefore ask you to +take back your liberty and give me back my promise.” + +“That is to say, you won’t have me!” he exclaimed. + +“No; my poor friend, it means only that I shall not marry so long as +my father is living, and that I can not ask you to wait until I am +perfectly free. Forgive me for having entered into the engagement too +carelessly, and do not on that account take your friendship from me.” + +“Reine,” interrupted Claudet, angrily, “don’t turn your brain inside out +to make me believe that night is broad day. I am not a child, and I see +very well that your father’s health is only a pretext. You don’t want +me, that’s all, and, with all due respect, you have changed your mind +very quickly! Only the day before yesterday you authorized me to arrange +about the day for the ceremony with the Abbe Pernot. Now that you have +had a visit from the cure, you want to put the affair off until the week +when two Sundays come together! I am a little curious to know what that +confounded old abbe has been babbling about me, to turn you inside out +like a glove in such a short time.” + +Claudet’s conscience reminded him of several rare frolics, chance +love-affairs, meetings in the woods, and so on, and he feared the priest +might have told Reine some unfavorable stories about him. “Ah!” he +continued, clenching his fists, “if this old poacher in a cassock has +done me an ill turn with you, he will not have much of a chance for +paradise!” + +“Undeceive yourself,” said Reine, quickly, “Monsieur le Cure is your +friend, like myself; he esteems you highly, and never has said anything +but good of you.” + +“Oh, indeed!” sneered the young man, “as you are both so fond of me, how +does it happen that you have given me my dismissal the very day after +your interview with the cure?” + +Reine, knowing Claudet’s violent disposition, and wishing to avoid +trouble for the cure, thought it advisable to have recourse to evasion. + +“Monsieur le Cure,” said she, “has had no part in my decision. He has +not spoken against you, and deserves no reproaches from you.” + +“In that case, why do you send me away?” + +“I repeat again, the comfort and peace of my father are paramount with +me, and I do not intend to marry so long as he may have need of me.” + +“Well,” said Claudet, persistently, “I love you, and I will wait.” + +“It can not be.” + +“Why?” + +“Because,” replied she, sharply, “because it would be kind neither to +you, nor to my father, nor to me. Because marriages that drag along in +that way are never good for anything!” + +“Those are bad reasons!” he muttered, gloomily. + +“Good or bad,” replied the young girl, “they appear valid to me, and I +hold to them.” + +“Reine,” said he, drawing near to her and looking straight into her +eyes, “can you swear, by the head of your father, that you have given me +the true reason for your rejecting me?” + +She became embarrassed, and remained silent. + +“See!” he exclaimed, “you dare not take the oath!” + +“My word should suffice,” she faltered. + +“No; it does not suffice. But your silence says a great deal, I tell +you! You are too frank, Reine, and you don’t know how to lie. I read it +in your eyes, I do. The true reason is that you do not love me.” + +She shrugged her shoulders and turned away her head. + +“No, you do not love me. If you had any love for me, instead of +discouraging me, you would hold out some hope to me, and advise me to +have patience. You never have loved me, confess now!” + +By dint of this persistence, Reine by degrees lost her self-confidence. +She could realize how much Claudet was suffering, and she reproached +herself for the torture she was inflicting upon him. Driven into a +corner, and recognizing that the avowal he was asking for was the only +one that would drive him away, she hesitated no longer. + +“Alas!” she murmured, lowering her eyes, “since you force me to tell you +some truths that I would rather have kept from you, I confess you have +guessed. I have a sincere friendship for you, but that is all. I have +concluded that to marry a person one ought to love him differently, +more than everything else in the world, and I feel that my heart is not +turned altogether toward you.” + +“No,” said Claudet, bitterly, “it is turned elsewhere.” + +“What do you mean? I do not understand you.” + +“I mean that you love some one else.” + +“That is not true,” she protested. + +“You are blushing--a proof that I have hit the nail!” + +“Enough of this!” cried she, imperiously. + +“You are right. Now that you have said you don’t want me any longer, I +have no right to ask anything further. Adieu!” + +He turned quickly on his heel. Reine was conscious of having been too +hard with him, and not wishing him to go away with such a grief in his +heart, she sought to retain him by placing her hand upon his arm. + +“Come, Claudet,” said she, entreatingly, “do not let us part in anger. +It pains me to see you suffer, and I am sorry if I have said anything +unkind to you. Give me your hand in good fellowship, will you?” + +But Claudet drew back with a fierce gesture, and glancing angrily at +Reine, he replied, rudely: + +“Thanks for your regrets and your pity; I have no use for them.” She +understood that he was deeply hurt; gave up entreating, and turned away +with eyes full of tears. + +He remained motionless, his arms crossed, in the middle of the road. +After some minutes, he turned his head. Reine was already nothing more +than a dark speck against the gray of the increasing fog. Then he went +off, haphazard, across the pasture-lands. The fog was rising slowly, and +the sun, shorn of its beams, showed its pale face faintly through it. +To the right and the left, the woods were half hidden by moving white +billows, and Claudet walked between fluid walls of vapor. This hidden +sky, these veiled surroundings, harmonized with his mental condition. It +was easier for him to hide his chagrin. “Some one else! Yes; that’s it. +She loves some other fellow! how was it I did not find that out the very +first day?” Then he recalled how Reine shrank from him when he solicited +a caress; how she insisted on their betrothal being kept secret, and +how many times she had postponed the date of the wedding. It was evident +that she had received him only in self-defence, and on the pleading of +Julien de Buxieres. Julien! the name threw a gleam of light across his +brain, hitherto as foggy as the country around him. Might not Julien be +the fortunate rival on whom Reine’s affections were so obstinately set? +Still, if she had always loved Monsieur de Buxieres, in what spirit of +perversity or thoughtlessness had she suffered the advances of another +suitor? + +Reine was no coquette, and such a course of action would be repugnant to +her frank, open nature. It was a profound enigma, which Claudet, who had +plenty of good common sense, but not much insight, was unable to solve. +But grief has, among its other advantages, the power of rendering our +perceptions more acute; and by dint of revolving the question in his +mind, Claudet at last became enlightened. Had not Reine simply followed +the impulse of her wounded feelings? She was very proud, and when the +man whom she secretly loved had come coolly forward to plead the +cause of one who was indifferent to her, would not her self-respect +be lowered, and would she not, in a spirit of bravado, accept the +proposition, in order that he might never guess the sufferings of her +spurned affections? There was no doubt, that, later, recognizing that +the task was beyond her strength, she had felt ashamed of deceiving +Claudet any longer, and, acting on the advice of the Abbe Pernot, had +made up her mind to break off a union that was repugnant to her. + +“Yes;” he repeated, mournfully to himself, “that must have been the way +it happened.” And with this kind of explanation of Reine’s actions, his +irritation seemed to lessen. Not that his grief was less poignant, but +the first burst of rage had spent itself like a great wind-storm, which +becomes lulled after a heavy fall of rain; the bitterness was toned +down, and he was enabled to reason more clearly. + +Julien--well, what was the part of Julien in all this disturbance? “If +what I imagine is true,” thought he, “Monsieur de Buxieres knows that +Reine loves him, but has he any reciprocal feeling for her? With a man +as mysterious as my cousin, it is not easy to find out what is going on +in his heart. Anyhow, I have no right to complain of him; as soon as +he discovered my love for Reine, did he not, besides ignoring his own +claim, offer spontaneously to take my message? Still, there is something +queer at the bottom of it all, and whatever it costs me, I am going to +find it out.” + +At this moment, through the misty air, he heard faintly the village +clock strike eleven. “Already so late! how the time flies, even when one +is suffering!” He bent his course toward the chateau, and, breathless +and excited, without replying to Manette’s inquiries, he burst into the +hall where his cousin was pacing up and down, waiting for breakfast. +At this sudden intrusion Julien started, and noted Claudet’s quick +breathing and disordered state. + +“Ho, ho!” exclaimed he, in his usual, sarcastic tone, “what a hurry +you are in! I suppose you have come to say the wedding-day is fixed at +last?” + +“No!” replied Claudet, briefly, “there will be no wedding.” + +Julien tottered, and turned to face his cousin. + +“What’s that? Are you joking?” + +“I am in no mood for joking. Reine will not have me; she has taken back +her promise.” + +While pronouncing these words, he scrutinized attentively his cousin’s +countenance, full in the light from the opposite window. He saw his +features relax, and his eyes glow with the same expression which he had +noticed a few days previous, when he had referred to the fact that Reine +had again postponed the marriage. + +“Whence comes this singular change?” stammered de Buxieres, visibly +agitated; “what reasons does Mademoiselle Vincart give in explanation?” + +“Idle words: her father’s health, disinclination to leave him. You may +suppose I take such excuses for what they are worth. The real cause of +her refusal is more serious and more mortifying.” + +“You know it, then?” exclaimed Julien, eagerly. + +“I know it, because I forced Reine to confess it.” + +“And the reason is?” + +“That she does not love me.” + +“Reine--does not love you!” + +Again a gleam of light irradiated the young man’s large, blue eyes. +Claudet was leaning against the table, in front of his cousin; he +continued slowly, looking him steadily in the face: + +“That is not all. Not only does Reine not love me, but she loves some +one else.” + +Julien changed color; the blood coursed over his cheeks, his forehead, +his ears; he drooped his head. + +“Did she tell you so?” he murmured, at last, feebly. + +“She did not, but I guessed it. Her heart is won, and I think I know by +whom.” + +Claudet had uttered these last words slowly and with a painful effort, +at the same time studying Julien’s countenance with renewed inquiry. The +latter became more and more troubled, and his physiognomy expressed both +anxiety and embarrassment. + +“Whom do you suspect?” he stammered. + +“Oh!” replied Claudet, employing a simple artifice to sound the obscure +depth of his cousin’s heart, “it is useless to name the person; you do +not know him.” + +“A stranger?” + +Julien’s countenance had again changed. His hands were twitching +nervously, his lips compressed, and his dilated pupils were blazing with +anger, instead of triumph, as before. + +“Yes; a stranger, a clerk in the iron-works at Grancey, I think.” + +“You think!--you think!” cried Julien, fiercely, “why don’t you have +more definite information before you accuse Mademoiselle Vincart of such +treachery?” + +He resumed pacing the hall, while his interlocutor, motionless, remained +silent, and kept his eyes steadily upon him. + +“It is not possible,” resumed Julien, “Reine can not have played us +such a trick! When I spoke to her for you, it was so easy to say she was +already betrothed!” + +“Perhaps,” objected Claudet, shaking his head, “she had reasons for not +letting you know all that was in her mind.” + +“What reasons?” + +“She doubtless believed at that time that the man she preferred did not +care for her. There are some people who, when they are vexed, act in +direct contradiction to their own wishes. I have the idea that Reine +accepted me only for want of some one better, and afterward, being too +openhearted to dissimulate for any length of time, she thought better of +it, and sent me about my business.” + +“And you,” interrupted Julien, sarcastically, “you, who had been +accepted as her betrothed, did not know better how to defend your rights +than to suffer yourself to be ejected by a rival, whose intentions, +even, you have not clearly ascertained!” + +“By Jove! how could I help it? A fellow that takes an unwilling bride +is playing for too high stakes. The moment I found there was another she +preferred, I had but one course before me--to take myself off.” + +“And you call that loving!” shouted de Buxieres, “you call that losing +your heart! God in heaven! if I had been in your place, how differently +I should have acted! Instead of leaving, with piteous protestations, +I should have stayed near Reine, I should have surrounded her with +tenderness. I should have expressed my passion with so much force that +its flame should pass from my burning soul to hers, and she would have +been forced to love me! Ah! If I had only thought! if I had dared! how +different it would have been!” + +He jerked out his sentences with unrestrained frenzy. He seemed hardly +to know what he was saying, or that he had a listener. Claudet stood +contemplating him in sullen silence: “Aha!” thought he, with bitter +resignation; “I have sounded you at last. I know what is in the bottom +of your heart.” + +Manette, bringing in the breakfast, interrupted their colloquy, and both +assumed an air of indifference, according to a tacit understanding that +a prudent amount of caution should be observed in her presence. They +ate hurriedly, and as soon as the cloth was removed, and they were +again alone, Julien, glancing with an indefinable expression at Claudet, +muttered savagely: + +“Well! what do you decide?” + +“I will tell you later,” responded the other, briefly. + +He quitted the room abruptly, told Manette that he would not be home +until late, and strode out across the fields, his dog following. He had +taken his gun as a blind, but it was useless for Montagnard to raise +his bark; Claudet allowed the hares to scamper away with out sending a +single shot after them. He was busy inwardly recalling the details +of the conversation he had had with his cousin. The situation now was +simplified Julien was in love with Reine, and was vainly combating his +overpowering passion. What reason had he for concealing his love? +What motive or reasoning had induced him, when he was already secretly +enamored of the girl, to push Claudet in front and interfere to procure +her acceptance of him as a fiance? This point alone remained obscure. +Was Julien carrying out certain theories of the respect due his position +in society, and did he fear to contract a misalliance by marrying a mere +farmer’s daughter? Or did he, with his usual timidity and distrust of +himself, dread being refused by Reine, and, half through pride, half +through backward ness, keep away for fear of a humiliating rejection? +With de Buxieres’s proud and suspicious nature, each of these +suppositions was equally likely. The conclusion most undeniable was, +that notwithstanding his set ideas and his moral cowardice, Julien had +an ardent and over powering love for Mademoiselle Vincart. As to Reine +herself, Claudet was more than ever convinced that she had a secret +inclination toward somebody, although she had denied the charge. But +for whom was her preference? Claudet knew the neighborhood too well to +believe the existence of any rival worth talking about, other than his +cousin de Buxieres. None of the boys of the village or the surrounding +towns had ever come courting old Father Vincart’s daughter, and de +Buxieres himself possessed sufficient qualities to attract Reine. +Certainly, if he were a girl, he never should fix upon Julien for a +lover; but women often have tastes that men can not comprehend, and +Julien’s refinement of nature, his bashfulness, and even his reserve, +might easily have fascinated a girl of such strong will and somewhat +peculiar notions. It was probable, therefore, that she liked him, +and perhaps had done so for a long time; but, being clear-sighted and +impartial, she could see that he never would marry her, because her +condition in life was not equal to his own. Afterward, when the man +she loved had flaunted his indifference so far as to plead the cause of +another, her pride had revolted, and in the blind agony of her wounded +feelings, she had thrown herself into the arms of the first comer, as if +to punish herself for entertaining loving thoughts of a man who could so +disdain her affection. + +So, by means of that lucid intuition which the heart alone can furnish, +Claudet at last succeeded in evolving the naked truth. But the fatiguing +labor of so much thinking, to which his brain was little accustomed, +and the sadness which continued to oppress him, overcame him to such an +extent that he was obliged to sit down and rest on a clump of brushwood. +He gazed over the woods and the clearings, which he had so often +traversed light of heart and of foot, and felt mortally unhappy. These +sheltering lanes and growing thickets, where he had so frequently +encountered Reine, the beautiful hunting-grounds in which he had taken +such delight, only awakened painful sensations, and he felt as if he +should grow to hate them all if he were obliged to pass the rest of his +days in their midst. As the day waned, the sinuosities of the forest +became more blended; the depth of the valleys was lost in thick vapors. +The wind had risen. The first falling leaves of the season rose and fell +like wounded birds; heavy clouds gathered in the sky, and the night was +coming on apace. Claudet was grateful for the sudden darkness, which +would blot out a view now so distasteful to him. Shortly, on the +Auberive side, along the winding Aubette, feeble lights became visible, +as if inviting the young man to profit by their guidance. He arose, +took the path indicated, and went to supper, or rather, to a pretence of +supper, in the same inn where he had breakfasted with Julien, whence the +latter had gone on his mission to Reine. This remembrance alone would +have sufficed to destroy his appetite. + +He did not remain long at table; he could not, in fact, stay many +minutes in one place, and so, notwithstanding the urgent insistence +of the hostess, he started on the way back to Vivey, feeling his way +through the profound darkness. When he reached the chateau, every one +was in bed. Noiselessly, his dog creeping after him, he slipped into his +room, and, overcome with fatigue, fell into a heavy slumber. + +The next morning his first visit was to Julien. He found him in a +nervous and feverish condition, having passed a sleepless night. +Claudet’s revelations had entirely upset his intentions, and planted +fresh thorns of jealousy in his heart. On first hearing that the +marriage was broken off, his heart had leaped for joy, and hope had +revived within him; but the subsequent information that Mademoiselle +Vincart was probably interested in some lover, as yet unknown, had +grievously sobered him. He was indignant at Reine’s duplicity, and +Claudet’s cowardly resignation. The agony caused by Claudet’s betrothal +was a matter of course, but this love-for-a-stranger episode was an +unexpected and mortal wound. He was seized with violent fits of rage; +he was sometimes tempted to go and reproach the young girl with what he +called her breach of faith, and then go and throw himself at her feet +and avow his own passion. + +But the mistrust he had of himself, and his incurable bashfulness, +invariably prevented these heroic resolutions from being carried out. He +had so long cultivated a habit of minute, fatiguing criticism upon every +inward emotion that he had almost incapacitated himself for vigorous +action. + +He was in this condition when Claudet came in upon him. At the noise of +the opening door, Julien raised his head, and looked dolefully at his +cousin. + +“Well?” said he, languidly. + +“Well!” retorted Claudet, bravely, “on thinking over what has been +happening during the last month, I have made sure of one thing of which +I was doubtful.” + +“Of what were you doubtful?” returned de Buxieres, quite ready to take +offence at the answer. + +“I am about to tell you. Do you remember the first conversation we had +together concerning Reine? You spoke of her with so much earnestness +that I then suspected you of being in love with her.” + +“I--I--hardly remember,” faltered Julien, coloring. + +“In that case, my memory is better than yours, Monsieur de Buxieres. +To-day, my suspicions have become certainties. You are in love with +Reine Vincart!” + +“I?” faintly protested his cousin. + +“Don’t deny it, but rather, give me your confidence; you will not be +sorry for it. You love Reine, and have loved her for a long while. +You have succeeded in hiding it from me because it is hard for you to +unbosom yourself; but, yesterday, I saw it quite plainly. You dare not +affirm the contrary!” + +Julien, greatly agitated, had hidden his face in his hands. After a +moment’s silence, he replied, defiantly: “Well, and supposing it is so? +What is the use of talking about it, since Reine’s affections are placed +elsewhere?” + +“Oh! that’s another matter. Reine has declined to have me, and I really +think she has some other affair in her head. Yet, to confess the truth, +the clerk at the iron-works was a lover of my own imagining; she never +thought of him.” + +“Then why did you tell such a lie?” cried Julien, impetuously. + +“Because I thought I would plead the lie to get at the truth. Forgive me +for having made use of this old trick to put you on the right track. It +wasn’t such a bad idea, for I succeeded in finding out what you took so +much pains to hide from me.” + +“To hide from you? Yes, I did wish to hide it from you. Wasn’t that +right, since I was convinced that Reine loved you?” exclaimed Julien, +in an almost stifled voice, as if the avowal were choking him. “I have +always thought it idle to parade one’s feelings before those who do not +care about them.” + +“You were wrong,” returned poor Claudet, sighing deeply, “if you had +spoken for yourself, I have an idea you would have been better received, +and you would have spared me a terrible heart-breaking.” + +He said it with such profound sadness that Julien, notwithstanding the +absorbing nature of his own thoughts, was quite overcome, and almost +on the point of confessing, openly, the intensity of his feeling toward +Reine Vincart. But, accustomed as he was, by long habit, to concentrate +every emotion within himself, he found it impossible to become, all +at once, communicative; he felt an invincible and almost maidenly +bashfulness at the idea of revealing the secret sentiments of his soul, +and contented himself with saying, in a low voice: + +“Do you not love her any more, then?” + +“I? oh, yes, indeed! But to be refused by the only girl I ever wished to +marry takes all the spirit out of me. I am so discouraged, I feel like +leaving the country. If I were to go, it would perhaps be doing you a +service, and that would comfort me a little. You have treated me as a +friend, and that is a thing one doesn’t forget. I have not the means to +pay you back for your kindness, but I think I should be less sorry to +go if my departure would leave the way more free for you to return to La +Thuiliere.” + +“You surely would not leave on my account?” exclaimed Julien, in alarm. + +“Not solely on your account, rest assured. If Reine had loved me, it +never would have entered my head to make such a sacrifice for you, but +she will not have me. I am good for nothing here. I am only in your +way.” + +“But that is a wild idea! Where would you go?” + +“Oh! there would be no difficulty about that. One plan would be to go +as a soldier. Why not? I am hardy, a good walker, a good shot, can stand +fatigue; I have everything needed for military life. It is an occupation +that I should like, and I could earn my epaulets as well as my neighbor. +So that perhaps, Monsieur de Buxieres, matters might in that way be +arranged to suit everybody.” + +“Claudet!” stammered Julien, his voice thick with sobs, “you are a +better man than I! Yes; you are a better man than I!” + +And, for the first time, yielding to an imperious longing for expansion, +he sprang toward the grand chasserot, clasped him in his arms, and +embraced him fraternally. + +“I will not let you expatriate yourself on my account,” he continued; +“do not act rashly, I entreat!” + +“Don’t worry,” replied Claudet, laconically, “if I so decide, it will +not be without deliberation.” + +In fact, during the whole of the ensuing week, he debated in his mind +this question of going away. Each day his position at Vivey seemed +more unbearable. Without informing any one, he had been to Langres +and consulted an officer of his acquaintance on the subject of the +formalities required previous to enrolment. + +At last, one morning he resolved to go over to the military division and +sign his engagement. But he was not willing to consummate this sacrifice +without seeing Reine Vincart for the last time. He was nursing, down in +the bottom of his heart, a vague hope, which, frail and slender as the +filament of a plant, was yet strong enough to keep him on his native +soil. Instead of taking the path to Vivey, he made a turn in the +direction of La Thuiliere, and soon reached the open elevation whence +the roofs of the farm-buildings and the turrets of the chateau could +both alike be seen. There he faltered, with a piteous sinking of the +heart. Only a few steps between himself and the house, yet he hesitated +about entering; not that he feared a want of welcome, but because he +dreaded lest the reawakening of his tenderness should cause him to +lose a portion of the courage he should need to enable him to leave. +He leaned against the trunk of an old pear-tree and surveyed the forest +site on which the farm was built. + +The landscape retained its usual placidity. In the distance, over the +waste lands, the shepherd Tringuesse was following his flock of sheep, +which occasionally scattered over the fields, and then, under the +dog’s harassing watchfulness, reformed in a compact group, previous to +descending the narrow hill-slope. One thing struck Claudet: the pastures +and the woods bore exactly the same aspect, presented the same play of +light and shade as on that afternoon of the preceding year, when he had +met Reine in the Ronces woods, a few days before the arrival of +Julien. The same bright yet tender tint reddened the crab-apple and the +wild-cherry; the tomtits and the robins chirped as before, among +the bushes, and, as in the previous year, one heard the sound of the +beechnuts and acorns dropping on the rocky paths. Autumn went through +her tranquil rites and familiar operations, always with the same +punctual regularity; and all this would go on just the same when Claudet +was no longer there. There would only be one lad the less in the +village streets, one hunter failing to answer the call when they were +surrounding the woods of Charbonniere. This dim perception of how small +a space man occupies on the earth, and of the ease with which he is +forgotten, aided Claudet unconsciously in his effort to be resigned, +and he determined to enter the house. As he opened the gate of the +courtyard, he found himself face to face with Reine, who was coming out. + +The young girl immediately supposed he had come to make a last assault, +in the hope of inducing her to yield to his wishes. She feared a renewal +of the painful scene which had closed their last interview, and her +first impulse was to put herself on her guard. Her countenance darkened, +and she fixed a cold, questioning gaze upon Claudet, as if to keep him +at a distance. But, when she noted the sadness of her young relative’s +expression, she was seized with pity. Making an effort, however, to +disguise her emotion, she pretended to accost him with the calm and +cordial friendship of former times. + +“Why, good-morning, Claudet,” said she, “you come just in time. A +quarter of an hour later you would not have found me. Will you come in +and rest a moment?” + +“Thanks, Reine,” said he, “I will not hinder you in your work. But I +wanted to say, I am sorry I got angry the other day; you were right, we +must not leave each other with ill-feeling, and, as I am going away for +a long time, I desire first to take your hand in friendship.” + +“You are going away?” + +“Yes; I am going now to Langres to enroll myself as a soldier. And true +it is, one knows when one goes away, but it is hard to know when one +will come back. That is why I wanted to say good-by to you, and make +peace, so as not to go away with too great a load on my heart.” + +All Reine’s coldness melted away. This young fellow, who was leaving +his country on her account, was the companion of her infancy, more than +that, her nearest relative. Her throat swelled, her eyes filled with +tears. She turned away her head, that he might not perceive her emotion, +and opened the kitchen-door. + +“Come in, Claudet,” said she, “we shall be more comfortable in the +dining-room. We can talk there, and you will have some refreshment +before you go, will you not?” + +He obeyed, and followed her into the house. She went herself into the +cellar, to seek a bottle of old wine, brought two glasses, and filled +them with a trembling hand. + +“Shall you remain long in the service?” asked she. + +“I shall engage for seven years.” + +“It is a hard life that you are choosing.” + +“What am I to do?” replied he, “I could not stay here doing nothing.” + +Reine went in and out of the room in a bewildered fashion. Claudet, too +much excited to perceive that the young girl’s impassiveness was only on +the surface, said to himself: “It is all over; she accepts my departure +as an event perfectly natural; she treats me as she would Theotime, the +coal-dealer, or the tax-collector Boucheseiche. A glass of wine, two or +three unimportant questions, and then, good-by-a pleasant journey, and +take care of yourself!” + +Then he made a show of taking an airy, insouciant tone. + +“Oh, well!” he exclaimed, “I’ve always been drawn toward that kind of +life. A musket will be a little heavier than a gun, that’s all; then I +shall see different countries, and that will change my ideas.” He tried +to appear facetious, poking around the kitchen, and teasing the magpie, +which was following his footsteps with inquisitive anxiety. Finally, +he went up to the old man Vincart, who was lying stretched out in his +picture-lined niche. He took the flabby hand of the paralytic old man, +pressed it gently and endeavored to get up a little conversation with +him, but he had it all to himself, the invalid staring at him all the +time with uneasy, wide-open eyes. Returning to Reine, he lifted his +glass. + +“To your health, Reine!” said he, with forced gayety, “next time we +clink glasses together, I shall be an experienced soldier--you’ll see!” + +But, when he put the glass to his lips, several big tears fell in, and +he had to swallow them with his wine. + +“Well!” he sighed, turning away while he passed the back of his hand +across his eyes, “it must be time to go.” + +She accompanied him to the threshold. + +“Adieu, Reine!” + +“Adieu!” she murmured, faintly. + +She stretched out both hands, overcome with pity and remorse. He +perceived her emotion, and thinking that she perhaps still loved him +a little, and repented having rejected him, threw his arms impetuously +around her. He pressed her against his bosom, and imprinted kisses, wet +with tears, upon her cheek. He could not leave her, and redoubled his +caresses with passionate ardor, with the ecstasy of a lover who suddenly +meets with a burst of tenderness on the part of the woman he has +tenderly loved, and whom he expects never to fold again in his arms. +He completely lost his self-control. His embrace became so ardent that +Reine, alarmed at the sudden outburst, was overcome with shame and +terror, notwithstanding the thought that the man, who was clasping her +in his arms with such passion, was her own brother. + +She tore herself away from him and pushed him violently back. + +“Adieu!” she cried, retreating to the kitchen, of which she hastily shut +the door. + +Claudet stood one moment, dumfounded, before the door so pitilessly shut +in his face, then, falling suddenly from his happy state of illusion to +the dead level of reality, departed precipitately down the road. + +When he turned to give a parting glance, the farm buildings were no +longer visible, and the waste lands of the forest border, gray, stony, +and barren, stretched their mute expanse before him. + +“No!” exclaimed he, between his set teeth, “she never loved me. She +thinks only of the other man! I have nothing more to do but go away and +never return!” + + + + +CHAPTER IX. LOVE HEALS THE BROKEN HEART + +In arriving at Langres, Claudet enrolled in the seventeenth battalion of +light infantry. Five days later, paying no attention to the lamentations +of Manette, he left Vivey, going, by way of Lyon, to the camp at +Lathonay, where his battalion was stationed. Julien was thus left alone +at the chateau to recover as best he might from the dazed feeling +caused by the startling events of the last few weeks. After Claudet’s +departure, he felt an uneasy sensation of discomfort, and as if he +himself had lessened in value. He had never before realized how little +space he occupied in his own dwelling, and how much living heat Claudet +had infused into the house which was now so cold and empty. He felt poor +and diminished in spirit, and was ashamed of being so useless to +himself and to others. He had before him a prospect of new duties, +which frightened him. The management of the district, which Claudet had +undertaken for him, would now fall entirely on his shoulders, and just +at the time of the timber sales and the renewal of the fences. Besides +all this, he had Manette on his conscience, thinking he ought to try +to soften her grief at her son’s unexpected departure. The ancient +housekeeper was like Rachel, she refused to be comforted, and her +temper was not improved by her recent trials. She filled the air +with lamentations, and seemed to consider Julien responsible for her +troubles. The latter treated her with wonderful patience and indulgence, +and exhausted his ingenuity to make her time pass more pleasantly. This +was the first real effort he had made to subdue his dislikes and his +passive tendencies, and it had the good effect of preparing him, by +degrees, to face more serious trials, and to take the initiative in +matters of greater importance. He discovered that the energy he expended +in conquering a first difficulty gave him more ability to conquer the +second, and from that result he decided that the will is like a muscle, +which shrivels in inaction and is developed by exercise; and he made +up his mind to attack courageously the work before him, although it had +formerly appeared beyond his capabilities. + +He now rose always at daybreak. Gaitered like a huntsman, and escorted +by Montagnard, who had taken a great liking to him, he would proceed to +the forest, visit the cuttings, hire fresh workmen, familiarize himself +with the woodsmen, interest himself in their labors, their joys and +their sorrows; then, when evening came, he was quite astonished to find +himself less weary, less isolated, and eating with considerable appetite +the supper prepared for him by Manette. Since he had been traversing +the forest, not as a stranger or a person of leisure, but with the +predetermination to accomplish some useful work, he had learned to +appreciate its beauties. The charms of nature and the living creatures +around no longer inspired him with the defiant scorn which he had +imbibed from his early solitary life and his priestly education; he now +viewed them with pleasure and interest. In proportion, as his sympathies +expanded and his mind became more virile, the exterior world presented a +more attractive appearance to him. + +While this work of transformation was going on within him, he was aided +and sustained by the ever dear and ever present image of Reine Vincart. +The trenches, filled with dead leaves, the rows of beech-trees, stripped +of their foliage by the rude breath of winter, the odor peculiar +to underwood during the dead season, all recalled to his mind the +impressions he had received while in company with the woodland queen. +Now that, he could better understand the young girl’s adoration of the +marvellous forest world, he sought out, with loving interest, the sites +where she had gone into ecstasy, the details of the landscape which she +had pointed out to him the year before, and had made him admire. The +beauty of the scene was associated in his thoughts with Reine’s love, +and he could not think of either separately. But, notwithstanding the +steadfastness and force of his love, he had not yet made any effort to +see Mademoiselle Vincart. At first, the increase of occupation caused +by Claudet’s departure, the new duties devolving upon him, together with +his inexperience, had prevented Julien from entertaining the possibility +of renewing relations that had been so violently sundered. Little by +little, however; as he reviewed the situation of affairs, which his +cousin’s generous sacrifice had engendered, he began to consider how he +could benefit thereby. Claudet’s departure had left the field free, but +Julien felt no more confidence in himself than before. The fact that +Reine had so unaccountably refused to marry the grand chasserot did +not seem to him sufficient encouragement. Her motive was a secret, +and therefore, of doubtful interpretation. Besides, even if she were +entirely heart-whole, was that a reason why she should give Julien a +favorable reception? Could she forget the cruel insult to which he had +subjected her? And immediately after that outrageous behavior of his, he +had had the stupidity to make a proposal for Claudet. That was the kind +of affront, thought he, that a woman does not easily forgive, and the +very idea of presenting himself before her made his heart sink. He had +seen her only at a distance, at the Sunday mass, and every time he +had endeavored to catch her eye she had turned away her head. She also +avoided, in every way, any intercourse with the chateau. Whenever a +question arose, such as the apportionment of lands, or the allotment of +cuttings, which would necessitate her having recourse to M. de Buxieres, +she would abstain from writing herself, and correspond only through +the notary, Arbillot. Claudet’s heroic departure, therefore, had really +accomplished nothing; everything was exactly at the same point as the +day after Julien’s unlucky visit to La Thuiliere, and the same futile +doubts and fears agitated him now as then. It also occurred to him, that +while he was thus debating and keeping silence, days, weeks, and months +were slipping away; that Reine would soon reach her twenty-third year, +and that she would be thinking of marriage. It was well known that she +had some fortune, and suitors were not lacking. Even allowing that she +had no afterthought in renouncing Claudet, she could not always live +alone at the farm, and some day she would be compelled to accept a +marriage of convenience, if not of love. + +“And to think,” he would say to himself, “that she is there, only a +few steps away, that I am consumed with longing, that I have only +to traverse those pastures, to throw myself at her feet, and that I +positively dare not! Miserable wretch that I am, it was last spring, +while we were in that but together, that I should have spoken of my +love, instead of terrifying her with my brutal caresses! Now it is too +late! I have wounded and humiliated her; I have driven away Claudet, who +would at any rate have made her a stalwart lover, and I have made +two beings unhappy, without counting myself. So much for my miserable +shufflings and evasion! Ah! if one could only begin life over again!” + +While thus lamenting his fate, the march of time went steadily on, with +its pitiless dropping out of seconds, minutes, and hours. The worst part +of winter was over; the March gales had dried up the forests; April was +tingeing the woods with its tender green; the song of the cuckoo was +already heard in the tufted bowers, and the festival of St. George had +passed. + +Taking advantage of an unusually clear day, Julien went to visit a farm, +belonging to him, in the plain of Anjeures, on the border of the forest +of Maigrefontaine. After breakfasting with the farmer, he took the way +home through the woods, so that he might enjoy the first varied effects +of the season. + +The forest of Maigrefontaine, situated on the slope of a hill, was full +of rocky, broken ground, interspersed with deep ravines, along which +narrow but rapid streams ran to swell the fishpond of La Thuiliere. +Julien had wandered away from the road, into the thick of the forest +where the budding vegetation was at its height, where the lilies +multiply and the early spring flowers disclose their umbellshaped +clusters, full of tiny, white stars. The sight of these blossoms, which +had such a tender meaning for him, since he had identified the name with +that of Reine, brought vividly before him the beloved image of the +young girl. He walked slowly and languidly on, heated by his feverish +recollections and desires, tormented by useless self-reproach, and +physically intoxicated by the balmy atmosphere and the odor of the +flowering shrubs at his feet. Arriving at the edge of a somewhat deep +pit, he tried to leap across with a single bound, but, whether he made +a false start, or that he was weakened and dizzy with the conflicting +emotions with which he had been battling, he missed his footing and +fell, twisting his ankle, on the side of the embankment. He rose with an +effort and put his foot to the ground, but a sharp pain obliged him to +lean against the trunk of a neighboring ash-tree. His foot felt as heavy +as lead, and every time he tried to straighten it his sufferings were +intolerable. All he could do was to drag himself along from one tree to +another until he reached the path. + +Exhausted by this effort; he sat down on the grass, unbuttoned +his gaiter, and carefully unlaced his boot. His foot had swollen +considerably. He began to fear he had sprained it badly, and wondered +how he could get back to Vivey. Should he have to wait on this lonely +road until some woodcutter passed, who would take him home? Montagnard, +his faithful companion, had seated himself in front of him, and +contemplated him with moist, troubled eyes, at the same time emitting +short, sharp whines, which seemed to say: + +“What is the matter?” and, “How are we going to get out of this?” + +Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching. He perceived a flutter of white +skirts behind the copse, and just at the moment he was blessing the +lucky chance that had sent some one in that direction, his eyes were +gladdened with a sight of the fair visage of Reine. + +She was accompanied by a little girl of the village, carrying a basket +full of primroses and freshly gathered ground ivy. Reine was quite +familiar with all the medicinal herbs of the country, and gathered them +in their season, in order to administer them as required to the people +of the farm. When she was within a few feet of Julien, she recognized +him, and her brow clouded over; but almost immediately she noticed his +altered features and that one of his feet was shoeless, and divined that +something unusual had happened. Going straight up to him, she said: + +“You seem to be suffering, Monsieur de Buxieres. What is the matter?” + +“A--a foolish accident,” replied he, putting on a careless manner. “I +fell and sprained my ankle.” + +The young girl knit her brows with an anxious expression; then, after a +moment’s hesitation; she said: + +“Will you let me see your foot? My mother understood about bone-setting, +and I have been told that I inherit her gift of curing sprains.” + +She drew from the basket an empty bottle and a handkerchief. + +“Zelie,” said she to the little damsel, who was standing astonished at +the colloquy, “go quickly down to the stream, and fill this bottle.” + +While she was speaking, Julien, greatly embarrassed, obeyed her +suggestions, and uncovered his foot. Reine, without any prudery or +nonsense, raised the wounded limb, and felt around cautiously. + +“I think,” said she at last, “that the muscles are somewhat injured.” + +Without another word, she tore the handkerchief into narrow strips, and +poured the contents of the bottle, which Zelie had filled, slowly over +the injure member, holding her hand high for that purpose. Then, with a +soft yet firm touch, she pressed the injured muscles into their places, +while Julien bit his lips and did his very utmost to prevent her seeing +how much he was suffering. After this massage treatment, the young +girl bandaged the ankle tightly with the linen bands, and fastened them +securely with pins. + +“There,” said she, “now try to put on your shoe and stocking; they will +give support to the muscles. Now you, Zelie, run, fit to break your +neck, to the farm, make them harness the wagon, and tell them to bring +it here, as close to the path as possible.” + +The girl picked up her basket and started on a trot. + +“Monsieur de Buxieres;” said Reine, “do you think you can walk as far as +the carriage road, by leaning on my arm?” + +“Yes;” he replied, with a grateful glance which greatly embarrassed +Mademoiselle Vincart, “you have relieved me as if by a miracle. I feel +much better and as if I could go anywhere you might lead, while leaning +on your arm!” + +She helped him to rise, and he took a few steps with her aid. + +“Why, it feels really better,” sighed he. + +He was so happy in feeling himself thus tenderly supported by Reine, +that he altogether forgot his pain. + +“Let us walk slowly,” continued she, “and do not be afraid to lean on +me. All you have to think of is reaching the carriage.” + +“How good you are,” stammered he, “and how ashamed I am!” + +“Ashamed of what?” returned Reine, hastily. “I have done nothing +extraordinary; anyone else would have acted in the same manner.” + +“I entreat you,” replied he, earnestly, “not to spoil my happiness. I +know very well that the first person who happened to pass would have +rendered me some charitable assistance; but the thought that it is +you--you alone--who have helped me, fills me with delight, at: the same +time that it increases my remorse. I so little deserve that you should +interest yourself in my behalf!” + +He waited, hoping perhaps that she would ask for an explanation, but, +seeing that she did not appear to understand, he added: + +“I have offended you. I have misunderstood you, and I have been cruelly +punished for my mistake. But what avails my tardy regret in healing +the injuries I have inflicted! Ah! if one could only go backward, and +efface, with a single stroke, the hours in which one has been blind and +headstrong!” + +“Let us not speak of that!” replied she, shortly, but in a singularly +softened tone. + +In spite of herself, she was touched by this expression of repentance, +so naively acknowledged in broken, disconnected sentences, vibrating +with the ring of true sincerity. In proportion as he abased himself, her +anger diminished, and she recognized that she loved him just the same, +notwithstanding his defects, his weakness, and his want of tact and +polish. She was also profoundly touched by his revealing to her, for the +first time, a portion of his hidden feelings. + +They had become silent again, but they felt nearer to each other than +ever before; their secret thoughts seemed to be transmitted to each +other; a mute understanding was established between them. She lent him +the support of her arm with more freedom, and the young man seemed to +experience fresh delight in her firm and sympathetic assistance. + +Progressing slowly, although more quickly than they would have chosen +themselves, they reached the foot of the path, and perceived the wagon +waiting on the beaten road. Julien mounted therein with the aid of +Reine and the driver. When he was stretched on the straw, which had +been spread for him on the bottom of the wagon, he leaned forward on +the side, and his eyes met those of Reine. For a few moments their +gaze seemed riveted upon each other, and their mutual understanding was +complete. These few, brief moments contained a whole confession of +love; avowals mingled with repentance, promises of pardon, tender +reconciliation! + +“Thanks!” he sighed at last, “will you give me your hand?” + +She gave it, and while he held it in his own, Reine turned toward the +driver on the seat. + +“Felix,” said she, warningly, “drive slowly and avoid the ruts. +Good-night, Monsieur de Buxieres, send for the doctor as soon as you +get in, and all will be well. I will send to inquire how you are getting +along.” + +She turned and went pensively down the road to La Thuiliere, while the +carriage followed slowly the direction to Vivey. + +The doctor, being sent for immediately on Julien’s arrival, pronounced +it a simple sprain, and declared that the preliminary treatment had been +very skilfully applied, that the patient had now only to keep perfectly +still. Two days later came La Guite from Reine, to inquire after M. +de Buxieres’s health. She brought a large bunch of lilies which +Mademoiselle Vincart had sent to the patient, to console him for not +being able to go in the woods, which Julien kept for several days close +by his side. + +This accident, happening at Maigrefontaine, and providentially attended +to by Reine Vincart, the return to the chateau in the vehicle belonging +to La Thuiliere, the sending of the lilies, were all a source of great +mystification to Manette. She suspected some amorous mystery in all +these events, commented somewhat uncharitably on every minor detail, +and took care to carry her comments all over the village. Very soon +the entire parish, from the most insignificant woodchopper to the +Abbe Pernot himself, were made aware that there was something going on +between M. de Buxieres and the daughter of old M. Vincart. + +In the mean time, Julien, quite unconscious that his love for Reine was +providing conversation for all the gossips of the country, was cursing +the untoward event that kept him stretched in his invalid-chair. At +last, one day, he discovered he could put his foot down and walk a +little with the assistance of his cane; a few days after, the doctor +gave him permission to go out of doors. His first visit was to La +Thuiliere. + +He went there in the afternoon and found Reine in the kitchen, seated +by the side of her paralytic father, who was asleep. She was reading a +newspaper, which she retained in her hand, while rising to receive her +visitor. After she had congratulated him on his recovery, and he had +expressed his cordial thanks for her timely aid, she showed him the +paper. + +“You find me in a state of disturbance,” said she, with a slight degree +of embarrassment, “it seems that we are going to have war and that our +troops have entered Italy. Have you any news of Claudet?” + +Julien started. This was the last remark he could have expected. +Claudet’s name had not been once mentioned in their interview at +Maigrefontaine, and he had nursed the hope that Reine thought no longer +about him. + +All his mistrust returned in a moment on hearing this name come from +the young girl’s lips the moment he entered the house, and seeing the +emotion which the news in the paper had caused her. + +“He wrote me a few days ago,” replied he. + +“Where is he?” + +“In Italy, with his battalion, which is a part of the first army corps. +His last letter is dated from Alexandria.” + +Reine’s eyes suddenly filled with tears, and she gazed absently at the +distant wooded horizon. + +“Poor Claudet!” murmured she, sighing, “what is he doing just now, I +wonder?” + +“Ah!” thought Julien, his visage darkening, “perhaps she loves him +still!” + +Poor Claudet! At the very time they are thus talking about him at the +farm, he is camping with his battalion near Voghera, on the banks of one +of the obscure tributaries of the river Po, in a country rich in waving +corn, interspersed with bounteous orchards and hardy vines climbing up +to the very tops of the mulberry-trees. His battalion forms the extreme +end of the advance guard, and at the approach of night, Claudet is on +duty on the banks of the stream. It is a lovely May night, irradiated +by millions of stars, which, under the limpid Italian sky, appear larger +and nearer to the watcher than they appeared in the vaporous atmosphere +of the Haute-Marne. + +Nightingales are calling to one another among the trees of the orchard, +and the entire landscape seems imbued with their amorous music. What +ecstasy to listen to them! What serenity their liquid harmonies spread +over the smiling landscape, faintly revealing its beauties in the mild +starlight. + +Who would think that preparations for deadly combat were going on +through the serenity of such a night? Occasionally a sharp exchange of +musketry with the advanced post of the enemy bursts upon the ear, and +all the nightingales keep silence. Then, when quiet is restored in the +upper air, the chorus of spring songsters begins again. Claudet leans +on his gun, and remembers that at this same hour the nightingales in the +park at Vivey, and in the garden of La Thuiliere, are pouring forth +the same melodies. He recalls the bright vision of Reine: he sees her +leaning at her window, listening to the same amorous song issuing from +the coppice woods of Maigrefontaine. His heart swells within him, and an +over-powering homesickness takes possession of him. But the next moment +he is ashamed of his weakness, he remembers his responsibility, primes +his ear, and begins investigating the dark hollows and rising hillocks +where an enemy might hide. + +The next morning, May 20th, he is awakened by a general hubbub and noise +of fighting. The battalion to which he belongs has made an attack upon +Montebello, and is sending its sharpshooters among the cornfields and +vineyards. Some of the regiments invade the rice-fields, climb the walls +of the vineyards, and charge the enemy’s column-ranks. The sullen +roar of the cannon alternates with the sharp report of guns, and whole +showers of grape-shot beat the air with their piercing whistle. All +through the uproar of guns and thunder of the artillery, you can +distinguish the guttural hurrahs of the Austrians, and the broken oaths +of the French troopers. The trenches are piled with dead bodies, the +trumpets sound the attack, the survivors, obeying an irresistible +impulse, spring to the front. The ridges are crested with human masses +swaying to and fro, and the first red uniform is seen in the streets of +Montebello, in relief against the chalky facades bristling with Austrian +guns, pouring forth their ammunition on the enemy below. The soldiers +burst into the houses, the courtyards, the enclosures; every instant +you hear the breaking open of doors, the crashing of windows, and +the scuffling of the terrified inmates. The white uniforms retire in +disorder. The village belongs to the French! Not just yet, though. +From the last houses on the street, to the entrance of the cemetery, +is rising ground, and just behind stands a small hillock. The enemy has +retrenched itself there, and, from its cannons ranged in battery, is +raining a terrible shower on the village just evacuated. + +The assailants hesitate, and draw back before this hailstorm of iron; +suddenly a general appears from under the walls of a building already +crumbling under the continuous fire, spurs his horse forward, and +shouts: “Come, boys, let us carry the fort!” + +Among the first to rally to this call, one rifleman in particular, a +fine, broad-shouldered active fellow, with a brown moustache and olive +complexion, darts forward to the point indicated. It is Claudet. Others +are behind him, and soon more than a hundred men, with their bayonets, +are hurling themselves along the cemetery road; the grand chasserot +leaps across the fields, as he used formerly in pursuit of the game in +the Charbonniere forest. The soldiers are falling right and left of +him, but he hardly sees them; he continues pressing forward, breathless, +excited, scarcely stopping to think. As he is crossing one of the +meadows, however, he notices the profusion of scarlet gladiolus and also +observes that the rye and barley grow somewhat sturdier here than in +his country; these are the only definite ideas that detach themselves +clearly from his seething brain. The wall of the cemetery is scaled; +they are fighting now in the ditches, killing one another on the side of +the hill; at last, the fort is taken and they begin routing the enemy. +But, at this moment, Claudet stoops to pick up a cartridge, a ball +strikes him in the forehead, and, without a sound, he drops to the +ground, among the noisome fennels which flourish in graveyards--he +drops, thinking of the clock of his native village. + + ...................... + +“I have sad news for you,” said Julien to Reine, as he entered the +garden of La Thuiliere, one June afternoon. + +He had received official notice the evening before, through the +mayor, of the decease of “Germain-Claudet Sejournant, volunteer in the +seventeenth battalion of light infantry, killed in an engagement with +the enemy, May 20, 1859.” + +Reine was standing between two hedges of large peasant-roses. At +the first words that fell from M. de Buxieres’s lips, she felt a +presentiment of misfortune. + +“Claudet?” murmured she. + +“He is dead,” replied Julien, almost inaudibly, “he fought bravely and +was killed at Montebello.” + +The young girl remained motionless, and for a moment de Buxieres +thought she would be able to bear, with some degree of composure, this +announcement of the death in a foreign country of a man whom she had +refused as a husband. Suddenly she turned aside, took two or three +steps, then leaning her head and folded arms on the trunk of an adjacent +tree, she burst into a passion of tears. The convulsive movement of her +shoulders and stifled sobs denoted the violence of her emotion. M. de +Buxieres, alarmed at this outbreak, which he thought exaggerated, felt +a return of his old misgivings. He was jealous now of the dead man whom +she was so openly lamenting. Her continued weeping annoyed him; he tried +to arrest her tears by addressing some consolatory remarks to her; +but, at the very first word, she turned away, mounted precipitately +the kitchen-stairs, and disappeared, closing the door behind her. Some +minutes after, La Guite brought a message to de Buxieres that Reine +wished to be alone, and begged him to excuse her. + +He took his departure, disconcerted, downhearted, and ready to weep +himself, over the crumbling of his hopes. As he was nearing the first +outlying houses of the village, he came across the Abbe Pernot, who was +striding along at a great rate, toward the chateau. + +“Ah!” exclaimed the priest, “how are you, Monsieur de Buxieres, I was +just going over to see you. Is it true that you have received bad news?” + +Julien nodded his head affirmatively, and informed the cure of the sad +notice he had received. The Abbe’s countenance lengthened, his mouth +took on a saddened expression, and during the next few minutes he +maintained an attitude of condolence. + +“Poor fellow!” he sighed, with a slight nasal intonation, “he did not +have a fair chance! To have to leave us at twenty-six years of age, +and in full health, it is very hard. And such a jolly companion; such a +clever shot!” + +Finally, not being naturally of a melancholy turn of mind, nor able +to remain long in a mournful mood, he consoled himself with one of the +pious commonplaces which he was in the habit of using for the benefit +of others: “The Lord is just in all His dealings, and holy in all His +works; He reckons the hairs of our heads, and our destinies are in His +hands. We shall celebrate a fine high mass for the repose of Claudet’s +soul.” + +He coughed, and raised his eyes toward Julien. + +“I wished,” continued he, “to see you for two reasons, Monsieur de +Buxieres: first of all, to hear about Claudet, and secondly, to speak to +you on a matter--a very delicate matter--which concerns you, but +which also affects the safety of another person and the dignity of the +parish.” + +Julien was gazing at him with a bewildered air. The cure pushed open the +little park gate, and passing through, added: + +“Let us go into your place; we shall be better able to talk over the +matter.” + +When they were underneath the trees, the Abbe resumed: + +“Monsieur de Buxieres, do you know that you are at this present time +giving occasion for the tongues of my parishioners to wag more than +is at all reasonable? Oh!” continued he, replying to a remonstrating +gesture of his companion, “it is unpremeditated on your part, I am sure, +but, all the same, they talk about you--and about Reine.” + +“About Mademoiselle Vincart?” exclaimed Julien, indignantly, “what can +they say about her?” + +“A great many things which are displeasing to me. They speak of your +having sprained your ankle while in the company of Reine Vincart; of +your return home in her wagon; of your frequent visits to La Thuiliere, +and I don’t know what besides. And as mankind, especially the female +portion, is more disposed to discover evil than good, they say you are +compromising this young person. Now, Reine is living, as one may say, +alone and unprotected. It behooves me, therefore, as her pastor, to +defend her against her own weakness. That is the reason why I have taken +upon myself to beg you to be more circumspect, and not trifle with her +reputation.” + +“Her reputation?” repeated Julien, with irritation. “I do not understand +you, Monsieur le Cure!” + +“You don’t, hey! Why, I explain my meaning pretty clearly. Human beings +are weak; it is easy to injure a girl’s reputation, when you try to make +yourself agreeable, knowing you can not marry her.” + +“And why could I not marry her?” inquired Julien, coloring deeply. + +“Because she is not in your own class, and you would not love her enough +to overlook the disparity, if marriage became necessary.” + +“What do you know about it?” returned Julien, with violence. “I have no +such foolish prejudices, and the obstacles would not come from my side. +But, rest easy, Monsieur,” continued he, bitterly, “the danger exists +only in the imagination of your parishioners. Reine has never cared for +me! It was Claudet she loved!” + +“Hm, hm!” interjected the cure, dubiously. + +“You would not doubt it,” insisted de Buxieres, provoked at the Abbe’s +incredulous movements of his head, “if you had seen her, as I saw her, +melt into tears when I told her of Sejournant’s death. She did not +even wait until I had turned my back before she broke out in her +lamentations. My presence was of very small account. Ah! she has but too +cruelly made me feel how little she cares for me!” + +“You love her very much, then?” demanded the Abbe, slyly, an almost +imperceptible smile curving his lips. + +“Oh, yes! I love her,” exclaimed he, impetuously; then coloring and +drooping his head. “But it is very foolish of me to betray myself, since +Reine cares nothing at all for me!” + +There was a moment of silence, during which the curb took a pinch of +snuff from a tiny box of cherry wood. + +“Monsieur de Buxieres;” said he, With a particularly oracular air, +“Claudet is dead, and the dead, like the absent, are always in the +wrong. But who is to say whether you are not mistaken concerning the +nature of Reine’s unhappiness? I will have that cleared up this very +day. Good-night; keep quiet and behave properly.” + +Thereupon he took his departure, but, instead of returning to the +parsonage, he directed his steps hurriedly toward La Thuiliere. +Notwithstanding a vigorous opposition from La Guite, he made use of his +pastoral authority to penetrate into Reine’s apartment, where he shut +himself up with her. What he said to her never was divulged outside the +small chamber where the interview took place. He must, however, have +found words sufficiently eloquent to soften her grief, for when he had +gone away the young girl descended to the garden with a soothed although +still melancholy mien. She remained a long time in meditation in the +thicket of roses, but her meditations had evidently no bitterness in +them, and a miraculous serenity seemed to have spread itself over her +heart like a beneficent balm. + +A few days afterward, during the unpleasant coolness of one of those +mornings, white with dew, which are the peculiar privilege of the +mountain-gorges in Langres, the bells of Vivey tolled for the dead, +announcing the celebration of a mass in memory of Claudet. The grand +chasserot having been a universal favorite with every one in the +neighborhood, the church was crowded. The steep descent from the high +plain overlooked the village. They came thronging in through the wooded +glens of Praslay; by the Auberive road and the forests of Charbonniere; +companions in hunting and social amusements, foresters and wearers +of sabots, campers in the woods, inmates of the farms embedded in the +forests--none failed to answer the call. The rustic, white-walled nave +was too narrow to contain them all, and the surplus flowed into the +street. Arbeltier, the village carpenter, had erected a rudimentary +catafalque, which was draped in black and bordered with wax tapers, and +placed in front of the altar steps. On the pall, embroidered with +silver tears, were arranged large bunches of wild flowers, sent from La +Thuiliere, and spreading an aromatic odor of fresh verdure around. The +Abbe Pernot, wearing his insignia of mourning, officiated. Through the +side windows were seen portions of the blue sky; the barking of the +dogs and singing of birds were heard in the distance; and even while +listening to the ‘Dies irae’, the curb could not help thinking of the +robust and bright young fellow who, only the year previous, had been so +joyously traversing the woods, escorted by Charbonneau and Montagnard, +and who was now lying in a foreign land, in the common pit of the little +cemetery of Montebello. + +As each verse of the funeral service was intoned, Manette Sejournant, +prostrate on her prie-dieu, interrupted the monotonous chant with +tumultuous sobs. Her grief was noisy and unrestrained, but those present +sympathized more with the quiet though profound sorrow of Reine Vincart. +The black dress of the young girl contrasted painfully with the dead +pallor of her complexion. She emitted no sighs, but, now and then, +a contraction of the lips, a trembling of the hands testified to the +inward struggle, and a single tear rolled slowly down her cheek. + +From the corner where he had chosen to stand alone, Julien de Buxieres +observed, with pain, the mute eloquence of her profound grief, and +became once more a prey to the fiercest jealousy. He could not help +envying the fate of this deceased, who was mourned in so tender a +fashion. Again the mystery of an attachment so evident and so tenacious, +followed by so strange a rupture, tormented his uneasy soul. “She must +have loved Claudet, since she is in mourning for him,” he kept repeating +to himself, “and if she loved him, why this rupture, which she herself +provoked, and which drove the unhappy man to despair?” + +At the close of the absolution, all the assistants defiled close beside +Julien, who was now standing in front of the catafalque. When it came to +Reine Vincart’s turn, she reached out her hand to M. de Buxieres; at the +same time, she gazed at him with such friendly sadness, and infused into +the clasp of her hand something so cordial and intimate that the young +man’s ideas were again completely upset. He seemed to feel as if it were +an encouragement to speak. When the men and women had dispersed, and a +surging of the crowd brought him nearer to Reine, he resolved to follow +her, without regard to the question of what people would say, or the +curious eyes that might be watching him. + +A happy chance came in his way. Reine Vincart had gone home by the path +along the outskirts of the wood and the park enclosure. Julien went +hastily back to the chateau, crossed the gardens, and followed an +interior avenue, parallel to the exterior one, from which he was +separated only by a curtain of linden and nut trees. He could just +distinguish, between the leafy branches, Reine’s black gown, as she +walked rapidly along under the ashtrees. At the end of the enclosure, he +pushed open a little gate, and came abruptly out on the forest path. + +On beholding him standing in advance of her, the young girl appeared +more surprised than displeased. After a momentary hesitation, she walked +quietly toward him. + +“Mademoiselle Reine,” said he then, gently, “will you allow me to +accompany you as far as La Thuiliere?” + +“Certainly,” she replied, briefly. + +She felt a presentiment that something decisive was about to take place +between her and Julien, and her voice trembled as she replied. Profiting +by the tacit permission, de Buxieres walked beside Reine; the path was +so narrow that their garments rustled against each other, yet he did +not seem in haste to speak, and the silence was interrupted only by the +occasional flight of a bird, or the crackling of some falling branches. + +“Reine,” said Julien, suddenly, “you have so often and so kindly +extended to me the hand of friendship, that I have decided to speak +frankly, and open my heart to you. I love you, Reine, and have loved you +for a long time. But I have been so accustomed to hide what I think, +I know so little how to conduct myself in the varying circumstances of +life, and I have so much mistrust of myself, that I never have dared to +tell you before now. This will explain to you my stupid behavior. I am +suffering the penalty to-day, for while I was hesitating, another took +my place; although he is dead, his shadow stands between us, and I know +that you love him still.” + +She listened to him with bent head and half-closed eyes, and her heart +began to beat violently. + +“I never have loved him in the way you suppose,” she replied, simply. + +A gleam of light shot through Julien’s melancholy blue eyes. Both +remained silent. The green pasture-lands, bathed in the full noonday +sun, were lying before them. The grasshoppers were chirping in the +bushes, and the skylarks were soaring aloft with their joyous songs. +Julien was endeavoring to extract the exact meaning from the reply he +had just heard. He was partly reassured, but some points had still to be +cleared up. + +“But still,” said he, “you are lamenting his loss.” + +A melancholy smile flitted for an instant over Reine’s pure, rosy lips. + +“Are you jealous of my tears?” said she, softly. + +“Oh, yes!” he exclaimed, with sudden exultation, “I love you so entirely +that I can not help envying Claudet his share in your affections! If +his death causes you such poignant regret, he must have been nearer and +dearer to you than those that survive.” + +“You might reasonably suppose otherwise,” replied she, almost in a +whisper, “since I refused to marry him.” + +He shook his head, seemingly unable to accept that positive statement. + +Then Reine began to reflect that a man of his distrustful and despondent +temperament would, unless the whole truth were revealed to him, be +forevermore tormented by morbid and injurious misgivings. She knew he +loved her, and she wished him to love her in entire faith and security. +She recalled the last injunctions she had received from the Abbe Pernot, +and, leaning toward Julien, with tearful eyes and cheeks burning with +shame, she whispered in his ear the secret of her close relationship to +Claudet. + +This painful and agitating confidence was made in so low a voice as to +be scarcely distinguished from the soft humming of the insects, or the +gentle twittering of the birds. + +The sun was shining everywhere; the woods were as full of verdure and +blossoms as on the day when the young man had manifested his passion +with such savage violence. Hardly had the last words of her avowal +expired on Reine’s lips, when Julien de Buxieres threw his arms around +her and fondly kissed away the tears from her eyes. + +This time he was not repelled. + + + ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS: + + Accustomed to hide what I think + Amusements they offered were either wearisome or repugnant + Consoled himself with one of the pious commonplaces + Dreaded the monotonous regularity of conjugal life + Fawning duplicity + Had not been spoiled by Fortune’s gifts + How small a space man occupies on the earth + Hypocritical grievances + I am not in the habit of consulting the law + I measure others by myself + It does not mend matters to give way like that + Like all timid persons, he took refuge in a moody silence + More disposed to discover evil than good + Nature’s cold indifference to our sufferings + Never is perfect happiness our lot + Opposing his orders with steady, irritating inertia + Others found delight in the most ordinary amusements + Plead the lie to get at the truth + Sensitiveness and disposition to self-blame + The ease with which he is forgotten + There are some men who never have had any childhood + Those who have outlived their illusions + Timidity of a night-bird that is made to fly in the day + To make a will is to put one foot into the grave + Toast and white wine (for breakfast) + Vague hope came over him that all would come right + Vexed, act in direct contradiction to their own wishes + Women: they are more bitter than death + Yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh their amusements + You have considerable patience for a lover + You must be pleased with yourself--that is more essential + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s A Woodland Queen, Complete, by Andre Theuriet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOODLAND QUEEN, COMPLETE *** + +***** This file should be named 3938-0.txt or 3938-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/3/3938/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/3938-0.zip b/3938-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4a1186 --- /dev/null +++ b/3938-0.zip diff --git a/3938-h.zip b/3938-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4d4311 --- /dev/null +++ b/3938-h.zip diff --git a/3938-h/3938-h.htm b/3938-h/3938-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9dec45a --- /dev/null +++ b/3938-h/3938-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8351 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + A Woodland Queen, by Andre Theuriet + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd7; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Woodland Queen, Complete, by Andre Theuriet + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Woodland Queen, Complete + +Author: Andre Theuriet + +Release Date: October 5, 2006 [EBook #3938] +Last Updated: August 23, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOODLAND QUEEN, COMPLETE *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + + <h1> + A WOODLAND QUEEN + </h1> + <h3> + (‘Reine des Bois’) + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Andre Theuriet + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + With a Preface by MELCHIOR DE VOGUE, of the French academy + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> ANDRE THEURIET </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>A WOODLAND QUEEN</b> </a><br /><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0003"> <b>BOOK 1.</b> </a> <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a>THE UNFINISHED WILL <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a>THE HEIR TO VIVEY <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a>CONSCIENCE HIGHER THAN THE LAW + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> <b>BOOK 2.</b> </a> <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a>THE DAWN OF LOVE <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a>LOVE’S INDISCRETION <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a>LOVE BY PROXY <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0011"> <b>BOOK 3.</b> </a> <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a>THE STRANGE, DARK SECRET <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a>LOVE’S SAD + ENDING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a>LOVE HEALS + THE BROKEN HEART <br /><br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + ANDRE THEURIET + </h2> + <p> + CLAUDE-ADHEMAR-ANDRE THEURIET was born at Marly-le-Roi (Seine et Oise), + October 8,1833. His ancestors came from Lorraine. He was educated at + Bar-le-Duc and went to Paris in 1854 to study jurisprudence. After + finishing his courses he entered the Department of the Treasury, and after + an honorable career there, resigned as chef-de-bureau. He is a poet, a + dramatist, but, above all, a writer of great fiction. + </p> + <p> + As early as 1857 the poems of Theuriet were printed in the ‘Revue de + Paris’ and the ‘Revue des Deux Mondes’. His greatest novel, ‘Reine des + Bois’ (Woodland Queen), was crowned by the Academie Francaise in 1890. To + the public in general he became first known in 1870 by his ‘Nouvelles + Intimes’. Since that time he has published a great many volumes of poems, + drama, and fiction. A great writer, he perhaps meets the wishes of that + large class of readers who seek in literature agreeable rest and + distraction, rather than excitement or aesthetic gratification. He is one + of the greatest spirits that survived the bankruptcy of Romanticism. He + excels in the description of country nooks and corners; of that polite + rusticity which knows nothing of the delving laborers of ‘La Terre’, but + only of graceful and learned leisure, of solitude nursed in revery, and of + passion that seems the springtide of germinating nature. He possesses + great originality and the passionate spirit of a ‘paysagiste’: pictures of + provincial life and family-interiors seem to appeal to his most pronounced + sympathies. His taste is delicate, his style healthy and frank, and at the + same time limpid and animated. + </p> + <p> + After receiving, in 1890, the Prix Vitet for the ensemble of his literary + productions, he was elected to the Academy in 1896. To the stage Theuriet + has given ‘Jean-Marie’, drama in verses (Odeon, February 11, 1871). It is + yet kept on the repertoire together with his ‘Maison de deux Barbeaux + (1865), Raymonde (1887), and Les Maugars (1901).’ + </p> + <p> + His novels, tales, and poems comprise a long list. ‘Le Bleu et le Noir’ + (1873) was also crowned by the Academy. Then followed, at short intervals: + ‘Mademoiselle Guignon (1874.); Le Mariage de Gerard (1875); La Fortune + d’Angele (1876); Raymonde (1877),’ a romance of modern life, vastly + esteemed by the reading public; ‘Le Don Juan de Vireloup (1877); Sous + Bois, Impressions d’un Forestier (1878); Le Filleul d’un Marquis (1878); + Les Nids (1879); Le fils Maugars (1879); La Maison de deux Barbeaux + (1879); Toute seule (1880); Sauvageonne (1880), his most realistic work; + Les Enchantements de la Foret (1881); Le Livre de la Payse (poetry, 1882); + Madame Heurteloup (1882); Peche de Jeunesse (1883); Le Journal de Tristan, + mostly autobiographical; Bigarreau (1885); Eusebe Lombard (1885); Les + OEillets de Kerlatz (1885); Helene (1886); Nos Oiseaux (beautiful verses, + 1886); La Vie Rustique (1887); Amour d’Automne (1888); Josette (1888); + Deux Soeurs (1889); Contes pour les Soirs d’Hiver (1890); Charme Dangereux + (1891); La Ronde des Saisons et des Mois (1889); La Charmeresse (1891); + Fleur de Nice (1896); Bois Fleury (1897); Refuge (1898); Villa Tranquille + (1899); Claudette (1900); La Petite Derniere (1901); Le Manuscrit du + Chanoine (1902), etc. + </p> + <p> + Besides this abundant production Andre Theuriet has also contributed to + various journals and magazines: ‘Le Moniteur, Le Musee Universal, + L’Illustration, Le Figaro, Le Gaulois, La Republique Francaise, etc.; he + has lectured in Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, and has even found + leisure to fill the post as Mayor of Bourg-la-Reine (Seine et Oise), + perhaps no onerous office (1882-1900). He has also been an ‘Officier de la + Legion d’Honneur’ since 1895. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + MELCHIOR DE VOGUE + de l’Academie Francaise. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A WOODLAND QUEEN + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK 1. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. THE UNFINISHED WILL + </h2> + <p> + Toward the middle of October, about the time of the beechnut harvest, M. + Eustache Destourbet, justice of the Peace of Auberive, accompanied by his + clerk, Etienne Seurrot, left his home at Abbatiale, in order to repair to + the Chateau of Vivey, where he was to take part in removing the seals on + some property whose owner had deceased. + </p> + <p> + At that period, 1857, the canton of Auberive, which stretches its massive + forests like a thick wall between the level plain of Langres and the + ancient Chatillonais, had but one main road of communication: that from + Langres to Bar-sur-Aube. The almost parallel adjacent route, from Auberive + to Vivey, was not then in existence; and in order to reach this last + commune, or hamlet, the traveller had to follow a narrow grass-bordered + path, leading through the forest up the hill of Charboniere, from the + summit of which was seen that intermingling of narrow gorges and wooded + heights which is so characteristic of this mountainous region. On all + sides were indented horizons of trees, among which a few, of more dominant + height, projected their sharp outlines against the sky; in the distance + were rocky steeps, with here and there a clump of brambles, down which + trickled slender rivulets; still farther, like little islands, half + submerged in a sea of foliage, were pastures of tender green dotted with + juniper bushes, almost black in their density, and fields of rye + struggling painfully through the stony soil—the entire scene + presenting a picture of mingled wildness and cultivation, aridity and + luxuriant freshness. + </p> + <p> + Justice Destourbet, having strong, wiry limbs, ascended cheerily the steep + mountain-path. His tall, spare figure, always in advance of his companion, + was visible through the tender green of the young oaks, clothed in a brown + coat, a black cravat, and a very high hat, which the justice, who loved + correctness in details, thought it his duty to don whenever called upon to + perform his judicial functions. The clerk, Seurrot, more obese, and of + maturer age, protuberant in front, and somewhat curved in the back, + dragged heavily behind, perspiring and out of breath, trying to keep up + with his patron, who, now and then seized with compassion, would come to a + halt and wait for his subordinate. + </p> + <p> + “I trust,” said Destourbet, after one of these intervals which enabled the + clerk to walk by his side, “I trust we shall find Maitre Arbillot down + there; we shall have need of his services in looking over and filing the + papers of the deceased.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Monsieur,” answered Seurrot, “the notary will meet us at the + chateau; he went to Praslay to find out from his associates whether + Monsieur de Buxieres had not left a will in his keeping. In my humble + opinion, that is hardly likely; for the deceased had great confidence in + Maitre Arbillot, and it seems strange that he should choose to confide his + testamentary intentions to a rival notary.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” observed the justice, “perhaps when the seals are raised, we may + discover an autograph will in some corner of a drawer.” + </p> + <p> + “It is to be hoped so, Monsieur,” replied Seurrot; “I wish it with all my + heart, for the sake of Claudet Sejournant, for he is a good fellow, + although on the sinister bar of the escutcheon, and a right jolly + companion.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; and a marvellous good shot,” interrupted the justice. “I recognize + all that; but even if he had a hundred other good qualities, the grand + chasserot, as they call him here, will be on the wrong side of the hedge + if Monsieur de Buxieres has unfortunately died intestate. In the eye of + the law, as you are doubtless aware, a natural child, who has not been + acknowledged, is looked upon as a stranger.” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur de Buxieres always treated Claudet as his own son, and every one + knew that he so considered him.” + </p> + <p> + “Possibly, but if the law were to keep count of all such cases, there + would be no end to their labors; especially in all questions of the + ‘cujus’. Odouart de Buxieres was a terribly wild fellow, and they say that + these old beech-trees of Vivey forest could tell many a tale of his + exploits.” + </p> + <p> + “He, he!” assented the clerk, laughing slyly, and showing his toothless + gums, “there is some truth in that. The deceased had the devil in his + boots. He could see neither a deer nor a pretty girl without flying in + pursuit. Ah, yes! Many a trick has he played them—talk of your + miracles, forsooth!—well, Claudet was his favorite, and Monsieur de + Buxieres has told me, over and over again, that he would make him his + heir, and I shall be very much astonished if we do not find a will.” + </p> + <p> + “Seurrot, my friend,” replied the justice, calmly, “you are too + experienced not to know that our country folks dread nothing so much as + testifying to their last wishes—to make a will, to them, is to put + one foot into the grave. They will not call in the priest or the notary + until the very last moment, and very often they delay until it is too + late. Now, as the deceased was at heart a rustic, I fear greatly that he + did not carry his intentions into execution.” + </p> + <p> + “That would be a pity—for the chateau, the lands, and the entire + fortune would go to an heir of whom Monsieur Odouart never had taken + account—to one of the younger branch of Buxieres, whom he had never + seen, having quarrelled with the family.” + </p> + <p> + “A cousin, I believe,” said the justice. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, a Monsieur Julien de Buxieres, who is employed by the Government at + Nancy.” + </p> + <p> + “In fact, then, and until we receive more ample information, he is, for + us, the sole legitimate heir. Has he been notified?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Monsieur. He has even sent his power of attorney to Monsieur + Arbillot’s clerk.” + </p> + <p> + “So much the better,” said M. Destourbet, “in that case, we can proceed + regularly without delay.” + </p> + <p> + While thus conversing, they had traversed the forest, and emerged on the + hill overlooking Vivey. From the border line where they stood, they could + discover, between the half-denuded branches of the line of aspens, the + sinuous, deepset gorge, in which the Aubette wound its tortuous way, at + the extremity of which the village lay embanked against an almost upright + wall of thicket and pointed rocks. On the west this narrow defile was + closed by a mill, standing like a sentinel on guard, in its uniform of + solid gray; on each side of the river a verdant line of meadow led the eye + gradually toward the clump of ancient and lofty ash-trees, behind which + rose the Buxieres domicile. This magnificent grove of trees, and a + monumental fence of cast-iron, were the only excuse for giving the title + of chateau to a very commonplace structure, of which the main body + presented bare, whitewashed walls, flanked by two small towers on turrets + shaped like extinguishers, and otherwise resembling very ordinary + pigeon-houses. + </p> + <p> + This chateau, or rather country squire’s residence, had belonged to the + Odouart de Buxieres for more than two centuries. Before the Revolution, + Christophe de Buxieres, grandfather of the last proprietor, had owned a + large portion of Vivey, besides several forges in operation on the Aube + and Aubette rivers. He had had three children: one daughter, who had + embraced religion as a vocation; Claude Antoine, the elder son, to whom he + left his entire fortune, and Julien Abdon, the younger, officer in the + regiment of Rohan Soubise, with whom he was not on good terms. After + emigrating and serving in Conde’s army, the younger Buxieres had returned + to France during the Restoration, had married, and been appointed special + receiver in a small town in southern France. But since his return, he had + not resumed relations with his elder brother, whom he accused of having + defrauded him of his rights. The older one had married also, one of the + Rochetaillee family; he had had but one son, Claude Odouart de Buxieres, + whose recent decease had brought about the visit of the Justice of + Auberive and his clerk. + </p> + <p> + Claude de Buxieres had lived all his life at Vivey. Inheriting from his + father and grandfather flourishing health and a robust constitution, he + had also from them strong love for his native territory, a passion for the + chase, and a horror of the constraint and decorum exacted by worldly + obligations. He was a spoiled child, brought up by a weak-minded mother + and a preceptor without authority, who had succeeded in imparting to him + only the most elementary amount of instruction, and he had, from a very + early age, taken his own pleasure as his sole rule of life. He lived side + by side with peasants and poachers, and had himself become a regular + country yeoman, wearing a blouse, dining at the wine-shop, and taking more + pleasure in speaking the mountain patois than his own native French. The + untimely death of his father, killed by an awkward huntsman while + following the hounds, had emancipated him at the age of twenty years. From + this period he lived his life freely, as he understood it; always in the + open air, without hindrance of any sort, and entirely unrestrained. + </p> + <p> + Nothing was exaggerated in the stories told concerning him. He was a + handsome fellow, jovial and dashing in his ways, and lavish with his + money, so he met with few rebuffs. Married women, maids, widows, any + peasant girl of attractive form or feature, all had had to resist his + advances, and with more than one the resistance had been very slight. It + was no false report which affirmed that he had peopled the district with + his illegitimate progeny. He was not hard to please, either; + strawberry-pickers, shepherd-girls, wood-pilers, day-workers, all were + equally charming in his sight; he sought only youth, health, and a kindly + disposition. + </p> + <p> + Marriage would have been the only safeguard for him; but aside from the + fact that his reputation of reckless huntsman and general scapegrace + naturally kept aloof the daughters of the nobles, and even the Langarian + middle classes, he dreaded more than anything else in the world the + monotonous regularity of conjugal life. He did not care to be restricted + always to the same dishes—preferring, as he said, his meat sometimes + roast, sometimes boiled, or even fried, according to his humor and his + appetite. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, about the time that Claude de Buxieres attained his + thirty-sixth year, it was noticed that he had a more settled air, and that + his habits were becoming more sedentary. The chase was still his favorite + pastime, but he frequented less places of questionable repute, seldom + slept away from home, and seemed to take greater pleasure in remaining + under his own roof. The cause of this change was ascribed by some to the + advance of years creeping over him; others, more perspicacious, verified a + curious coincidence between the entrance of a new servant in the chateau + and the sudden good behavior of Claude. + </p> + <p> + This girl, a native of Aprey, named Manette Sejournant, was not, strictly + speaking, a beauty, but she had magnificent blonde hair, gray, caressing + eyes, and a silvery, musical voice. Well built, supple as an adder, modest + and prudish in mien, she knew how to wait upon and cosset her master, + accustoming him by imperceptible degrees to prefer the cuisine of the + chateau to that of the wine-shops. After a while, by dint of making her + merits appreciated, and her presence continually desired, she became the + mistress of Odouart de Buxieres, whom she managed to retain by proving + herself immeasurably superior, both in culinary skill and in sentiment, to + the class of females from whom he had hitherto been seeking his creature + comforts. + </p> + <p> + Matters went on in this fashion for a year or so, until Manette went on a + three months’ vacation. When she reappeared at the chateau, she brought + with her an infant, six weeks old, which she declared was the child of a + sister, lately deceased, but which bore a strange likeness to Claude. + However, nobody made remarks, especially as M. de Buxieres, after he had + been drinking a little, took no pains to hide his paternity. He himself + held the little fellow at the baptismal font, and later, consigned him to + the care of the Abbe Pernot, the curate of Vivey, who prepared the little + Claudet for his first communion, at the same time that he instructed him + in reading, writing, and the first four rules of arithmetic. As soon as + the lad reached his fifteenth year, Claude put a gun into his hands, and + took him hunting with him. Under the teaching of M. de Buxieres, Claudet + did honor to his master, and soon became such an expert that he could give + points to all the huntsmen of the canton. None could equal him in tracing + a dog; he knew all the passes, by-paths, and enclosures of the forest; + swooped down upon the game with the keen scent and the velocity of a bird + of prey, and never was known to miss his mark. Thus it was that the + country people surnamed him the ‘grand chasserot’, the term which we here + apply to the sparrow-hawk. Besides all these advantages, he was handsome, + alert, straight, and well made, dark-haired and olive-skinned, like all + the Buxieres; he had his mother’s caressing glance, but also the + overhanging eyelids and somewhat stern expression of his father, from whom + he inherited also a passionate temperament, and a spirit averse to all + kinds of restraint. They were fond of him throughout the country, and M. + de Buxieres, who felt his youth renewed in him, was very proud of his + adroitness and his good looks. He would invite him to his pleasure + parties, and make him sit at his own table, and confided unhesitatingly + all his secrets to him. In short, Claudet, finding himself quite at home + at the chateau, naturally considered himself as one of the family. There + was but one formality wanting to that end: recognizance according to law. + At certain favorable times, Manette Sejournant would gently urge M. de + Buxieres to have the situation legally authorized, to which he would + invariably reply, from a natural dislike to taking legal advisers into his + confidence: + </p> + <p> + “Don’t worry about anything; I have no direct heir, and Claudet will have + all my fortune; my will and testament will be worth more to him than a + legal acknowledgment.” + </p> + <p> + He would refer so often and so decidedly to his settled intention of + making Claudet his sole heir, that Manette, who knew very little about + what was required in such cases, considered the matter already secure. She + continued in unsuspecting serenity until Claude de Buxieres, in his + sixty-second year, died suddenly from a stroke of apoplexy. + </p> + <p> + The will, which was to insure Claudet’s future prospects, and to which the + deceased had so often alluded, did it really exist? Neither Manette nor + the grand chasserot had been able to obtain any certain knowledge in the + matter, the hasty search for it after the decease having been suddenly + interrupted by the arrival of the mayor of Vivey; and by the proceedings + of the justice of the peace. The seals being once imposed, there was no + means, in the absence of a verified will, of ascertaining on whom the + inheritance devolved, until the opening of the inventory; and thus the + Sejournants awaited with feverish anxiety the return of the justice of the + peace and his bailiff. + </p> + <p> + M. Destourbet and Stephen Seurrot pushed open a small door to the right of + the main gateway, passed rapidly under the arched canopy of beeches, the + leaves of which, just touched by the first frost, were already falling + from the branches, and, stamping their muddy feet on the outer steps, + advanced into the vestibule. The wide corridor, flagged with + black-and-white pavement, presented a cheerless aspect of bare walls + discolored by damp, and adorned alternately by stags’ heads and family + portraits in a crumbling state of decay. The floor was thus divided: on + the right, the dining-room and the kitchen; on the left, drawing-room and + a billiard-hall. A stone staircase, built in one of the turrets, led to + the upper floors. Only one of these rooms, the kitchen, which the justice + and his bailiff entered, was occupied by the household. A cold light, + equally diffused in all directions, and falling from a large window, + facing north across the gardens, allowed every detail of the apartment to + be seen clearly; opposite the door of entrance, the tall chimney-place, + with its deep embrasure, gave ample shelter to the notary, who installed + himself upon a stool and lighted his pipe at one of the embers, while his + principal clerk sat at the long table, itemizing the objects contained in + the inventory. + </p> + <p> + In the opposite angle of the chimney-place, a lad of twenty-four years, no + other than Claudet, called by the friendly nickname of the grand + chasserot, kept company with the notary, while he toyed, in an absent + fashion, with the silky ears of a spaniel, whose fluffy little head lay in + his lap. Behind him, Manette Sejournant stood putting away her shawl and + prayerbook in a closet. A mass had been said in the morning at the church, + for the repose of the soul of the late Claude de Buxieres, and mother and + son had donned their Sunday garments to assist at the ceremony. + </p> + <p> + Claudet appeared ill at ease in his black, tightly buttoned suit, and kept + his eyes with their heavy lids steadily bent upon the head of the animal. + To all the notary’s questions, he replied only by monosyllables, passing + his fingers every now and then through his bushy brown locks, and twining + them in his forked beard, a sure indication with him of preoccupation and + bad humor. + </p> + <p> + Manette had acquired with years an amount of embonpoint which detracted + materially from the supple and undulating beauty which had so captivated + Claude de Buxieres. The imprisonment of a tight corset caused undue + development of the bust at the expense of her neck and throat, which + seemed disproportionately short and thick. Her cheeks had lost their + gracious curves and her double chin was more pronounced. All that remained + of her former attractions were the caressing glance of her eye, tresses + still golden and abundant, especially as seen under the close cap of black + net, white teeth, and a voice that had lost nothing of its insinuating + sweetness. + </p> + <p> + As the justice and his bailiff entered, Maitre Arbillot, and a petulant + little man with squirrel-like eyes and a small moustache, arose quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, gentlemen,” he cried. “I was anxiously expecting you—if + you are willing, we will begin our work at once, for at this season night + comes on quickly.” + </p> + <p> + “At your orders, Maitre Arbillot,” replied the justice, laying his hat + down carefully on the window-sill; “we shall draw out the formula for + raising the seals. By the way, has no will yet been found?” + </p> + <p> + “None to my knowledge. It is quite clear to me that the deceased made no + testament, none at least before a notary.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” objected M. Destourbet, “he may have executed a holograph + testament.” + </p> + <p> + “It is certain, gentlemen,” interrupted Manette, with her soft, plaintive + voice, “that our dear gentleman did not go without putting his affairs in + order. ‘Manette,’ said he, not more than two weeks ago; ‘I do not intend + you shall be worried, neither you nor Claudet, when I am no longer here. + All shall be arranged to your satisfaction.’ Oh! he certainly must have + put down his last wishes on paper. Look well around, gentlemen; you will + find a will in some drawer or other.” + </p> + <p> + While she applied her handkerchief ostentatiously to her nose and wiped + her eyes, the justice exchanged glances with the notary. + </p> + <p> + “Maitre Arbillot, you think doubtless with me, that we ought to begin + operations by examining the furniture of the bedroom?” + </p> + <p> + The notary inclined his head, and notified his chief clerk to remove his + papers to the first floor. + </p> + <p> + “Show us the way, Madame,” said the justice to the housekeeper; and the + quartet of men of the law followed Manette, carrying with them a huge + bunch of keys. + </p> + <p> + Claudet had risen from his seat when the justice arrived. As the party + moved onward, he followed hesitatingly, and then halted, uncertain how to + decide between the desire to assist in the search and the fear of + intruding. The notary, noticing his hesitation; called to him: + </p> + <p> + “Come, you also, Claudet, are not you one of the guardians of the seals?” + </p> + <p> + And they wended their silent way, up the winding staircase of the turret. + The high, dark silhouette of Manette headed the procession; then followed + the justice, carefully choosing his foothold on the well-worn stairs, the + asthmatic old bailiff, breathing short and hard, the notary, beating his + foot impatiently every time that Seurrot stopped to take breath, and + finally the principal clerk and Claudet. + </p> + <p> + Manette, opening noiselessly the door of the deceased’s room, entered, as + if it were a church, the somewhat stifling apartment. Then she threw open + the shutters, and the afternoon sun revealed an interior decorated and + furnished in the style of the close of the eighteenth century. An inlaid + secretary, with white marble top and copper fittings, stood near the bed, + of which the coverings had been removed, showing the mattresses piled up + under a down bed covered with blue-and-white check. + </p> + <p> + As soon as the door was closed, the clerk settled himself at the table + with his packet of stamped paper, and began to run over, in a low, rapid + voice, the preliminaries of the inventory. In this confused murmuring some + fragments of phrases would occasionally strike the ear: “Chateau of Vivey—deceased + the eighth of October last—at the requisition of Marie-Julien de + Buxieres, comptroller of direct contributions at Nancy—styling + himself heir to Claude Odouart de Buxieres, his cousin-german by blood—” + </p> + <p> + This last phrase elicited from Claudet a sudden movement of surprise. + </p> + <p> + “The inventory,” explained Maitre Arbillot, “is drawn up at the + requisition of the only heir named, to whom we must make application, if + necessary, for the property left by the deceased.” + </p> + <p> + There was a moment of silence, interrupted by a plaintive sigh from + Manette Sejournant and afterward by the tearing sound of the sealed bands + across the bureau, the drawers and pigeonholes of which were promptly + ransacked by the justice and his assistant. + </p> + <p> + Odouart de Buxieres had not been much of a scribe. A double Liege almanac, + a memorandum-book, in which he had entered the money received from the + sale of his wood and the dates of the payments made by his farmers; a + daybook, in which he had made careful note of the number of head of game + killed each day—that was all the bureau contained. + </p> + <p> + “Let us examine another piece of furniture,” murmured the justice. + </p> + <p> + Manette and Claudet remained unmoved. They apparently knew the reason why + none but insignificant papers had been found in the drawers, for their + features expressed neither surprise nor disappointment. + </p> + <p> + Another search through a high chest of drawers with large copper handles + was equally unprofitable. Then they attacked the secretary, and after the + key had been turned twice in the noisy lock, the lid went slowly down. The + countenances of both mother and son, hitherto so unconcerned, underwent a + slight but anxious change. The bailiff continued his scrupulous search of + each drawer under the watchful eye of the justice, finding nothing but + documents of mediocre importance; old titles to property, bundles of + letters, tradesmen’s bills, etc. Suddenly, at the opening of the last + drawer, a significant “Ah!” from Stephen Seurrot drew round him the heads + of the justice and the notary, and made Manette and Claudet, standing at + the foot of the bed, start with expectation. On the dark ground of a + rosewood box lay a sheet of white paper, on which was written: + </p> + <p> + “This is my testament.” + </p> + <p> + With the compression of lip and significant shake of the head of a + physician about to take in hand a hopeless case of illness, the justice + made known to his two neighbors the text of the sheet of paper, on which + Claude Odouart de Buxieres had written, in his coarse, ill-regulated hand, + the following lines: + </p> + <p> + “Not knowing my collateral heirs, and caring nothing about them, I give + and bequeath all my goods and chattels—” + </p> + <p> + The testator had stopped there, either because he thought it better, + before going any further, to consult some legal authority more experienced + than himself, or because he had been interrupted in his labor and had + deferred completing this testifying of his last will until some future + opportunity. + </p> + <p> + M. Destourbet, after once more reading aloud this unfinished sentence, + exclaimed: + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur de Buxieres did not finish—it is much to be regretted!” + </p> + <p> + “My God! is it possible?” interrupted the housekeeper; “you think, then, + Monsieur justice, that Claudet does not inherit anything?” + </p> + <p> + “According to my idea,” replied he, “we have here only a scrap of + unimportant paper; the name of the legatee is not indicated, and even were + it indicated, the testament would still be without force, being neither + dated nor signed.” + </p> + <p> + “But perhaps Monsieur de Buxieres made another?” + </p> + <p> + “I think not; I am more inclined to suppose that he did not have time to + complete the arrangements that he wished to make, and the proof lies in + the very existence of this incomplete document in the only piece of + furniture in which he kept his papers.” Then, turning toward the notary + and the bailiff: “You are doubtless, gentlemen, of the same opinion as + myself; it will be wise, therefore, to defer raising the remainder of the + seals until the arrival of the legal heir. Maitre Arbillot, Monsieur + Julien de Buxieres must be notified, and asked to be here in Vivey as soon + as possible.” + </p> + <p> + “I will write this evening,” said the notary; “in the meanwhile, the + keeping of the seals will be continued by Claudet Sejournant.” + </p> + <p> + The justice inclined his head to Manette, who was standing, pale and + motionless, at the foot of the bed; stunned by the unexpected + announcement; the bailiff and the chief clerk, after gathering up their + papers, shook hands sympathizingly with Claudet. + </p> + <p> + “I am grieved to the heart, my dear fellow,” said the notary, in his turn, + “at what has happened! It is hard to swallow, but you will always keep a + courageous heart, and be able to rise to the top; besides, even if, + legally, you own nothing here, this unfinished testament of Monsieur de + Buxieres will constitute a moral title in your favor, and I trust that the + heir will have enough justice and right feeling to treat you properly.” + </p> + <p> + “I want nothing from him!” muttered Claudet, between his teeth; then, + leaving his mother to attend to the rest of the legal fraternity, he went + hastily to his room, next that of the deceased, tore off his dress-coat, + slipped on a hunting-coat, put on his gaiters, donned his old felt hat, + and descended to the kitchen, where Manette was sitting, huddled up in + front of the embers, weeping and bewailing her fate. + </p> + <p> + Since she had become housekeeper and mistress of the Buxieres household, + she had adopted a more polished speech and a more purely French mode of + expression, but in this moment of discouragement and despair the rude + dialect of her native country rose to her lips, and in her own patois she + inveighed against the deceased: + </p> + <p> + “Ah! the bad man, the mean man! Didn’t I tell him, time and again, that he + would leave us in trouble! Where can we seek our bread this late in the + day? We shall have to beg in the streets!” + </p> + <p> + “Hush! hush! mother,” interrupted Claudet, sternly, placing his hand on + her shoulder, “it does not mend matters to give way like that. Calm + thyself—so long as I have hands on the ends of my arms, we never + shall be beggars. But I must go out—I need air.” + </p> + <p> + And crossing the gardens rapidly, he soon reached the outskirts of the + brambly thicket. + </p> + <p> + This landscape, both rugged and smiling in its wildness, hardly conveyed + the idea of silence, but rather of profound meditation, absolute calm; the + calmness of solitude, the religious meditation induced by spacious forest + depths. The woods seemed asleep, and the low murmurings, which from time + to time escaped from their recesses, seemed like the unconscious sighs + exhaled by a dreamer. The very odor peculiar to trees in autumn, the + penetrating and spicy odor of the dying leaves, had a delicate and subtle + aroma harmonizing with this quietude of fairyland. + </p> + <p> + Now and then, through the vaporous golden atmosphere of the late autumn + sunset, through the pensive stillness of the hushed woods, the distant + sound of feminine voices, calling to one another, echoed from the hills, + and beyond the hedges was heard the crackling of branches, snapped by + invisible hands, and the rattle of nuts dropping on the earth. It was the + noise made by the gatherers of beechnuts, for in the years when the beech + produces abundantly, this harvest, under the sanction of the guardians of + the forest, draws together the whole population of women and children, who + collect these triangular nuts, from which an excellent species of oil is + procured. + </p> + <p> + Wending his way along the copse, Claudet suddenly perceived, through an + opening in the trees, several large white sheets spread under the beeches, + and covered with brown heaps of the fallen fruit. One or two familiar + voices hailed him as he passed, but he was not disposed to gossip, for the + moment, and turned abruptly into the bushwood, so as to avoid any + encounter. The unexpected event which had just taken place, and which was + to change his present mode of life, as well as his plans for the future, + was of too recent occurrence for him to view it with any degree of + calmness. + </p> + <p> + He was like a man who has received a violent blow on the head, and is for + the moment stunned by it. He suffered vaguely, without seeking to know + from what cause; he had not been able as yet to realize the extent of his + misfortune; and every now and then a vague hope came over him that all + would come right. + </p> + <p> + So on he went, straight ahead, his eyes on the ground, and his hands in + his pockets, until he emerged upon one of the old forest roads where the + grass had begun to burst through the stony interstices; and there, in the + distance, under the light tracery of weaving branches, a delicate female + silhouette was outlined on the dark background. A young woman, dressed in + a petticoat of gray woolen material, and a jacket of the same, + close-fitting at the waist, her arms bare to the elbows and supporting on + her head a bag of nuts enveloped in a white sheet, advanced toward him + with a quick and rhythmical step. The manner in which she carried her + burden showed the elegance of her form, the perfect grace of her chest and + throat. She was not very tall, but finely proportioned. As she approached, + the slanting rays of the setting sun shone on her heavy brown hair, + twisted into a thick coil at the back of her head, and revealed the amber + paleness of her clear skin, the long oval of her eyes, the firm outline of + her chin and somewhat full lips; and Claudet, roused from his lethargic + reverie by the sound of her rapid footsteps, raised his eyes, and + recognized the daughter of Pere Vincart, the proprietor of La Thuiliere. + </p> + <p> + At the same moment, the young girl, doubtless fatigued with the weight of + her bundle, had laid it down by the roadside while she recovered her + breath. In a few seconds Claudet was by her side. + </p> + <p> + “Good-evening, Reine,” said he, in a voice singularly softened in tone, + “shall I give you a lift with that?” + </p> + <p> + “Good-evening, Claudet,” replied she; “truly, now, that is not an offer to + be refused. The weight is greater than I thought.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you come far thus laden?” + </p> + <p> + “No; our people are nutting in the Bois des Ronces; I came on before, + because I don’t like to leave father alone for long at a time and, as I + was coming, I wished to bring my share with me.” + </p> + <p> + “No one can reproach you with shirking work, Reine, nor of being afraid to + take hold of things. To see you all day trotting about the farm, no one + would think you had been to school in the city, like a young lady.” + </p> + <p> + And Claudet’s countenance became irradiated with a glow of innocent and + tender admiration. It was evident that his eyes looked with delight into + the dark limpid orbs of Reine, on her pure and rosy lips, and on her + partly uncovered neck, the whiteness of which two little brown moles only + served to enhance. + </p> + <p> + “How can it be helped?” replied she, smiling, “it must be done; when there + is no man in the house to give orders, the women must take a hand + themselves. My father was not very strong when my mother died, and since + he had that attack he has become quite helpless, and I have had to take + his place.” + </p> + <p> + While she spoke, Claudet took hold of the bundle, and, lifting it as if it + had been a feather, threw it over his shoulder. They walked on, side by + side, in the direction of La Thuliere; the sun had set, and a penetrating + moisture, arising from the damp soil of the adjacent pasture lands, + encircled them in a bluish fog. + </p> + <p> + “So he is worse, your father, is he?” said Claudet, after a moment’s + silence. + </p> + <p> + “He can not move from his armchair, his mental faculties are weakening, + and I am obliged to amuse him like a child. But how is it with yourself, + Claudet?” she asked, turning her frank, cordial gaze upon him. “You have + had your share of trouble since we last met, and great events have + happened. Poor Monsieur de Buxieres was taken away very suddenly!” + </p> + <p> + The close relationship that united Claudet with the deceased was a secret + to no one; Reine, as well as all the country people, knew and admitted the + fact, however irregular, as one sanctioned by time and continuity. + Therefore, in speaking to the young man, her voice had that tone of + affectionate interest usual in conversing with a bereaved friend on a + death that concerns him. + </p> + <p> + The countenance of the ‘grand chasserot’, which had cleared for a time + under her influence, became again clouded. + </p> + <p> + “Yes;” sighed he, “he was taken too soon!” + </p> + <p> + “And now, Claudet, you are sole master at the chateau?” + </p> + <p> + “Neither—master—nor even valet!” he returned, with such + bitterness that the young girl stood still with surprise. + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” she exclaimed, “was it not agreed with Monsieur de + Buxieres that you should inherit all his property?” + </p> + <p> + “Such was his intention, but he did not have time to put it in execution; + he died without leaving any will, and, as I am nothing in the eye of the + law, the patrimony will go to a distant relative, a de Buxieres whom + Monsieur Odouart did not even know.” + </p> + <p> + Reine’s dark eyes filled with tears. + </p> + <p> + “What a misfortune!” she exclaimed, “and who could have expected such a + thing? Oh! my poor Claudet!” + </p> + <p> + She was so moved, and spoke with such sincere compassion, that Claudet was + perhaps misled, and thought he read in her glistening eyes a tenderer + sentiment than pity; he trembled, took her hand, and held it long in his. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you, Reine! Yes,” he added, after a pause, “it is a rude shock to + wake up one morning without hearth or home, when one has been in the habit + of living on one’s income.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you intend to do?” inquired Reine, gravely. + </p> + <p> + Claudet shrugged his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “To work for my bread—or, if I can find no suitable trade, enlist in + a regiment. I think I should not make a bad soldier. Everything is going + round and round in my head like a millwheel. The first thing to do is to + see about my mother, who is lamenting down there at the house—I must + find her a comfortable place to live.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl had become very thoughtful. + </p> + <p> + “Claudet,” replied she, “I know you are very proud, very sensitive, and + could not wish to hurt your feelings. Therefore, I pray you not to take in + ill part that which I am going to say-in short, if you should get into any + trouble, you will, I hope, remember that you have friends at La Thuiliere, + and that you will come to seek us.” + </p> + <p> + The ‘grand chasserot’ reddened. + </p> + <p> + “I shall never take amiss what you may say to me, Reine!” faltered he; + “for I can not doubt your good heart—I have known it since the time + when we played together in the cure’s garden, while waiting for the time + to repeat the catechism. But there is no hurry as yet; the heir will not + arrive for several weeks, and by that time, I trust, we shall have had a + chance to turn round.” + </p> + <p> + They had reached the boundary of the forest where the fields of La + Thuiliere begin. + </p> + <p> + By the last fading light of day they could distinguish the black outline + of the ancient forge, now become a grange, and a light was twinkling in + one of the low windows of the farm. + </p> + <p> + “Here you are at home,” continued Claudet, laying the bundle of nuts on + the flat stone wall which surrounded the farm buildings; “I wish you + good-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Will you not come in and get warm?” + </p> + <p> + “No; I must go back,” replied he. + </p> + <p> + “Good-night, then, Claudet; au revoir and good courage!” + </p> + <p> + He gazed at her for a moment in the deepening twilight, then, abruptly + pressing her hands: + </p> + <p> + “Thank you, Reine,” murmured he in a choking voice, “you are a good girl, + and I love you very much!” + </p> + <p> + He left the young mistress of the farm precipitately, and plunged again + into the woods. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. THE HEIR TO VIVEY + </h2> + <p> + While these events were happening at Vivey, the person whose name excited + the curiosity and the conversational powers of the villagers—Marie-Julien + de Buxieres—ensconced in his unpretentious apartment in the Rue + Stanislaus, Nancy, still pondered over the astonishing news contained in + the Auberive notary’s first letter. The announcement of his inheritance, + dropping from the skies, as it were, had found him quite unprepared, and, + at first, somewhat sceptical. He remembered, it is true, hearing his + father once speak of a cousin who had remained a bachelor and who owned a + fine piece of property in some corner of the Haute Marne; but, as all + intercourse had long been broken off between the two families, M. de + Buxieres the elder had mentioned the subject only in relation to barely + possible hopes which had very little chance of being realized. Julien had + never placed any reliance on this chimerical inheritance, and he received + almost with indifference the official announcement of the death of Claude + Odouart de Buxieres. + </p> + <p> + By direct line from his late father, he became in fact the only legitimate + heir of the chateau and lands of Vivey; still, there was a strong + probability that Claude de Buxieres had made a will in favor of some one + more within his own circle. The second missive from Arbillot the notary, + announcing that the deceased had died intestate, and requesting the legal + heir to come to Vivey as soon as possible, put a sudden end to the young + man’s doubts, which merged into a complex feeling, less of joy than of + stupefaction. + </p> + <p> + Up to the present time, Julien de Buxieres had not been spoiled by + Fortune’s gifts. His parents, who had died prematurely, had left him + nothing. He lived in a very mediocre style on his slender salary as + comptroller of direct contributions, and, although twenty-seven years old, + was housed like a supernumerary in a small furnished room on the second + floor above the ground. At this time his physique was that of a young man + of medium height, slight, pale, and nervous, sensitive in disposition, + reserved and introspective in habit. His delicate features, his + intelligent forehead surmounted by soft chestnut hair, his pathetic blue + eyes, his curved, dissatisfied mouth, shaded by a slight, dark moustache, + indicated a melancholy, unquiet temperament and precocious moral fatigue. + </p> + <p> + There are some men who never have had any childhood, or rather, whose + childhood never has had its happy time of laughter. Julien was one of + these. That which imparts to childhood its charm and enjoyment is the warm + and tender atmosphere of the home; the constant and continued caressing of + a mother; the gentle and intimate creations of one’s native country where, + by degrees, the senses awaken to the marvellous sights of the outer world; + where the alternating seasons in their course first arouse the student’s + ambition and cause the heart of the adolescent youth to thrill with + emotion; where every street corner, every tree, every turn of the soil, + has some history to relate. Julien had had no experiences of this peaceful + family life, during which are stored up such treasures of childhood’s + recollections. He was the son of a government official, who had been + trotted over all France at the caprice of the administration, and he had + never known, so to speak, any associations of the land in which he was + born, or the hearth on which he was raised. Chance had located his birth + in a small town among the Pyrenees, and when he was two years old he had + been transplanted to one of the industrial cities of Artois. At the end of + two years more came another removal to one of the midland towns, and thus + his tender childhood had been buffeted about, from east to west, from + north to south, taking root nowhere. All he could remember of these early + years was an unpleasant impression of hasty packing and removal, of long + journeys by diligence, and of uncomfortable resettling. His mother had + died just as he was entering upon his eighth year; his father, absorbed in + official work, and not caring to leave the child to the management of + servants, had placed him at that early age in a college directed by + priests. Julien thus passed his second term of childhood, and his boyhood + was spent behind these stern, gloomy walls, bending resignedly under a + discipline which, though gentle, was narrow and suspicious, and allowed + little scope for personal development. He obtained only occasional + glimpses of nature during the monotonous daily walks across a flat, + meaningless country. At very rare intervals, one of his father’s + colleagues would take him visiting; but these stiff and ceremonious calls + only left a wearisome sensation of restraint and dull fatigue. During the + long vacation he used to rejoin his father, whom he almost always found in + a new residence. The poor man had alighted there for a time, like a bird + on a tree; and among these continually shifting scenes, the lad had felt + himself more than ever a stranger among strangers; so that he experienced + always a secret though joyless satisfaction in returning to the cloisters + of the St. Hilaire college and submitting himself to the yoke of the + paternal but inflexible discipline of the Church. + </p> + <p> + He was naturally inclined, by the tenderness of his nature, toward a + devotional life, and accepted with blind confidence the religious and + moral teaching of the reverend fathers. A doctrine which preached + separation from profane things; the attractions of a meditative and pious + life, and mistrust of the world and its perilous pleasures, harmonized + with the shy and melancholy timidity of his nature. Human beings, + especially women, inspired him with secret aversion, which was increased + by consciousness of his awkwardness and remissness whenever he found + himself in the society of women or young girls. + </p> + <p> + The beauties of nature did not affect him; the flowers in the springtime, + the glories of the summer sun, the rich coloring of autumn skies, having + no connection in his mind with any joyous recollection, left him cold and + unmoved; he even professed an almost hostile indifference to such purely + material sights as disturbing and dangerous to the inner life. He lived + within himself and could not see beyond. + </p> + <p> + His mind, imbued with a mystic idealism, delighted itself in solitary + reading or in meditations in the house of prayer. The only emotion he ever + betrayed was caused by the organ music accompanying the hymnal plain-song, + and by the pomp of religious ceremony. + </p> + <p> + At the age of eighteen, he left the St. Hilaire college in order to + prepare his baccalaureate, and his father, becoming alarmed at his + increasing moodiness and mysticism, endeavored to infuse into him the + tastes and habits of a man of the world by introducing him into the + society of his equals in the town where he lived; but the twig was already + bent, and the young man yielded with bad grace to the change of regime; + the amusements they offered were either wearisome or repugnant to him. He + would wander aimlessly through the salons where they were playing whist, + where the ladies played show pieces at the piano, and where they spoke a + language he did not understand. He was quite aware of his worldly + inaptitude, and that he was considered awkward, dull, and ill-tempered, + and the knowledge of this fact paralyzed and frightened him still more. He + could not disguise his feeling of ennui sufficiently to prevent the + provincial circles from being greatly offended; they declared unanimously + that young de Buxieres was a bear, and decided to leave him alone. The + death of his father, which happened just as the youth was beginning his + official cares, put a sudden end to all this constraint. He took advantage + of his season of mourning to resume his old ways; and returned with a sigh + of relief to his solitude, his books, and his meditations. According to + the promise of the Imitation, he found unspeakable joys in his retirement; + he rose at break of day, assisted at early mass, fulfilled, + conscientiously, his administrative duties, took his hurried meals in a + boardinghouse, where he exchanged a few polite remarks with his fellow + inmates, then shut himself up in his room to read Pascal or Bossuet until + eleven o’clock. + </p> + <p> + He thus attained his twenty-seventh year, and it was into the calm of this + serious, cloister-like life, that the news fell of the death of Claude de + Buxieres and of the unexpected inheritance that had accrued to him. + </p> + <p> + After entering into correspondence with the notary, M. Arbillot, and + becoming assured of the reality of his rights and of the necessity of his + presence at Vivey, he had obtained leave of absence from his official + duties, and set out for Haute Marne. On the way, he could not help + marvelling at the providential interposition which would enable him to + leave a career for which he felt he had no vocation, and to pursue his + independent life, according to his own tastes, and secured from any fear + of outside cares. According to the account given by the notary, Claude de + Buxieres’s fortune might be valued at two hundred thousand francs, in + furniture and other movables, without reckoning the chateau and the + adjacent woods. This was a much larger sum than had ever been dreamed of + by Julien de Buxieres, whose belongings did not amount in all to three + thousand francs. He made up his mind, therefore, that, as soon as he was + installed at Vivey, he would change his leave of absence to an unlimited + furlough of freedom. He contemplated with serene satisfaction this + perspective view of calm and solitary retirement in a chateau lost to view + in the depths of the forest, where he could in perfect security give + himself up to the studious contemplative life which he loved so much, far + from all worldly frivolities and restraint. He already imagined himself at + Vivey, shut up in his carefully selected library; he delighted in the + thought of having in future to deal only with the country people, whose + uncivilized ways would be like his own, and among whom his timidity would + not be remarked. + </p> + <p> + He arrived at Langres in the afternoon of a foggy October day, and + inquired immediately at the hotel how he could procure a carriage to take + him that evening to Vivey. They found him a driver, but, to his surprise, + the man refused to take the journey until the following morning, on + account of the dangerous state of the crossroads, where vehicles might + stick fast in the mire if they ventured there after nightfall. Julien + vainly endeavored to effect an arrangement with him, and the discussion + was prolonged in the courtyard of the hotel. Just as the man was turning + away, another, who had overheard the end of the colloquy, came up to young + de Buxieres, and offered to undertake the journey for twenty francs. + </p> + <p> + “I have a good horse,” said he to Julien; “I know the roads, and will + guarantee that we reach Vivey before nightfall.” + </p> + <p> + The bargain was quickly made; and in half an hour, Julien de Buxieres was + rolling over the plain above Langres, in a shaky old cabriolet, the muddy + hood of which bobbed over at every turn of the wheel, while the horse kept + up a lively trot over the stones. + </p> + <p> + The clouds were low, and the road lay across bare and stony prairies, the + gray expanse of which became lost in the distant mist. This depressing + landscape would have made a disagreeable impression on a less unobserving + traveller, but, as we have said, Julien looked only inward, and the + phenomena of the exterior world influenced him only unconsciously. Half + closing his eyes, and mechanically affected by the rhythmical + tintinnabulation of the little bells, hanging around the horse’s neck, he + had resumed his meditations, and considered how he should arrange his life + in this, to him, unknown country, which would probably be his own for some + time to come. Nevertheless, when, at the end of the level plain, the road + turned off into the wooded region, the unusual aspect of the forest + aroused his curiosity. The tufted woods and lofty trees, in endless + succession under the fading light, impressed him by their profound + solitude and their religious silence. His loneliness was in sympathy with + the forest, which seemed contemporary with the Sleeping Beauty of the + wood, the verdant walls of which were to separate him forever from the + world of cities. Henceforth, he could be himself, could move freely, dress + as he wished, or give way to his dreaming, without fearing to encounter + the ironical looks of idle and wondering neighbors. For the first time + since his departure from his former home, he experienced a feeling of joy + and serenity; the influence of the surroundings, so much in harmony with + his wishes, unlocked his tongue, and made him communicative. + </p> + <p> + He made up his mind to speak to the guide, who was smoking at his side and + whipping his horse. + </p> + <p> + “Are we far from Vivey now?” + </p> + <p> + “That depends, Monsieur—as the crow flies, the distance is not very + great, and if we could go by the roads, we should be there in one short + hour. Unfortunately, on turning by the Allofroy farm, we shall have to + leave the highroad and take the cross path; and then—my gracious! we + shall plunge into the ditch down there, and into perdition.” + </p> + <p> + “You told me that you were well acquainted with the roads!” + </p> + <p> + “I know them, and I do not know them. When it comes to these crossroads, + one is sure of nothing. They change every year, and each new + superintendent cuts a way out through the woods according to his fancy. + The devil himself could not find his way.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet you have been to Vivey before?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes; five or six years ago; I used often to take parties of hunters + to the chateau. Ah! Monsieur, what a beautiful country it is for hunting; + you can not take twenty steps along a trench without seeing a stag or a + deer.” + </p> + <p> + “You have doubtless had the opportunity of meeting Monsieur Odouart de + Buxieres?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, indeed, Monsieur, more than once-ah! he is a jolly fellow and a fine + man—” + </p> + <p> + “He was,” interrupted Julien, gravely, “for he is dead.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! excuse me—I did not know it. What! is he really dead? So fine a + man! What we must all come to. Careful, now!” added he, pulling in the + reins, “we are leaving the highroad, and must keep our eyes open.” + </p> + <p> + The twilight was already deepening, the driver lighted his lantern, and + the vehicle turned into a narrow lane, half mud, half stone, and hedged in + on both sides with wet brushwood, which flapped noisily against the + leathern hood. After fifteen minutes’ riding, the paths opened upon a + pasture, dotted here and there with juniper bushes, and thence divided + into three lines, along which ran the deep track of wagons, cutting the + pasturage into small hillocks. After long hesitation, the man cracked his + whip and took the right-hand path. + </p> + <p> + Julien began to fear that the fellow had boasted too much when he declared + that he knew the best way. The ruts became deeper and deeper; the road was + descending into a hole; suddenly, the wheels became embedded up to the hub + in thick, sticky mire, and the horse refused to move. The driver jumped to + the ground, swearing furiously; then he called Julien to help him to lift + out the wheel. But the young man, slender and frail as he was, and not + accustomed to using his muscles, was not able to render much assistance. + </p> + <p> + “Thunder and lightning!” cried the driver, “it is impossible to get out of + this—let go the wheel, Monsieur, you have no more strength than a + chicken, and, besides, you don’t know how to go about it. What a devil of + a road! But we can’t spend the night here!” + </p> + <p> + “If we were to call out,” suggested Julien, somewhat mortified at the + inefficiency of his assistance, “some one would perhaps come to our aid.” + </p> + <p> + They accordingly shouted with desperation; and after five or six minutes, + a voice hailed back. A woodcutter, from one of the neighboring clearings, + had heard the call, and was running toward them. + </p> + <p> + “This way!” cried the guide, “we are stuck fast in the mud. Give us a + lift.” + </p> + <p> + The man came up and walked round the vehicle, shaking his head. + </p> + <p> + “You’ve got on to a blind road,” said he, “and you’ll have trouble in + getting out of it, seeing as how there’s not light to go by. You had + better unharness the horse, and wait for daylight, if you want to get your + carriage out.” + </p> + <p> + “And where shall we go for a bed?” growled the driver; “there isn’t even a + house near in this accursed wild country of yours!” + </p> + <p> + “Excuse me-you are not far from La Thuiliere; the farm people will not + refuse you a bed, and to-morrow morning they will help you to get your + carriage out of the mud. Unharness, comrade; I will lead you as far as the + Plancheau-Vacher; and from there you will see the windows of the + farmhouse.” + </p> + <p> + The driver, still grumbling, decided to take his advice. They unharnessed + the horse; took one of the lanterns of the carriage as a beacon, and + followed slowly the line of pasture-land, under the woodchopper’s + guidance. At the end of about ten minutes, the forester pointed out a + light, twinkling at the extremity of a rustic path, bordered with moss. + </p> + <p> + “You have only to go straight ahead,” said he, “besides, the barking of + the dogs will guide you. Ask for Mamselle Vincart. Good-night, gentlemen.” + </p> + <p> + He turned on his heel, while Julien, bewildered, began to reproach himself + for not having thanked him enough. The conductor went along with his + lantern; young de Buxieres followed him with eyes downcast. Thus they + continued silently until they reached the termination of the mossy path, + where a furious barking saluted their ears. + </p> + <p> + “Here we are,” growled the driver, “fortunately the dogs are not yet let + loose, or we should pass a bad quarter of an hour!” + </p> + <p> + They pushed open a side-wicket and, standing in the courtyard, could see + the house. With the exception of the luminous spot that reddened one of + the windows of the ground floor, the long, low facade was dark, and, as it + were, asleep. On the right, standing alone, outlined against the sky, was + the main building of the ancient forge, now used for granaries and + stables; inside, the frantic barking of the watch-dogs mingled with the + bleating of the frightened sheep, the neighing of horses, and the clanking + of wooden shoes worn by the farm hands. At the same moment, the door of + the house opened, and a servant, attracted by the uproar, appeared on the + threshold, a lantern in her hand. + </p> + <p> + “Hallo! you people,” she exclaimed sharply to the newcomers, who were + advancing toward her, “what do you want?” + </p> + <p> + The driver related, in a few words, the affair of the cabriolet, and asked + whether they would house him at the farm until the next day—himself + and the gentleman he was conducting to Vivey. + </p> + <p> + The girl raised the lantern above her head in order to scrutinize the two + strangers; doubtless their appearance and air of respectability reassured + her, for she replied, in a milder voice: + </p> + <p> + “Well, that does not depend on me—I am not the mistress here, but + come in, all the same—Mamselle Reine can not be long now, and she + will answer for herself.” + </p> + <p> + As soon as the driver had fastened his horse to one of the outside posts + of the wicket-gate, the servant brought them into a large, square hall, in + which a lamp, covered with a shade, gave a moderate light. She placed two + chairs before the fire, which she drew together with the poker. + </p> + <p> + “Warm yourselves while you are waiting,” continued she, “it will not be + long, and you must excuse me—I must go and milk the cows—that + is work which will not wait.” + </p> + <p> + She reached the courtyard, and shut the gate after her, while Julien + turned to examine the room into which they had been shown, and felt a + certain serenity creep over him at the clean and cheerful aspect of this + homely but comfortable interior. The room served as both kitchen and + dining-room. On the right of the flaring chimney, one of the cast-iron + arrangements called a cooking-stove was gently humming; the saucepans, + resting on the bars, exhaled various appetizing odors. In the centre, the + long, massive table of solid beech was already spread with its coarse + linen cloth, and the service was laid. White muslin curtains fell in front + of the large windows, on the sills of which potted chrysanthemums spread + their white, brown, and red blossoms. + </p> + <p> + Round the walls a shining battery of boilers, kettles, basins, and copper + plates were hung in symmetrical order. On the dresser, near the clock, was + a complete service of old Aprey china, in bright and varied colors, and + not far from the chimney, which was ornamented with a crucifix of yellow + copper, was a set of shelves, attached to the wall, containing three rows + of books, in gray linen binding. Julien, approaching, read, not without + surprise, some of the titles: Paul and Virginia, La Fontaine’s Fables, + Gessner’s Idylls, Don Quixote, and noticed several odd volumes of the + Picturesque Magazine. + </p> + <p> + Hanging from the whitened ceiling were clusters of nuts, twisted hemp, + strings of yellow maize, and chaplets of golden pippins tied with straw, + all harmonizing in the dim light, and adding increased fulness to the + picture of thrift and abundance. + </p> + <p> + “It’s jolly here!” said the driver, smacking his lips, “and the smell + which comes from that oven makes one hungry. I wish Mamselle Reine would + arrive!” + </p> + <p> + Just as he said this, a mysterious falsetto voice, which seemed to come + from behind the copper basins, repeated, in an acrid voice: “Reine! + Reine!” + </p> + <p> + “What in the world is that?” exclaimed the driver, puzzled. + </p> + <p> + Both looked toward the beams; at the same moment there was a rustling of + wings, a light hop, and a black-and-white object flitted by, resting, + finally, on one of the shelves hanging from the joists. + </p> + <p> + “Ha, ha!” said the driver, laughing, “it is only a magpie!” + </p> + <p> + He had hardly said it, when, like a plaintive echo, another voice, a human + voice this time, childish and wavering, proceeding from a dark corner, + faltered: “Rei-eine—Rei-eine!” + </p> + <p> + “Hark!” murmured Julien, “some one answered.” + </p> + <p> + His companion seized the lamp, and advanced toward the portion of the room + left in shadow. Suddenly he stopped short, and stammered some vague + excuse. + </p> + <p> + Julien, who followed him, then perceived, with alarm, in a sort of niche + formed by two screens, entirely covered with illustrations from Epinal, a + strange-looking being stretched in an easy-chair, which was covered with + pillows and almost hidden under various woolen draperies. He was dressed + in a long coat of coarse, pale-blue cloth. He was bareheaded, and his + long, white hair formed a weird frame for a face of bloodless hue and + meagre proportions, from which two vacant eyes stared fixedly. He sat + immovable and his arms hung limply over his knees. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said Julien, bowing ceremoniously, “we are quite ashamed at + having disturbed you. Your servant forgot to inform us of your presence, + and we were waiting for Mademoiselle Reine, without thinking that—” + </p> + <p> + The old man continued immovable, not seeming to understand; he kept + repeating, in the same voice, like a frightened child: + </p> + <p> + “Rei-eine! Rei-eine!” + </p> + <p> + The two bewildered travellers gazed at this sepulchral-looking personage, + then at each other interrogatively, and began to feel very uncomfortable. + The magpie, perched upon the hanging shelf, suddenly flapped his wings, + and repeated, in his turn, in falsetto: + </p> + <p> + “Reine, queen of the woods!” + </p> + <p> + “Here I am, papa, don’t get uneasy!” said a clear, musical voice behind + them. + </p> + <p> + The door had been suddenly opened, and Reine Vincart had entered. She wore + on her head a white cape or hood, and held in front of her an enormous + bouquet of glistening leaves, which seemed to have been gathered as + specimens of all the wild fruit-trees of the forest: the brown + beam-berries, the laburnums, and wild cherry, with their red, transparent + fruit, the bluish mulberry, the orange-clustered mountain-ash. All this + forest vegetation, mingling its black or purple tints with the dark, moist + leaves, brought out the whiteness of the young girl’s complexion, her + limpid eyes, and her brown curls escaping from her hood. + </p> + <p> + Julien de Buxieres and his companion had turned at the sound of Reine’s + voice. As soon as she perceived them, she went briskly toward them, + exclaiming: + </p> + <p> + “What are you doing here? Don’t you see that you are frightening him?” + </p> + <p> + Julien, humbled and mortified, murmured an excuse, and got confused in + trying to relate the incident of the carriage. She interrupted him + hurriedly: + </p> + <p> + “The carriage, oh, yes—La Guitiote spoke to me about it. Well, your + carriage will be attended to! Go and sit down by the fire, gentlemen; we + will talk about it presently.” + </p> + <p> + She had taken the light from the driver, and placed it on an adjacent + table with her plants. In the twinkling of an eye, she removed her hood, + unfastened her shawl, and then knelt down in front of the sick man, after + kissing him tenderly on the forehead. From the corner where Julien had + seated himself, he could hear her soothing voice. Its caressing tones + contrasted pleasantly with the harsh accent of a few minutes before. + </p> + <p> + “You were longing for me, papa,” said she, “but you see, I could not leave + before all the sacks of potatoes had been laid in the wagon. Now + everything has been brought in, and we can sleep in peace. I thought of + you on the way, and I have brought you a fine bouquet of wild fruits. We + shall enjoy looking them over tomorrow, by daylight. Now, this is the time + that you are to drink your bouillon like a good papa, and then as soon as + we have had our supper Guite and I will put you to bed nice and warm, and + I will sing you a song to send you to sleep.” + </p> + <p> + She rose, took from the sideboard a bowl which she filled from a saucepan + simmering on the stove, and then, without taking any notice of her + visitors, she returned to the invalid. Slowly and with delicate care she + made him swallow the soup by spoonfuls. Julien, notwithstanding the + feeling of ill-humor caused by the untoward happenings of the evening, + could not help admiring the almost maternal tenderness with which the + young girl proceeded in this slow and difficult operation. When the bowl + was empty she returned to the stove, and at last bethought herself of her + guests. + </p> + <p> + “Excuse me, Monsieur, but I had to attend to my father first. If I + understood quite aright, you were going to Vivey.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Mademoiselle, I had hoped to sleep there tonight.” + </p> + <p> + “You have probably come,” continued she, “on business connected with the + chateau. Is not the heir of Monsieur Odouart expected very shortly?” + </p> + <p> + “I am that heir,” replied Julien, coloring. + </p> + <p> + “You are Monsieur de Buxieres?” exclaimed Reine, in astonishment. Then, + embarrassed at having shown her surprise too openly, she checked herself, + colored in her turn, and finally gave a rapid glance at her interlocutor. + She never should have imagined this slender young man, so melancholy in + aspect, to be the new proprietor—he was so unlike the late Odouart + de Buxieres! + </p> + <p> + “Pardon me, Monsieur,” continued she, “you must have thought my first + welcome somewhat unceremonious, but my first thought was for my father. He + is a great invalid, as you may have noticed, and for the first moment I + feared that he had been startled by strange faces.” + </p> + <p> + “It is I, Mademoiselle,” replied Julien, with embarrassment, “it is I who + ought to ask pardon for having caused all this disturbance. But I do not + intend to trouble you any longer. If you will kindly furnish us with a + guide who will direct us to the road to Vivey, we will depart to-night and + sleep at the chateau.” + </p> + <p> + “No, indeed,” protested Reine, very cordially. “You are my guests, and I + shall not allow you to leave us in that manner. Besides, you would + probably find the gates closed down there, for I do not think they + expected you so soon.” + </p> + <p> + During this interview, the servant who had received the travellers had + returned with her milk-pail; behind her, the other farm-hands, men and + women, arranged themselves silently round the table. + </p> + <p> + “Guitiote,” said Reine, “lay two more places at the table. The horse + belonging to these gentlemen has been taken care of, has he not?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Mamselle, he is in the stable,” replied one of the grooms. + </p> + <p> + “Good! Bernard, to-morrow you will take Fleuriot with you, and go in + search of their carriage which has been swamped in the Planche-au-Vacher. + That is settled. Now, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you proceed to table—and + your coachman also? Upon my word, I do not know whether our supper will be + to your liking. I can only offer you a plate of soup, a chine of pork, and + cheese made in the country; but you must be hungry, and when one has a + good appetite, one is not hard to please.” + </p> + <p> + Every one had been seated at the table; the servants at the lower end, and + Reine Vincart, near the fireplace, between M. de Buxieres and the driver. + La Guite helped the cabbage-soup all around; soon nothing was heard but + the clinking of spoons and smacking of lips. Julien, scarcely recovered + from his bewilderment, watched furtively the pretty, robust young girl + presiding at the supper, and keeping, at the same time, a watchful eye + over all the details of service. He thought her strange; she upset all his + ideas. His own imagination and his theories pictured a woman, and more + especially a young girl, as a submissive, modest, shadowy creature, with + downcast look, only raising her eyes to consult her husband or her mother + as to what is allowable and what is forbidden. Now, Reine did not fulfil + any of the requirements of this ideal. She seemed to be hardly twenty-two + years old, and she acted with the initiative genius, the frankness and the + decision of a man, retaining all the while the tenderness and easy grace + of a woman. Although it was evident that she was accustomed to govern and + command, there was nothing in her look, gesture, or voice which betrayed + any assumption of masculinity. She remained a young girl while in the very + act of playing the virile part of head of the house. But what astonished + Julien quite as much was that she seemed to have received a degree of + education superior to that of people of her condition, and he wondered at + the amount of will-power by which a nature highly cultivated, relatively + speaking, could conform to the unrefined, rough surroundings in which she + was placed. + </p> + <p> + While Julien was immersed in these reflections, and continued eating with + an abstracted air, Reine Vincart was rapidly examining the reserved, + almost ungainly, young man, who did not dare address any conversation to + her, and who was equally stiff and constrained with those sitting near + him. She made a mental comparison of him with Claudet, the bold huntsman, + alert, resolute, full of dash and spirit, and a feeling of charitable + compassion arose in her heart at the thought of the reception which the + Sejournant family would give to this new master, so timid and so little + acquainted with the ways and dispositions of country folk. Julien did not + impress her as being able to defend himself against the ill-will of + persons who would consider him an intruder, and would certainly endeavor + to make him pay dearly for the inheritance of which he had deprived them. + </p> + <p> + “You do not take your wine, Monsieur de Buxieres!” said she, noticing that + her guest’s glass was still full. + </p> + <p> + “I am not much of a wine-drinker,” replied he, “and besides, I never take + wine by itself—I should be obliged if you would have some water + brought.” + </p> + <p> + Reine smiled, and passed him the water-bottle. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed?” she said, “in that case, you have not fallen among congenial + spirits, for in these mountains they like good dinners, and have a special + weakness for Burgundy. You follow the chase, at any rate?” + </p> + <p> + “No, Mademoiselle, I do not know how to handle a gun!” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose it is not your intention to settle in Vivey?” + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” replied he; “on the contrary, I intend to inhabit the chateau, + and establish myself there definitely.” + </p> + <p> + “What!” exclaimed Reine, laughing, “you neither drink nor hunt, and you + intend to live in our woods! Why, my poor Monsieur, you will die of + ennui.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall have my books for companions; besides, solitude never has had any + terrors for me.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl shook her head incredulously. + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn’t wonder,” she continued, “if you do not even play at cards.” + </p> + <p> + “Never; games of chance are repugnant to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Take notice that I do not blame you,” she replied, gayly, “but I must + give you one piece of advice: don’t speak in these neighborhoods of your + dislike of hunting, cards, or good wine; our country folk would feel pity + for you, and that would destroy your prestige.” + </p> + <p> + Julien gazed at her with astonishment. She turned away to give directions + to La Guite about the beds for her guests—then the supper went on + silently. As soon as they had swallowed their last mouthful, the + menservants repaired to their dormitory, situated in the buildings of the + ancient forge. Reine Vincart rose also. + </p> + <p> + “This is the time when I put my father to bed—I am obliged to take + leave of you, Monsieur de Buxieres. Guitiote will conduct you to your + room. For you, driver, I have had a bed made in a small room next to the + furnace; you will be nice and warm. Good-night, gentlemen, sleep well!” + </p> + <p> + She turned away, and went to rejoin the paralytic sufferer, who, as she + approached, manifested his joy by a succession of inarticulate sounds. + </p> + <p> + The room to which Guitiote conducted Julien was on the first floor, and + had a cheerful, hospitable appearance. The walls were whitewashed; the + chairs, table, and bed were of polished oak; a good fire of logs crackled + in the fireplace, and between the opening of the white window-curtains + could be seen a slender silver crescent of moon gliding among the flitting + clouds. The young man went at once to his bed; but notwithstanding the + fatigues of the day, sleep did not come to him. Through the partition he + could hear the clear, sonorous voice of Reine singing her father to sleep + with one of the popular ballads of the country, and while turning and + twisting in the homespun linen sheets, scented with orrisroot, he could + not help thinking of this young girl, so original in her ways, whose + grace, energy, and frankness fascinated and shocked him at the same time. + At last he dozed off; and when the morning stir awoke him, the sun was up + and struggling through the foggy atmosphere. + </p> + <p> + The sky had cleared during the night; there had been a frost, and the + meadows were powdered white. The leaves, just nipped with the frost, were + dropping softly to the ground, and formed little green heaps at the base + of the trees. Julien dressed himself hurriedly, and descended to the + courtyard, where the first thing he saw was the cabriolet, which had been + brought in the early morning and which one of the farm-boys was in the act + of sousing with water in the hope of freeing the hood and wheels from the + thick mud which covered them. When he entered the diningroom, brightened + by the rosy rays of the morning sun, he found Reine Vincart there before + him. She was dressed in a yellow striped woolen skirt, and a jacket of + white flannel carelessly belted at the waist. Her dark chestnut hair, + parted down the middle and twisted into a loose knot behind, lay in + ripples round her smooth, open forehead. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres,” said she, in her cordial tone, “did + you sleep well? Yes? I am glad. You find me busy attending to household + matters. My father is still in bed, and I am taking advantage of the fact + to arrange his little corner. The doctor said he must not be put near the + fire, so I have made a place for him here; he enjoys it immensely, and I + arranged this nook to protect him from draughts.” + </p> + <p> + And she showed him how she had put the big easy chair, padded with + cushions, in the bright sunlight which streamed through the window, and + shielded by the screens, one on each side. She noticed that Julien was + examining, with some curiosity, the uncouth pictures from Epinal, with + which the screens were covered. + </p> + <p> + “This,” she explained, “is my own invention. My father is a little weak in + the head, but he understands a good many things, although he can not talk + about them. He used to get weary of sitting still all day in his chair, so + I lined the screens with these pictures in order that he might have + something to amuse him. He is as pleased as a child with the bright + colors, and I explain the subjects to him. I don’t tell him much at a + time, for fear of fatiguing him. We have got now to Pyramus and Thisbe, so + that we shall have plenty to occupy us before we reach the end.” + </p> + <p> + She caught a pitying look from her guest which seemed to say: “The poor + man may not last long enough to reach the end.” Doubtless she had the same + fear, for her dark eyes suddenly glistened, she sighed, and remained for + some moments without speaking. + </p> + <p> + In the mean time the magpie, which Julien had seen the day before, was + hopping around its mistress, like a familiar spirit; it even had the + audacity to peck at her hair and then fly away, repeating, in its cracked + voice: + </p> + <p> + “Reine, queen of the woods!” + </p> + <p> + “Why ‘queen of the woods?”’ asked Julien, coloring. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” replied the young girl, “it is a nickname which the people around + here give me, because I am so fond of the trees. I spend all the time I + can in our woods, as much as I can spare from the work of the farm. + </p> + <p> + “Margot has often heard my father call me by that name; she remembers it, + and is always repeating it.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you like living in this wild country?” + </p> + <p> + “Very much. I was born here, and I like it.” + </p> + <p> + “But you have not always lived here?” + </p> + <p> + “No; my mother, who had lived in the city, placed me at school in her own + country, in Dijon. I received there the education of a young lady, though + there is not much to show for it now. I stayed there six years; then my + mother died, my father fell ill, and I came home.” + </p> + <p> + “And did you not suffer from so sudden a change?” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all. You see I am really by nature a country girl. I wish you + might not have more trouble than I had, in getting accustomed to your new + way of living, in the chateau at Vivey. But,” she added, going toward the + fire, “I think they are harnessing the horse, and you must be hungry. Your + driver has already primed himself with some toast and white wine. I will + not offer you the same kind of breakfast. I will get you some coffee and + cream.” + </p> + <p> + He bent his head in acquiescence, and she brought him the coffee herself, + helping him to milk and toasted bread. He drank rapidly the contents of + the cup, nibbled at a slice of toast, and then, turning to his hostess, + said, with a certain degree of embarrassment: + </p> + <p> + “There is nothing left for me to do, Mademoiselle, but to express my most + heartfelt thanks for your kind hospitality. It is a good omen for me to + meet with such cordiality on my arrival in an unknown part of the country. + May I ask you one more question?” he continued, looking anxiously at her; + “why do you think it will be so difficult for me to get accustomed to the + life they lead here?” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” replied she, shaking her head, “because, to speak frankly, + Monsieur, you do not give me the idea of having much feeling for the + country. You are not familiar with our ways; you will not be able to speak + to the people in their language, and they will not understand yours—you + will be, in their eyes, ‘the city Monsieur,’ whom they will mistrust and + will try to circumvent. I should like to find that I am mistaken, but, at + present, I have the idea that you will encounter difficulties down there + of which you do not seem to have any anticipation—” + </p> + <p> + She was intercepted by the entrance of the driver, who was becoming + impatient. The horse was in harness, and they were only waiting for M. de + Buxieres. Julien rose, and after awkwardly placing a piece of silver in + the hand of La Guite, took leave of Reine Vincart, who accompanied him to + the threshold. + </p> + <p> + “Thanks, once more, Mademoiselle,” murmured he, “and au revoir, since we + shall be neighbors.” + </p> + <p> + He held out his hand timidly and she took it with frank cordiality. Julien + got into the cabriolet beside the driver, who began at once to belabor + vigorously his mulish animal. + </p> + <p> + “Good journey and good luck, Monsieur,” cried Reine after him, and the + vehicle sped joltingly away. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. CONSCIENCE HIGHER THAN THE LAW + </h2> + <p> + On leaving La Thuiliere, the driver took the straight line toward the + pasturelands of the Planche-au-Vacher. + </p> + <p> + According to the directions they had received from the people of the farm, + they then followed a rocky road, which entailed considerable jolting for + the travellers, but which led them without other difficulty to the bottom + of a woody dell, where they were able to ford the stream. As soon as they + had, with difficulty, ascended the opposite hill, the silvery fog that had + surrounded them began to dissipate, and they distinguished a road close + by, which led a winding course through the forest. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! now I see my way!” said the driver, “we have only to go straight on, + and in twenty minutes we shall be at Vivey. This devil of a fog cuts into + one’s skin like a bunch of needles. With your permission, Monsieur de + Buxieres, and if it will not annoy you, I will light my pipe to warm + myself.” + </p> + <p> + Now that he knew he was conducting the proprietor of the chateau, he + repented having treated him so cavalierly the day before; he became + obsequious, and endeavored to gain the good-will of his fare by showing + himself as loquacious as he had before been cross and sulky. But Julien de + Buxieres, too much occupied in observing the details of the country, or in + ruminating over the impressions he had received during the morning, made + but little response to his advances, and soon allowed the conversation to + drop. + </p> + <p> + The sun’s rays had by this time penetrated the misty atmosphere, and the + white frost had changed to diamond drops, which hung tremblingly on the + leafless branches. A gleam of sunshine showed the red tints of the + beech-trees, and the bright golden hue of the poplars, and the forest + burst upon Julien in all the splendor of its autumnal trappings. The + pleasant remembrance of Reine Vincart’s hospitality doubtless predisposed + him to enjoy the charm of this sunshiny morning, for he became, perhaps + for the first time in his life, suddenly alive to the beauty of this + woodland scenery. By degrees, toward the left, the brushwood became less + dense, and several gray buildings appeared scattered over the glistening + prairie. Soon after appeared a park, surrounded by low, crumbling walls, + then a group of smoky roofs, and finally, surmounting a massive clump of + ash-trees, two round towers with tops shaped like extinguishers. The + coachman pointed them out to the young man with the end of his whip. + </p> + <p> + “There is Vivey,” said he, “and here is your property, Monsieur de + Buxieres.” + </p> + <p> + Julien started, and, notwithstanding his alienation from worldly things, + he could not repress a feeling of satisfaction when he reflected that, by + legal right, he was about to become master of the woods, the fields, and + the old homestead of which the many-pointed slate roofs gleamed in the + distance. This satisfaction was mingled with intense curiosity, but it was + also somewhat shadowed by a dim perspective of the technical details + incumbent on his taking possession. No doubt he should be obliged, in the + beginning, to make himself personally recognized, to show the workmen and + servants of the chateau that the new owner was equal to the situation. + Now, Julien was not, by nature, a man of action, and the delicately + expressed fears of Reine Vincart made him uneasy in his mind. When the + carriage, suddenly turning a corner, stopped in front of the gate of + entrance, and he beheld, through the cast-iron railing, the long avenue of + ash-trees, the grass-grown courtyard, the silent facade, his heart began + to beat more rapidly, and his natural timidity again took possession of + him. + </p> + <p> + “The gate is closed, and they don’t seem to be expecting you,” remarked + the driver. + </p> + <p> + They dismounted. Noticing that the side door was half open, the coachman + gave a vigorous pull on the chain attached to the bell. At the sound of + the rusty clamor, a furious barking was heard from an adjoining outhouse, + but no one inside the house seemed to take notice of the ringing. + </p> + <p> + “Come, let us get in all the same,” said the coachman, giving another + pull, and stealing a furtive look at his companion’s disconcerted + countenance. + </p> + <p> + He fastened his horse to the iron fence, and both passed through the side + gate to the avenue, the dogs all the while continuing their uproar. Just + as they reached the courtyard, the door opened and Manette Sejournant + appeared on the doorstep. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, gentlemen,” said she, in a slow, drawling voice, “is it you + who are making all this noise?” + </p> + <p> + The sight of this tall, burly woman, whose glance betokened both audacity + and cunning, increased still more Julien’s embarrassment. He advanced + awkwardly, raised his hat and replied, almost as if to excuse himself: + </p> + <p> + “I beg pardon, Madame—I am the cousin and heir of the late Claude de + Buxieres. I have come to install myself in the chateau, and I had sent + word of my intention to Monsieur Arbillot, the notary—I am surprised + he did not notify you.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! it is you, Monsieur Julien de Buxieres!” exclaimed Madame Sejournant, + scrutinizing the newcomer with a mingling of curiosity and scornful + surprise which completed the young man’s discomfiture. “Monsieur Arbillot + was here yesterday—he waited for you all day, and as you did not + come, he went away at nightfall.” + </p> + <p> + “I presume you were in my cousin’s service?” said Julien, amiably, being + desirous from the beginning to evince charitable consideration with regard + to his relative’s domestic affairs. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Monsieur,” replied Manette, with dignified sadness; “I attended poor + Monsieur de Buxieres twenty-six years, and can truly say I served him with + devotion! But now I am only staying here in charge of the seals—I + and my son Claudet. We have decided to leave as soon as the notary does + not want us any more.” + </p> + <p> + “I regret to hear it, Madame,” replied Julien, who was beginning to feel + uncomfortable. “There must be other servants around—I should be + obliged if you would have our carriage brought into the yard. And then, if + you will kindly show us the way, we will go into the house, for I am + desirous to feel myself at home—and my driver would not object to + some refreshment.” + </p> + <p> + “I will send the cowboy to open the gate,” replied the housekeeper. “If + you will walk this way, gentlemen, I will take you into the only room that + can be used just now, on account of the seals on the property.” + </p> + <p> + Passing in front of them, she directed her steps toward the kitchen, and + made way for them to pass into the smoky room, where a small servant was + making coffee over a clear charcoal fire. As the travellers entered, the + manly form of Claudet Sejournant was outlined against the bright light of + the window at his back. + </p> + <p> + “My son,” said Manette, with a meaning side look, especially for his + benefit, “here is Monsieur de Buxieres, come to take possession of his + inheritance.” + </p> + <p> + The grand chasserot attempted a silent salutation, and then the young men + took a rapid survey of each other. + </p> + <p> + Julien de Buxieres was startled by the unexpected presence of so handsome + a young fellow, robust, intelligent, and full of energy, whose large brown + eyes gazed at him with a kind of surprised and pitying compassion which + was very hard for Julien to bear. He turned uneasily away, making a lame + excuse of ordering some wine for his coachman; and while Manette, with an + air of martyrdom, brought a glass and a half-empty bottle, Claudet + continued his surprised and inquiring examination of the legal heir of + Claude de Buxieres. + </p> + <p> + The pale, slight youth, buttoned up in a close-fitting, long frock-coat, + which gave him the look of a priest, looked so unlike any of the Buxieres + of the elder branch that it seemed quite excusable to hesitate about the + relationship. Claudet maliciously took advantage of the fact, and began to + interrogate his would-be deposer by pretending to doubt his identity. + </p> + <p> + “Are you certainly Monsieur Julien de Buxieres?” asked he, surveying him + suspiciously from head to foot. + </p> + <p> + “Do you take me for an impostor?” exclaimed the young man. + </p> + <p> + “I do not say that,” returned Claudet, crossly, “but after all, you do not + carry your name written on your face, and, by Jove! as guardian of the + seals, I have some responsibility—I want information, that is all!” + </p> + <p> + Angry at having to submit to these inquiries in the presence of the + coachman who had brought him from Langres, Julien completely lost control + of his temper. + </p> + <p> + “Do you require me to show my papers?” he inquired, in a haughty, ironical + tone of voice. + </p> + <p> + Manette, foreseeing a disturbance, hastened to interpose, in her + hypocritical, honeyed voice: + </p> + <p> + “Leave off, Claudet, let Monsieur alone. He would not be here, would he, + if he hadn’t a right? As to asking him to prove his right, that is not our + business—it belongs to the justice and the notary. You had better, + my son, go over to Auberive, and ask the gentlemen to come to-morrow to + raise the seals.” + </p> + <p> + At this moment, the cowboy, who had been sent to open the gate, entered + the kitchen. + </p> + <p> + “The carriage is in the courtyard,” said he, “and Monsieur’s boxes are in + the hall. Where shall I put them, Madame Sejoumant?” + </p> + <p> + Julien’s eyes wandered from Manette to the young boy, with an expression + of intense annoyance and fatigue. + </p> + <p> + “Why, truly,” said Manette, “as a matter of fact, there is only the room + of our deceased master, where the seals have been released. Would Monsieur + object to taking up his quarters there?” + </p> + <p> + “I am willing,” muttered Julien; “have my luggage carried up there, and + give orders for it to be made ready immediately.” + </p> + <p> + The housekeeper gave a sign, and the boy and the servant disappeared. + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” resumed Julien, turning toward Manette, “if I understand you + right, I can no longer reckon upon your services to take care of my + household. Could you send me some one to supply your place?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! as to that matter,” replied the housekeeper, still in her wheedling + voice, “a day or two more or less! I am not so very particular, and I + don’t mind attending to the house as long as I remain. At what hour would + you wish to dine, Monsieur?” + </p> + <p> + “At the hour most convenient for you,” responded Julien, quickly, anxious + to conciliate her; “you will serve my meals in my room.” + </p> + <p> + As the driver had now finished his bottle, they left the room together. + </p> + <p> + As soon as the door was closed, Manette and her son exchanged sarcastic + looks. + </p> + <p> + “He a Buxieres!” growled Claudet. “He looks like a student priest in + vacation.” + </p> + <p> + “He is an ‘ecrigneule’,” returned Manette, shrugging her shoulders. + </p> + <p> + ‘Ecrigneule’ is a word of the Langrois dialect, signifying a puny, sickly, + effeminate being. In the mouth of Madame Sejournant, this picturesque + expression acquired a significant amount of scornful energy. + </p> + <p> + “And to think,” sighed Claudet, twisting his hands angrily in his bushy + hair, “that such a slip of a fellow is going to be master here!” + </p> + <p> + “Master?” repeated Manette, shaking her head, “we’ll see about that! He + does not know anything at all, and has not what is necessary for ordering + about. In spite of his fighting-cock airs, he hasn’t two farthings’ worth + of spunk—it would be easy enough to lead him by the nose. Do you + see, Claudet, if we were to manage properly, instead of throwing the + handle after the blade, we should be able before two weeks are, over to + have rain or sunshine here, just as we pleased. We must only have a little + more policy.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean by policy, mother?” + </p> + <p> + “I mean—letting things drag quietly on—not breaking all the + windows at the first stroke. The lad is as dazed as a young bird that has + fallen from its nest. What we have to do is to help him to get control of + himself, and accustom him not to do without us. As soon as we have made + ourselves necessary to him, he will be at our feet.” + </p> + <p> + “Would you wish me to become the servant of the man who has cheated me out + of my inheritance?” protested Claudet, indignantly. + </p> + <p> + “His servant—no, indeed! but his companion—why not? And it + would be so easy if you would only make up your mind to it, Claude. I tell + you again, he is not ill-natured-he looks like a man who is up to his neck + in devotion. When he once feels we are necessary to his comfort, and that + some reliable person, like the curate, for example, were to whisper to him + that you are the son of Claudet de Buxieres, he would have scruples, and + at last, half on his own account, and half for the sake of religion, he + would begin to treat you like a relative.” + </p> + <p> + “No;” said Claudet, firmly, “these tricky ways do not suit me. Monsieur + Arbillot proposed yesterday that I should do what you advise. He even + offered to inform this gentleman of my relationship to Claude de Buxieres. + I refused, and forbade the notary to open his mouth on the subject. What! + should I play the part of a craven hound before this younger son whom my + father detested, and beg for a portion of the inheritance? Thank you! I + prefer to take myself out of the way at once!” + </p> + <p> + “You prefer to have your mother beg her bread at strangers’ doors!” + replied Manette, bitterly, shedding tears of rage. + </p> + <p> + “I have already told you, mother, that when one has a good pair of arms, + and the inclination to use them, one has no need to beg one’s bread. + Enough said! I am going to Auberive to notify the justice and the notary.” + </p> + <p> + While Claudet was striding across the woods, the boy carried the luggage + of the newly arrived traveller into the chamber on the first floor, and + Zelie, the small servant, put the sheets on the bed, dusted the room, and + lighted the fire. In a few minutes, Julien was alone in his new domicile, + and began to open his boxes and valises. The chimney, which had not been + used since the preceding winter, smoked unpleasantly, and the damp logs + only blackened instead of burning. The boxes lay wide open, and the room + of the deceased Claude de Buxieres had the uncomfortable aspect of a place + long uninhabited. Julien had seated himself in one of the large armchairs, + covered in Utrecht velvet, and endeavored to rekindle the dying fire. He + felt at loose ends and discouraged, and had no longer the courage to + arrange his clothes in the open wardrobes, which stood open, emitting a + strong odor of decaying mold. + </p> + <p> + The slight breath of joyous and renewed life which had animated him on + leaving the Vincart farm, had suddenly evaporated. His anticipations + collapsed in the face of these bristling realities, among which he felt + his isolation more deeply than ever before. He recalled the cordiality of + Reine’s reception, and how she had spoken of the difficulties he should + have to encounter. How little he had thought that her forebodings would + come true the very same day! The recollection of the cheerful and + hospitable interior of La Thuiliere contrasted painfully with his cold, + bare Vivey mansion, tenanted solely by hostile domestics. Who were these + people—this Manette Sejournant with her treacherous smile, and this + fellow Claudet, who had, at the very first, subjected him to such + offensive questioning? Why did they seem so ill-disposed toward him? He + felt as if he were completely enveloped in an atmosphere of contradiction + and ill-will. He foresaw what an amount of quiet but steady opposition he + should have to encounter from these subordinates, and he became alarmed at + the prospect of having to display so much energy in order to establish his + authority in the chateau. He, who had pictured to himself a calm and + delightful solitude, wherein he could give himself up entirely to his + studious and contemplative tastes. What a contrast to the reality! + </p> + <p> + Rousing himself at last, he proceeded mechanically to arrange his + belongings in the room, formerly inhabited by his cousin de Buxieres. He + had hardly finished when Zelie made her appearance with some plates and a + tablecloth, and began to lay the covers. Seeing the fire had gone out, the + little servant uttered an exclamation of dismay. + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” cried she, “so the wood didn’t flare!” + </p> + <p> + He gazed at her as if she were talking Hebrew, and it was at least a + minute before he understood that by “flare” she meant kindle. + </p> + <p> + “Well, well!” she continued, “I’ll go and fetch some splinters.” + </p> + <p> + She returned in a few moments, with a basket filled with the large + splinters thrown off by the woodchoppers in straightening the logs: she + piled these up on the andirons, and then, applying her mouth vigorously to + a long hollow tin tube, open at both ends, which she carried with her, + soon succeeded in starting a steady flame. + </p> + <p> + “Look there!” said she, in a tone implying a certain degree of contempt + for the “city Monsieur” who did not even know how to keep up a fire, + “isn’t that clever? Now I must lay the cloth.” + </p> + <p> + While she went about her task, arranging the plates, the water-bottle, and + glasses symmetrically around the table, Julien tried to engage her in + conversation. But the little maiden, either because she had been cautioned + beforehand, or because she did not very well comprehend M. de Buxieres’s + somewhat literary style of French, would answer only in monosyllables, or + else speak only in patois, so that Julien had to give up the idea of + getting any information out of her. Certainly, Mademoiselle Vincart was + right in saying that he did not know the language of these people. + </p> + <p> + He ate without appetite the breakfast on which Manette had employed all + her culinary art, barely tasted the roast partridge, and to Zelie’s great + astonishment, mingled the old Burgundy wine with a large quantity of + water. + </p> + <p> + “You will inform Madame Sejournant,” said he to the girl, as he folded his + napkin, “that I am not a great eater, and that one dish will suffice me in + future.” + </p> + <p> + He left her to clear away, and went out to look at the domain which he was + to call his own. It did not take him very long. The twenty or thirty white + houses, which constituted the village and lay sleeping in the wooded + hollow like eggs in a nest, formed a curious circular line around the + chateau. In a few minutes he had gone the whole length of it, and the few + people he met gave him only a passing glance, in which curiosity seemed to + have more share than any hospitable feeling. He entered the narrow church + under the patronage of Our Lady; the gray light which entered through the + moldy shutters showed a few scattered benches of oak, and the painted + wooden altar. He knelt down and endeavored to collect his thoughts, but + the rude surroundings of this rustic sanctuary did not tend to comfort his + troubled spirit, and he became conscious of a sudden withering of all + religious fervor. He turned and left the place, taking a path that led + through the forest. It did not interest him more than the village; the + woods spoke no language which his heart could understand; he could not + distinguish an ash from an oak, and all the different plants were included + by him under one general term of “weeds”; but he needed bodily fatigue and + violent physical agitation to dissipate the overpowering feeling of + discouragement that weighed down his spirits. He walked for several hours + without seeing anything, nearly got lost, and did not reach home till + after dark. Once more the little servant appeared with his meal, which he + ate in an abstracted manner, without even asking whether he were eating + veal or mutton; then he went immediately to bed, and fell into an uneasy + sleep. And thus ended his first day. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, about nine o’clock, he was informed that the justice of + the peace, the notary, and the clerk, were waiting for him below. He + hastened down and found the three functionaries busy conferring in a low + voice with Manette and Claudet. The conversation ceased suddenly upon his + arrival, and during the embarrassing silence that followed, all eyes were + directed toward Julien, who saluted the company and delivered to the + justice the documents proving his identity, begging him to proceed without + delay to the legal breaking of the seals. They accordingly began + operations, and went through all the house without interruption, + accompanied by Claudet, who stood stiff and sullen behind the justice, + taking advantage of every little opportunity to testify his dislike and + ill-feeling toward the legal heir of Claude de Buxieres. Toward eleven + o’clock, the proceedings came to an end, the papers were signed, and + Julien was regularly invested with his rights. But the tiresome + formalities were not yet over: he had to invite the three officials to + breakfast. This event, however, had been foreseen by Manette. Since early + morning she had been busy preparing a bountiful repast, and had even + called Julien de Buxieres aside in order to instruct him in the hospitable + duties which his position and the customs of society imposed upon him. + </p> + <p> + As they entered the dining-room, young de Buxieres noticed that covers + were laid for five people; he began to wonder who the fifth guest could + be, when an accidental remark of the clerk showed him that the unknown was + no other than Claudet. The fact was that Manette could not bear the idea + that her son, who had always sat at table with the late Claude de + Buxieres, should be consigned to the kitchen in presence of these + distinguished visitors from Auberive, and had deliberately laid a place + for him at the master’s table, hoping that the latter would not dare put + any public affront upon Claudet. She was not mistaken in her idea. Julien, + anxious to show a conciliatory spirit, and making an effort to quell his + own repugnance, approached the ‘grand chasserot’, who was standing at one + side by himself, and invited him to take his seat at the table. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” replied Claudet, coldly, “I have breakfasted.” So saying, he + turned his back on M. de Buxieres, who returned to the hall, vexed and + disconcerted. + </p> + <p> + The repast was abundant, and seemed of interminable length to Julien. The + three guests, whose appetites had been sharpened by their morning + exercise, did honor to Madame Sejournant’s cooking; they took their wine + without water, and began gradually to thaw under the influence of their + host’s good Burgundy; evincing their increased liveliness by the exchange + of heavy country witticisms, or relating noisy and interminable stories of + their hunting adventures. Their conversation was very trying to Julien’s + nerves. Nevertheless, he endeavored to fulfil his duties as master of the + house, throwing in a word now and then, so as to appear interested in + their gossip, but he ate hardly a mouthful. His features had a pinched + expression, and every now and then he caught himself trying to smother a + yawn. His companions at the table could not understand a young man of + twenty-eight years who drank nothing but water, scorned all enjoyment in + eating, and only laughed forcedly under compulsion. At last, disturbed by + the continued taciturnity of their host, they rose from the table sooner + than their wont, and prepared to take leave. Before their departure, + Arbillot the notary, passed his arm familiarly through that of Julien and + led him into an adjoining room, which served as billiard-hall and library. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur de Buxieres,” said he, pointing to a pile of law papers heaped + upon the green cloth of the table; “see what I have prepared for you; you + will find there all the titles and papers relating to the real estate, + pictures, current notes, and various matters of your inheritance. You had + better keep them under lock and key, and study them at your leisure. You + will find them very interesting. I need hardly say,” he added, “that I am + at your service for any necessary advice or explanation. But, in respect + to any minor details, you can apply to Claudet Sejournant, who is very + intelligent in such matters, and a good man of business. And, by the way, + Monsieur de Buxieres, will you allow me to commend the young man + especially to your kindly consideration.” + </p> + <p> + But Julien interrupted him with an imperious gesture, and replied, + frowning angrily: + </p> + <p> + “If you please, Maitre Arbillot, we will not enter upon that subject. I + have already tried my best to show a kindly feeling toward Monsieur + Claudet, but I have been only here twenty-four hours, and he has already + found opportunities for affronting me twice. I beg you not to speak of him + again.” + </p> + <p> + The notary, who was just lighting his pipe, stopped suddenly. Moved by a + feeling of good-fellowship for the ‘grand chasserot’, who had, however, + enjoined him to silence, he had it on the tip of his tongue to inform + Julien of the facts concerning the parentage of Claudet de Buxieres; but, + however much he wished to render Claudet a service, he was still more + desirous of respecting the feelings of his client; so, between the + hostility of one party and the backwardness of the other, he chose the + wise part of inaction. + </p> + <p> + “That is sufficient, Monsieur de Buxieres,” replied he, “I will not press + the matter.” + </p> + <p> + Thereupon he saluted his client, and went to rejoin the justice and the + clerk, and the three comrades wended their way to Auberive through the + woods, discussing the incidents of the breakfast, and the peculiarities of + the new proprietor. + </p> + <p> + “This de Buxieres,” said M. Destourbet, “does not at all resemble his + deceased cousin Claude!” + </p> + <p> + “I can quite understand why the two families kept apart from each other,” + observed the notary, jocosely. + </p> + <p> + “Poor ‘chasserot’!” whined Seurrot the clerk, whom the wine had rendered + tender-hearted; “he will not have a penny. I pity him with all my heart!” + </p> + <p> + As soon as the notary had departed, Julien came to the determination of + transforming into a study the hall where he had been conferring with + Maitre Arbillot, which was dignified with the title of “library,” although + it contained at the most but a few hundred odd volumes. The hall was + spacious, and lighted by two large windows opening on the garden; the + floor was of oak, and there was a great fireplace where the largest logs + used in a country in which the wood costs nothing could find ample room to + blaze and crackle. It took the young man several days to make the + necessary changes, and during that time he enjoyed a respite from the + petty annoyances worked by the steady hostility of Manette Sejournant and + her son. To the great indignation of the inhabitants of the chateau, he + packed off the massive billiard-table, on which Claude de Buxieres had so + often played in company with his chosen friends, to the garret; after + which the village carpenter was instructed to make the bookshelves ready + for the reception of Julien’s own books, which were soon to arrive by + express. When he had got through with these labors, he turned his + attention to the documents placed in his hands by the notary, endeavoring + to find out by himself the nature of his revenues. He thought this would + be a very easy matter, but he soon found that it was encumbered with + inextricable difficulties. + </p> + <p> + A large part of the products of the domain consisted of lumber ready for + sale. Claude de Buxieres had been in the habit of superintending, either + personally or through his intermediate agents, one half of the annual + amount of lumber felled for market, the sale of which was arranged with + the neighboring forge owners by mutual agreement; the other half was + disposed of by notarial act. This latter arrangement was clear and + comprehensible; the price of sale and the amounts falling due were both + clearly indicated in the deed. But it was quite different with the + bargains made by the owner himself, which were often credited by notes + payable at sight, mostly worded in confused terms, unintelligible to any + but the original writer. Julien became completely bewildered among these + various documents, the explanations in which were harder to understand + than conundrums. Although greatly averse to following the notary’s advice + as to seeking Claudet’s assistance, he found himself compelled to do so, + but was met by such laconic and surly answers that he concluded it would + be more dignified on his part to dispense with the services of one who was + so badly disposed toward him. He therefore resolved to have recourse to + the debtors themselves, whose names he found, after much difficulty, in + the books. These consisted mostly of peasants of the neighborhood, who + came to the chateau at his summons; but as soon as they came into Julien’s + presence, they discovered, with that cautious perception which is an + instinct with rustic minds, that before them stood a man completely + ignorant of the customs of the country, and very poorly informed on Claude + de Buxieres’s affairs. They made no scruple of mystifying this “city + gentleman,” by means of ambiguous statements and cunning reticence. The + young man could get no enlightenment from them; all he clearly understood + was, that they were making fun of him, and that he was not able to cope + with these country bumpkins, whose shrewdness would have done honor to the + most experienced lawyer. + </p> + <p> + After a few days he became discouraged and disgusted. He could see nothing + but trouble ahead; he seemed surrounded by either open enemies or people + inclined to take advantage of him. It was plain that all the population of + the village looked upon him as an intruder, a troublesome master, a + stranger whom they would like to intimidate and send about his business. + Manette Sejournant, who was always talking about going, still remained in + the chateau, and was evidently exerting her influence to keep her son also + with her. The fawning duplicity of this woman was unbearable to Julien; he + had not the energy necessary either to subdue her, or to send her away, + and she appeared every morning before him with a string of hypocritical + grievances, and opposing his orders with steady, irritating inertia. It + seemed as if she were endeavoring to render his life at Vivey hateful to + him, so that he would be compelled finally to beat a retreat. + </p> + <p> + One morning in November he had reached such a state of moral fatigue and + depression that, as he sat listlessly before the library fire, the + question arose in his mind whether it would not be better to rent the + chateau, place the property in the hands of a manager, and take himself + and his belongings back to Nancy, to his little room in the Rue + Stanislaus, where, at any rate, he could read, meditate, or make plans for + the future without being every moment tormented by miserable, petty + annoyances. His temper was becoming soured, his nerves were unstrung, and + his mind was so disturbed that he fancied he had none but enemies around + him. A cloudy melancholy seemed to invade his brain; he was seized with a + sudden fear that he was about to have an attack of persecution-phobia, and + began to feel his pulse and interrogate his sensations to see whether he + could detect any of the premonitory symptoms. + </p> + <p> + While he was immersing himself in this unwholesome atmosphere of + hypochondria, the sound of a door opening and shutting made him start; he + turned quickly around, saw a young woman approaching and smiling at him, + and at last recognized Reine Vincart. + </p> + <p> + She wore the crimped linen cap and the monk’s hood in use among the + peasants of the richer class. Her wavy, brown hair, simply parted in + front, fell in rebellious curls from under the border of her cap, of which + the only decoration was a bow of black ribbon; the end floating gracefully + over her shoulders. The sharp November air had imparted a delicate rose + tint to her pale complexion, and additional vivacity to her luminous, dark + eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres,” said she, in her clear, pleasantly + modulated voice; “I think you may remember me? It is not so long since we + saw each other at the farm.” + </p> + <p> + “Mademoiselle Vincart!” exclaimed Julien. “Why, certainly I remember you!” + </p> + <p> + He drew a chair toward the fire, and offered it to her. This charming + apparition of his cordial hostess at La Thuiliere evoked the one pleasant + remembrance in his mind since his arrival in Vivey. It shot, like a ray of + sunlight, across the heavy fog of despair which had enveloped the new + master of the chateau. It was, therefore, with real sincerity that he + repeated: + </p> + <p> + “I both know you and am delighted to see you. I ought to have called upon + you before now, to thank you for your kind hospitality, but I have had so + much to do, and,” his face clouding over, “so many annoyances!” + </p> + <p> + “Really?” said she, softly, gazing pityingly at him; “you must not take + offence, but, it is easy to see you have been worried! Your features are + drawn and you have an anxious look. Is it that the air of Vivey does not + agree with you?” + </p> + <p> + “It is not the air,” replied Julien, in an irritated tone, “it is the + people who do not agree with me. And, indeed,” sighed he, “I do not think + I agree any better with them. But I need not annoy other persons merely + because I am annoyed myself! Mademoiselle Vincart, what can I do to be of + service to you? Have you anything to ask me?” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all!” exclaimed Reine, with a frank smile; “I not only have + nothing to ask from you, but I have brought something for you—six + hundred francs for wood we had bought from the late Monsieur de Buxieres, + during the sale of the Ronces forest.” She drew from under her cloak a + little bag of gray linen, containing gold, five-franc pieces and + bank-notes. “Will you be good enough to verify the amount?” continued she, + emptying the bag upon the table; “I think it is correct. You must have + somewhere a memorandum of the transaction in writing.” + </p> + <p> + Julien began to look through the papers, but he got bewildered with the + number of rough notes jotted down on various slips of paper, until at + last, in an impatient fit of vexation, he flung the whole bundle away, + scattering the loose sheets all over the floor. + </p> + <p> + “Who can find anything in such a chaos?” he exclaimed. “I can’t see my way + through it, and when I try to get information from the people here, they + seem to have an understanding among themselves to leave me under a wrong + impression, or even to make my uncertainties still greater! Ah! + Mademoiselle Reine, you were right! I do not understand the ways of your + country folk. Every now and then I am tempted to leave everything just as + it stands, and get away from this village, where the people mistrust me + and treat me like an enemy!” + </p> + <p> + Reine gazed at him with a look of compassionate surprise. Stooping quietly + down, she picked up the scattered papers, and while putting them in order + on the table, she happened to see the one relating to her own business. + </p> + <p> + “Here, Monsieur de Buxieres,” said she, “here is the very note you were + looking for. You seem to be somewhat impatient. Our country folk are not + so bad as you think; only they do not yield easily to new influences. The + beginning is always difficult for them. I know something about it myself. + When I returned from Dijon to take charge of the affairs at La Thuiliere, + I had no more experience than you, Monsieur, and I had great difficulty in + accomplishing anything. Where should we be now, if I had suffered myself + to be discouraged, like you, at the very outset?” + </p> + <p> + Julien raised his eyes toward the speaker, coloring with embarrassment to + hear himself lectured by this young peasant girl, whose ideas, however, + had much more virility than his own. + </p> + <p> + “You reason like a man, Mademoiselle Vincart,” remarked he, admiringly, + “pray, how old are you?” + </p> + <p> + “Twenty-two years; and you, Monsieur de Buxieres?” + </p> + <p> + “I shall soon be twenty-eight.” + </p> + <p> + “There is not much difference between us; still, you are the older, and + what I have done, you can do also.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” sighed he, “you have a love of action. I have a love of repose—I + do not like to act.” + </p> + <p> + “So much the worse!” replied Reine, very decidedly. “A man ought to show + more energy. Come now, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you allow me to speak + frankly to you? If you wish people to come to you, you must first get out + of yourself and go to seek them; if you expect your neighbor to show + confidence and good-will toward you, you must be open and good-natured + toward him.” + </p> + <p> + “That plan has not yet succeeded with two persons around here,” replied + Julien, shaking his head. + </p> + <p> + “Which persons?” + </p> + <p> + “The Sejournants, mother and son. I tried to be pleasant with Claudet, and + received from both only rebuffs and insolence.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! as to Claudet,” resumed she, impulsively, “he is excusable. You can + not expect he will be very gracious in his reception of the person who has + supplanted him—” + </p> + <p> + “Supplanted?—I do not understand.” + </p> + <p> + “What!” exclaimed Reine, “have they not told you anything, then? That is + wrong. Well, at the risk of meddling in what does not concern me, I think + it is better to put you in possession of the facts: Your deceased cousin + never was married, but he had a child all the same—Claudet is his + son, and he intended that he should be his heir also. Every one around the + country knows that, for Monsieur de Buxieres made no secret of it.” + </p> + <p> + “Claudet, the son of Claude de Buxieres?” ejaculated Julien, with + amazement. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; and if the deceased had had the time to make his will, you would not + be here now. But,” added the young girl, coloring, “don’t tell Claudet I + have spoken to you about it. I have been talking here too long. Monsieur + de Buxieres, will you have the goodness to reckon up your money and give + me a receipt?” + </p> + <p> + She had risen, and Julien gazed wonderingly at the pretty country girl who + had shown herself so sensible, so resolute, and so sincere. He bent his + head, collected the money on the table, scribbled hastily a receipt and + handed it to Reine. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you, Mademoiselle,” said he, “you are the first person who has been + frank with me, and I am grateful to you for it.” + </p> + <p> + “Au revoir, Monsieur de Buxieres.” + </p> + <p> + She had already gained the door while he made an awkward attempt to follow + her. She turned toward him with a smile on her lips and in her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Come, take courage!” she added, and then vanished. + </p> + <p> + Julien went back dreamily, and sat down again before the hearth. The + revelation made by Reine Vincart had completely astounded him. Such was + his happy inexperience of life, that he had not for a moment suspected the + real position of Manette and her son at the chateau. And it was this young + girl who had opened his eyes to the fact! He experienced a certain degree + of humiliation in having had so little perception. Now that Reine’s + explanation enabled him to view the matter from a different standpoint, he + found Claudet’s attitude toward him both intelligible and excusable. In + fact, the lad was acting in accordance with a very legitimate feeling of + mingled pride and anger. After all, he really was Claude de Buxieres’s son—a + natural son, certainly, but one who had been implicitly acknowledged both + in private and in public by his father. If the latter had had time to draw + up the incomplete will which had been found, he would, to all appearances, + have made Claudet his heir. Therefore, the fortune of which Julien had + become possessed, he owed to some unexpected occurrence, a mere chance. + Public opinion throughout the entire village tacitly recognized and + accepted the ‘grand chasserot’ as son of the deceased, and if this + recognition had been made legally, he would have been rightful owner of + half the property. + </p> + <p> + “Now that I have been made acquainted with this position of affairs, what + is my duty?” asked Julien of himself. Devout in feeling and in practice, + he was also very scrupulous in all matters of conscience, and the reply + was not long in coming: that both religion and uprightness commanded him + to indemnify Claudet for the wrong caused to him by the carelessness of + Claude de Buxieres. Reine had simply told him the facts without attempting + to give him any advice, but it was evident that, according to her loyal + and energetic way of thinking, there was injustice to be repaired. Julien + was conscious that by acting to that effect he would certainly gain the + esteem and approbation of his amiable hostess of La Thuiliere, and he felt + a secret satisfaction in the idea. He rose suddenly, and, leaving the + library, went to the kitchen, where Manette Sejournant was busy preparing + the breakfast. + </p> + <p> + “Where is your son?” said he. “I wish to speak with him.” + </p> + <p> + Manette looked inquiringly at him. + </p> + <p> + “My son,” she replied, “is in the garden, fixing up a box to take away his + little belongings in—he doesn’t want to stay any longer at other + peoples’ expense. And, by the way, Monsieur de Buxieres, have the goodness + to provide yourself with a servant to take my place; we shall not finish + the week here.” + </p> + <p> + Without making any reply, Julien went out by the door, leading to the + garden, and discovered Claudet really occupied in putting together the + sides of a packing-case. Although the latter saw the heir of the de + Buxieres family approaching, he continued driving in the nails without + appearing to notice his presence. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur Claudet,” said Julien, “can you spare me a few minutes? I should + like to talk to you.” + </p> + <p> + Claudet raised his head, hesitated for a moment, then, throwing away his + hammer and putting on his loose jacket, muttered: + </p> + <p> + “I am at your service.” + </p> + <p> + They left the outhouse together, and entered an avenue of leafy + lime-trees, which skirted the banks of the stream. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said Julien, stopping in the middle of the walk, “excuse me if + I venture on a delicate subject—but I must do so—now that I + know all.” + </p> + <p> + “Beg pardon—what do you know?” demanded Claudet, reddening. + </p> + <p> + “I know that you are the son of my cousin de Buxieres,” replied the young + man with considerable emotion. + </p> + <p> + The ‘grand chasserot’ knitted his brows. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said he, bitterly, “my mother’s tongue has been too long, or else + that blind magpie of a notary has been gossiping, notwithstanding my + instructions.” + </p> + <p> + “No; neither your mother nor Maitre Arbillot has been speaking to me. What + I know I have learned from a stranger, and I know also that you would be + master here if Claude de Buxieres had taken the precaution to write out + his will. His negligence on that point has been a wrong to you, which it + is my duty to repair.” + </p> + <p> + “What’s that!” exclaimed Claudet. Then he muttered between his teeth: “You + owe me nothing. The law is on your side.” + </p> + <p> + “I am not in the habit of consulting the law when it is a question of + duty. Besides, Monsieur de Buxieres treated you openly as his son; if he + had done what he ought, made a legal acknowledgment, you would have the + right, even in default of a will, to one half of his patrimony. This half + I come to offer to you, and beg of you to accept it.” + </p> + <p> + Claudet was astonished, and opened his great, fierce brown eyes with + amazement. The proposal seemed so incredible that he thought he must be + dreaming, and mistrusted what he heard. + </p> + <p> + “What! You offer me half the inheritance?” faltered he. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; and I am ready to give you a certified deed of relinquishment as + soon as you wish—” + </p> + <p> + Claudet interrupted him with a violent shrug of the shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “I make but one condition,” pursued Julien. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” asked Claudet, still on the defensive. + </p> + <p> + “That you will continue to live here, with me, as in your father’s time.” + </p> + <p> + Claudet was nearly overcome by this last suggestion, but a lingering + feeling of doubt and a kind of innate pride prevented him from giving way, + and arrested the expression of gratitude upon his lips. + </p> + <p> + “What you propose is very generous, Monsieur,” said he, “but you have not + thought much about it, and later you might regret it. If I were to stay + here, I should be a restraint upon you—” + </p> + <p> + “On the contrary, you would be rendering me a service, for I feel myself + incapable of managing the property,” replied Julien, earnestly. Then, + becoming more confidential as his conscience was relieved of its burden, + he continued, pleasantly: “You see I am not vain about admitting the fact. + Come, cousin, don’t be more proud than I am. Accept freely what I offer + with hearty goodwill!” + </p> + <p> + As he concluded these words, he felt his hand seized, and affectionately + pressed in a strong, robust grip. + </p> + <p> + “You are a true de Buxieres!” exclaimed Claudet, choking with emotion. “I + accept—thanks—but, what have I to give you in exchange?—nothing + but my friendship; but that will be as firm as my grip, and will last all + my life.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK 2. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. THE DAWN OF LOVE + </h2> + <p> + Winter had come, and with it all the inclement accompaniments usual in + this bleak and bitter mountainous country: icy rains, which, mingled with + sleet, washed away whirlpools of withered leaves that the swollen streams + tossed noisily into the ravines; sharp, cutting winds from the north, + bleak frosts hardening the earth and vitrifying the cascades; abundant + falls of snow, lasting sometimes an entire week. The roads had become + impassable. A thick, white crust covered alike the pasture-lands, the + stony levels, and the wooded slopes, where the branches creaked under the + weight of their snowy burdens. A profound silence encircled the village, + which seemed buried under the successive layers of snowdrifts. Only here + and there, occasionally, did a thin line of blue smoke, rising from one of + the white roofs, give evidence of any latent life among the inhabitants. + The Chateau de Buxieres stood in the midst of a vast carpet of snow on + which the sabots of the villagers had outlined a narrow path, leading from + the outer steps to the iron gate. Inside, fires blazed on all the hearths, + which, however, did not modify the frigid atmosphere of the rudely-built + upper rooms. + </p> + <p> + Julien de Buxieres was freezing, both physically and morally, in his + abode. His generous conduct toward Claudet had, in truth, gained him the + affection of the ‘grand chasserot’, made Manette as gentle as a lamb, and + caused a revulsion of feeling in his favor throughout the village; but, + although his material surroundings had become more congenial, he still + felt around him the chill of intellectual solitude. The days also seemed + longer since Claudet had taken upon himself the management of all details. + Julien found that re-reading his favorite books was not sufficient + occupation for the weary hours that dragged slowly along between the + rising and the setting of the sun. The gossipings of Manette, the hunting + stories of Claudet had no interest for young de Buxieres, and the + acquaintances he endeavored to make outside left only a depressing feeling + of ennui and disenchantment. + </p> + <p> + His first visit had been made to the cure of Vivey, where he hoped to meet + with some intellectual resources, and a tone of conversation more in + harmony with his tastes. In this expectation, also, he had been + disappointed. The Abbe Pernot was an amiable quinquagenarian, and a ‘bon + vivant’, whose mind inclined more naturally toward the duties of daily + life than toward meditation or contemplative studies. The ideal did not + worry him in the least; and when he had said his mass, read his breviary, + confessed the devout sinners and visited the sick, he gave the rest of his + time to profane but respectable amusements. He was of robust temperament, + with a tendency to corpulency, which he fought against by taking + considerable exercise; his face was round and good-natured, his calm gray + eyes reflected the tranquillity and uprightness of his soul, and his + genial nature was shown in his full smiling mouth, his thick, wavy, gray + hair, and his quick and cordial gestures. + </p> + <p> + When Julien was ushered into the presbytery, he found the cure installed + in a small room, which he used for working in, and which was littered up + with articles bearing a very distant connection to his pious calling: nets + for catching larks, hoops and other nets for fishing, stuffed birds, and a + collection of coleopterx. At the other end of the room stood a dusty + bookcase, containing about a hundred volumes, which seemed to have been + seldom consulted. The Abbe, sitting on a low chair in the chimney-corner, + his cassock raised to his knees, was busy melting glue in an old earthen + pot. + </p> + <p> + “Aha, good-day! Monsieur de Buxieres,” said he in his rich, jovial voice, + “you have caught me in an occupation not very canonical; but what of it? + As Saint James says: ‘The bow can not be always bent.’ I am preparing some + lime-twigs, which I shall place in the Bois des Ronces as soon as the snow + is melted. I am not only a fisher of souls, but I endeavor also to catch + birds in my net, not so much for the purpose of varying my diet, as of + enriching my collection!” + </p> + <p> + “You have a great deal of spare time on your hands, then?” inquired + Julien, with some surprise. + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes—yes—quite a good deal. The parish is not very + extensive, as you have doubtless noticed; my parishioners are in the best + possible health, thank God! and they live to be very old. I have barely + two or three marriages in a year, and as many burials, so that, you see, + one must fill up one’s time somehow to escape the sin of idleness. Every + man must have a hobby. Mine is ornithology; and yours, Monsieur de + Buxieres?” + </p> + <p> + Julien was tempted to reply: “Mine, for the moment, is ennui.” He was just + in the mood to unburden himself to the cure as to the mental thirst that + was drying up his faculties, but a certain instinct warned him that the + Abbe was not a man to comprehend the subtle complexities of his + psychological condition, so he contented himself with replying, briefly: + </p> + <p> + “I read a great deal. I have, over there in the chateau, a pretty fair + collection of historical and religious works, and they are at your + service, Monsieur le Cure!” + </p> + <p> + “A thousand thanks,” replied the Abbe Pernot, making a slight grimace; “I + am not much of a reader, and my little stock is sufficient for my needs. + You remember what is said in the Imitation: ‘Si scires totam Bibliam + exterius et omnium philosophorum dicta, quid totum prodesset sine caritate + Dei et gratia?’ Besides, it gives me a headache to read too steadily. I + require exercise in the open air. Do you hunt or fish, Monsieur de + Buxieres?” + </p> + <p> + “Neither the one nor the other.” + </p> + <p> + “So much the worse for you. You will find the time hang very heavily on + your hands in this country, where there are so few sources of amusement. + But never fear! You can not be always reading, and when the fine weather + comes you will yield to the temptation; all the more likely because you + have Claudet Sejournant with you. A jolly fellow he is; there is not one + like him for killing a snipe or sticking a trout! Our trout here on the + Aubette, Monsieur de Buxieres, are excellent—of the salmon kind, and + very meaty.” + </p> + <p> + Then came an interval of silence. The Abbe began to suspect that this + conversation was not one of profound interest to his visitor, and he + resumed: + </p> + <p> + “Speaking of Claudet, Monsieur, allow me to offer you my congratulations. + You have acted in a most Christian-like and equitable manner, in making + amends for the inconceivable negligence of the deceased Claude de + Buxieres. Then, on the other hand, Claudet deserves what you have done for + him. He is a good fellow, a little too quick-tempered and violent perhaps, + but he has a heart of gold. Ah! it would have been no use for the deceased + to deny it—the blood of de Buxieres runs in his veins!” + </p> + <p> + “If public rumor is to be believed,” said Julien timidly, rising to go, + “my deceased cousin Claude was very much addicted to profane pleasures.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes, indeed!” sighed the Abbe, “he was a devil incarnate—but + what a magnificent man! What a wonderful huntsman! Notwithstanding his + backslidings, there was a great deal of good in him, and I am fain to + believe that God has taken him under His protecting mercy.” + </p> + <p> + Julien took his leave, and returned to the chateau, very much discouraged. + “This priest,” thought he to himself, “is a man of expediency. He allows + himself certain indulgences which are to be regretted, and his mind is + becoming clogged by continual association with carnal-minded men. His + thoughts are too much given to earthly things, and I have no more faith in + him than in the rest of them.” + </p> + <p> + So he shut himself up again in his solitude, with one more illusion + destroyed. He asked himself, and his heart became heavy at the thought, + whether, in course of time, he also would undergo this stultification, + this moral depression, which ends by lowering us to the level of the + low-minded people among whom we live. + </p> + <p> + Among all the persons he had met since his arrival at Vivey, only one had + impressed him as being sympathetic and attractive: Reine Vincart—and + even her energy was directed toward matters that Julien looked upon as + secondary. And besides, Reine was a woman, and he was afraid of women. He + believed with Ecclesiastes the preacher, that “they are more bitter than + death... and whoso pleaseth God shall escape from them.” He had therefore + no other refuge but in his books or his own sullen reflections, and, + consequently, his old enemy, hypochondria, again made him its prey. + </p> + <p> + Toward the beginning of January, the snow in the valley had somewhat + melted, and a light frost made access to the woods possible. As the + hunting season seldom extended beyond the first days of February, the + huntsmen were all eager to take advantage of the few remaining weeks to + enjoy their favorite pastime. Every day the forest resounded with the + shouts of beaters-up and the barking of the hounds. From Auberive, Praslay + and Grancey, rendezvous were made in the woods of Charbonniere or + Maigrefontaine; nothing was thought of but the exploits of certain + marksmen, the number of pieces bagged, and the joyous outdoor breakfasts + which preceded each occasion. One evening, as Julien, more moody than + usual, stood yawning wearily and leaning on the corner of the stove, + Claudet noticed him, and was touched with pity for this young fellow, who + had so little idea how to employ his time, his youth, or his money. He + felt impelled, as a conscientious duty, to draw him out of his unwholesome + state of mind, and initiate him into the pleasures of country life. + </p> + <p> + “You do not enjoy yourself with us, Monsieur Julien,” said he, kindly; “I + can’t bear to see you so downhearted. You are ruining yourself with poring + all day long over your books, and the worst of it is, they do not take the + frowns out of your face. Take my word for it, you must change your way of + living, or you will be ill. Come, now, if you will trust in me, I will + undertake to cure your ennui before a week is over.” + </p> + <p> + “And what is your remedy, Claudet?” demanded Julien, with a forced smile. + </p> + <p> + “A very simple one: just let your books go, since they do not succeed in + interesting you, and live the life that every one else leads. The de + Buxieres, your ancestors, followed the same plan, and had no fault to find + with it. You are in a wolf country—well, you must howl with the + wolves!” + </p> + <p> + “My dear fellow,” replied Julien, shaking his head, “one can not remake + one’s self. The wolves themselves would discover that I howled out of + tune, and would send me back to my books.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense! try, at any rate. You can not imagine what pleasure there is in + coursing through the woods, and suddenly, at a sharp turn, catching sight + of a deer in the distance, then galloping to the spot where he must pass, + and holding him with the end of your gun! You have no idea what an + appetite one gets with such exercise, nor how jolly it is to breakfast + afterward, all together, seated round some favorite old beech-tree. Enjoy + your youth while you have it. Time enough to stay in your chimney-corner + and spit in the ashes when rheumatism has got hold of you. Perhaps you + will say you never have followed the hounds, and do not know how to handle + a gun?” + </p> + <p> + “That is the exact truth.” + </p> + <p> + “Possibly, but appetite comes with eating, and when once you have tasted + of the pleasures of the chase, you will want to imitate your companions. + Now, see here: we have organized a party at Charbonniere to-morrow, for + the gentlemen of Auberive; there will be some people you know—Destourbet, + justice of the Peace, the clerk Seurrot, Maitre Arbillot and the + tax-collector, Boucheseiche. Hutinet went over the ground yesterday, and + has appointed the meeting for ten o’clock at the Belle-Etoile. Come with + us; there will be good eating and merriment, and also some fine shooting, + I pledge you my word!” + </p> + <p> + Julien refused at first, but Claudet insisted, and showed him the + necessity of getting more intimately acquainted with the notables of + Auberive—people with whom he would be continually coming in contact + as representing the administration of justice and various affairs in the + canton. He urged so well that young de Buxieres ended by giving his + consent. Manette received immediate instructions to prepare eatables for + Hutinet, the keeper, to take at early dawn to the Belle-Etoile, and it was + decided that the company should start at precisely eight o’clock. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, at the hour indicated, the ‘grand chasserot’ was already + in the courtyard with his two hounds, Charbonneau and Montagnard, who were + leaping and barking sonorously around him. Julien, reminded of his promise + by the unusual early uproar, dressed himself with a bad grace, and went + down to join Claudet, who was bristling with impatience. They started. + There had been a sharp frost during the night; some hail had fallen, and + the roads were thinly coated with a white dust, called by the country + people, in their picturesque language, “a sugarfrost” of snow. A thick fog + hung over the forest, so that they had to guess their way; but Claudet + knew every turn and every sidepath, and thus he and his companion arrived + by the most direct line at the rendezvous. They soon began to hear the + barking of the dogs, to which Montagnard and Charbonneau replied with + emulative alacrity, and finally, through the mist, they distinguished the + group of huntsmen from Auberive. + </p> + <p> + The Belle-Etoile was a circular spot, surrounded by ancient ash-trees, and + formed the central point for six diverging alleys which stretched out + indefinitely into the forest. The monks of Auberive, at the epoch when + they were the lords and owners of the land, had made this place a + rendezvous for huntsmen, and had provided a table and some stone benches, + which, thirty years ago, were still in existence. The enclosure, which had + been chosen for the breakfast on the present occasion, was irradiated by a + huge log-fire; a very respectable display of bottles, bread, and various + eatables covered the stone table, and the dogs, attached by couples to + posts, pulled at their leashes and barked in chorus, while their masters, + grouped around the fire, warmed their benumbed fingers over the flames, + and tapped their heels while waiting for the last-comers. + </p> + <p> + At sight of Julien and Claudet, there was a joyous hurrah of welcome. + Justice Destourbet exchanged a ceremonious hand-shake with the new + proprietor of the chateau. The scant costume and tight gaiters of the + huntsman’s attire, displayed more than ever the height and slimness of the + country magistrate. By his side, the registrar Seurrot, his legs encased + in blue linen spatterdashes, his back bent, his hands crossed comfortably + over his “corporation,” sat roasting himself at the flame, while grumbling + when the wind blew the smoke in his eyes. Arbillot, the notary, as agile + and restless as a lizard, kept going from one to the other with an air of + mysterious importance. He came up to Claudet, drew him aside, and showed + him a little figure in a case. + </p> + <p> + “Look here!” whispered he, “we shall have some fun; as I passed by the + Abbe Pernot’s this morning, I stole one of his stuffed squirrels.” + </p> + <p> + He stooped down, and with an air of great mystery poured into his ear the + rest of the communication, at the close of which his small black eyes + twinkled maliciously, and he passed the end of his tongue over his frozen + moustache. + </p> + <p> + “Come with me,” continued he; “it will be a good joke on the collector.” + </p> + <p> + He drew Claudet and Hutinet toward one of the trenches, where the fog hid + them from sight. + </p> + <p> + During this colloquy, Boucheseiche the collector, against whom they were + thus plotting, had seized upon Julien de Buxieres, and was putting him + through a course of hunting lore. Justin Boucheseiche was a man of + remarkable ugliness; big, bony, freckled, with red hair, hairy hands, and + a loud, rough voice. + </p> + <p> + He wore a perfectly new hunting costume, cap and gaiters of leather, a + havana-colored waistcoat, and had a complete assortment of pockets of all + sizes for the cartridges. He pretended to be a great authority on all + matters relating to the chase, although he was, in fact, the worst shot in + the whole canton; and when he had the good luck to meet with a newcomer, + he launched forth on the recital of his imaginary prowess, without any + pity for the hearer. So that, having once got hold of Julien, he kept by + his side when they sat down to breakfast. + </p> + <p> + All these country huntsmen were blessed with healthy appetites. They ate + heartily, and drank in the same fashion, especially the collector + Boucheseiche, who justified his name by pouring out numerous bumpers of + white wine. During the first quarter of an hour nothing could be heard but + the noise of jaws masticating, glasses and forks clinking; but when the + savory pastries, the cold game and the hams had disappeared, and had been + replaced by goblets of hot Burgundy and boiling coffee, then tongues + became loosened. Julien, to his infinite disgust, was forced again to be + present at a conversation similar to the one at the time of the raising of + the seals, the coarseness of which had so astonished and shocked him. + After the anecdotes of the chase were exhausted, the guests began to + relate their experiences among the fair sex, losing nothing of the point + from the effect of the numerous empty bottles around. All the scandalous + cases in the courts of justice, all the coarse jokes and adventures of the + district, were related over again. Each tried to surpass his neighbor. To + hear these men of position boast of their gallantries with all classes, + one would have thought that the entire canton underwent periodical changes + and became one vast Saturnalia, where rustic satyrs courted their favorite + nymphs. But nothing came of it, after all; once the feast was digested, + and they had returned to the conjugal abode, all these terrible gay + Lotharios became once more chaste and worthy fathers of families. + Nevertheless, Julien, who was unaccustomed to such bibulous festivals and + such unbridled license of language, took it all literally, and reproached + himself more than ever with having yielded to Claudet’s entreaties. + </p> + <p> + At last the table was deserted, and the marking of the limits of the hunt + began. + </p> + <p> + As they were following the course of the trenches, the notary stopped + suddenly at the foot of an ash-tree, and took the arm of the collector, + who was gently humming out of tune. + </p> + <p> + “Hush! Collector,” he whispered, “do you see that fellow up there, on the + fork of the tree? He seems to be jeering at us.” + </p> + <p> + At the same time he pointed out a squirrel, sitting perched upon a branch, + about halfway up the tree. The animal’s tail stood up behind like a plume, + his ears were upright, and he had his front paws in his mouth, as if + cracking a nut. + </p> + <p> + “A squirrel!” cried the impetuous Boucheseiche, immediately falling into + the snare; “let no one touch him, gentlemen—I will settle his + account for him.” + </p> + <p> + The rest of the hunters had drawn back in a circle, and were exchanging + sly glances. The collector loaded his gun, shouldered it, covered the + squirrel, and then let go. + </p> + <p> + “Hit!” exclaimed he, triumphantly, as soon as the smoke had dispersed. + </p> + <p> + In fact, the animal had slid down the branch, head first, but, somehow, he + did not fall to the ground. + </p> + <p> + “He has caught hold of something,” said the notary, facetiously. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! you will hold on, you rascal, will you?” shouted Boucheseiche, beside + himself with excitement, and the next moment he sent a second shot, which + sent the hair flying in all directions. + </p> + <p> + The creature remained in the same position. Then there was a general roar. + </p> + <p> + “He is quite obstinate!” remarked the clerk, slyly. + </p> + <p> + Boucheseiche, astonished, looked attentively at the tree, then at the + laughing crowd, and could not understand the situation. + </p> + <p> + “If I were in your place, Collector,” said Claudet, in an insinuating + manner, “I should climb up there, to see—” + </p> + <p> + But Justin Boucheseiche was not a climber. He called a youngster, who + followed the hunt as beater-up. + </p> + <p> + “I will give you ten sous,” said he; “to mount that tree and bring me my + squirrel!” + </p> + <p> + The young imp did not need to be told twice. In the twinkling of an eye he + threw his arms around the tree, and reached the fork. When there, he + uttered an exclamation. + </p> + <p> + “Well?” cried the collector; impatiently, “throw him down!” + </p> + <p> + “I can’t, Monsieur,” replied the boy, “the squirrel is fastened by a + wire.” Then the laughter burst forth more boisterously than before. + </p> + <p> + “A wire, you young rascal! Are you making fun of me?” shouted + Boucheseiche, “come down this moment!” + </p> + <p> + “Here he is, Monsieur,” replied the lad, throwing himself down with the + squirrel which he tossed at the collector’s feet. + </p> + <p> + When Boucheseiche verified the fact that the squirrel was a stuffed + specimen, he gave a resounding oath. + </p> + <p> + “In the name of—-! who is the miscreant that has perpetrated this + joke?” + </p> + <p> + No one could reply for laughing. Then ironical cheers burst forth from all + sides. + </p> + <p> + “Brave Boucheseiche! That’s a kind of game one doesn’t often get hold of!” + </p> + <p> + “We never shall see any more of that kind!” + </p> + <p> + “Let us carry Boucheseiche in triumph!” + </p> + <p> + And so they went on, marching around the tree. Arbillot seized a slip of + ivy and crowned Boucheseiche, while all the others clapped their hands and + capered in front of the collector, who, at last, being a good fellow at + heart, joined in the laugh at his own expense. + </p> + <p> + Julien de Buxieres alone could not share the general hilarity. The uproar + caused by this simple joke did not even chase the frown from his brow. He + was provoked at not being able to bring himself within the diapason of + this somewhat vulgar gayety: he was aware that his melancholy countenance, + his black clothes, his want of sympathy jarred unpleasantly on the other + jovial guests. He did not intend any longer to play the part of a killjoy. + Without saying anything to Claudet, therefore, he waited until the + huntsmen had scattered in the brushwood, and then, diving into a trench, + in an opposite direction, he gave them all the slip, and turned in the + direction of Planche-au-Vacher. + </p> + <p> + As he walked slowly, treading under foot the dry frosty leaves, he + reflected how the monotonous crackling of this foliage, once so full of + life, now withered and rendered brittle by the frost, seemed to represent + his own deterioration of feeling. It was a sad and suitable accompaniment + of his own gloomy thoughts. + </p> + <p> + He was deeply mortified at the sorry figure he had presented at the + breakfast-table. He acknowledged sorrowfully to himself that, at + twenty-eight years of age, he was less young and less really alive than + all these country squires, although all, except Claudet, had passed their + fortieth year. Having missed his season of childhood, was he also doomed + to have no youth? Others found delight in the most ordinary amusements, + why, to him, did life seem so insipid and colorless? + </p> + <p> + Why was he so unfortunately constituted that all human joys lost their + sweetness as soon as he opened his heart to them? Nothing made any + powerful impression on him; everything that happened seemed to be a + perpetual reiteration, a song sung for the hundredth time, a story a + hundred times related. + </p> + <p> + He was like a new vase, cracked before it had served its use, and he felt + thoroughly ashamed of the weakness and infirmity of his inner self. Thus + pondering, he traversed much ground, hardly knowing where he was going. + The fog, which now filled the air and which almost hid the trenches with + its thin bluish veil, made it impossible to discover his bearings. At last + he reached the border of some pastureland, which he crossed, and then he + perceived, not many steps away, some buildings with tiled roofs, which had + something familiar to him in their aspect. After he had gone a few feet + farther he recognized the court and facade of La Thuiliere; and, as he + looked over the outer wall, a sight altogether novel and unexpected + presented itself. + </p> + <p> + Standing in the centre of the courtyard, her outline showing in dark + relief against the light “sugar-frosting,” stood Reine Vincart, her back + turned to Julien. She held up a corner of her apron with one hand, and + with the other took out handfuls of grain, which she scattered among the + birds fluttering around her. At each moment the little band was augmented + by a new arrival. All these little creatures were of species which do not + emigrate, but pass the winter in the shelter of the wooded dells. There + were blackbirds with yellow bills, who advanced boldly over the snow up to + the very feet of the distributing fairy; robin redbreasts, nearly as tame, + hopping gayly over the stones, bobbing their heads and puffing out their + red breasts; and tomtits, prudently watching awhile from the tops of + neighboring trees, then suddenly taking flight, and with quick, sharp + cries, seizing the grain on the wing. It was charming to see all these + little hungry creatures career around Reine’s head, with a joyous + fluttering of wings. When the supply was exhausted, the young girl shook + her apron, turned around, and recognized Julien. + </p> + <p> + “Were you there, Monsieur de Buxieres?” she exclaimed; “come inside the + courtyard! Don’t be afraid; they have finished their meal. Those are my + boarders,” she added, pointing to the birds, which, one by one, were + taking their flight across the fields. “Ever since the first fall of snow, + I have been distributing grain to them once a day. I think they must tell + one another under the trees there, for every day their number increases. + But I don’t complain of that. Just think, these are not birds of passage; + they do not leave us at the first cold blast, to find a warmer climate; + the least we can do is to recompense them by feeding them when the weather + is too severe! Several know me already, and are very tame. There is a + blackbird in particular, and a blue tomtit, that are both extremely + saucy!” + </p> + <p> + These remarks were of a nature to please Julien. They went straight to the + heart of the young mystic; they recalled to his mind St. Francis of + Assisi, preaching to the fish and conversing with the birds, and he felt + an increase of sympathy for this singular young girl. He would have liked + to find a pretext for remaining longer with her, but his natural timidity + in the presence of women paralyzed his tongue, and, already, fearing he + should be thought intruding, he had raised his hat to take leave, when + Reine addressed him: + </p> + <p> + “I do not ask you to come into the house, because I am obliged to go to + the sale of the Ronces woods, in order to speak to the men who are + cultivating the little lot that we have bought. I wager, Monsieur de + Buxieres, that you are not yet acquainted with our woods?” + </p> + <p> + “That is true,” he replied, smiling. + </p> + <p> + “Very well, if you will accompany me, I will show you the canton they are + about to develop. It will not be time lost, for it will be a good thing + for the people who are working for you to know that you are interested in + their labors.” + </p> + <p> + Julien replied that he should be happy to be under her guidance. + </p> + <p> + “In that case,” said Reine, “wait for me here. I shall be back in a + moment.” + </p> + <p> + She reappeared a few minutes later, wearing a white hood with a cape, and + a knitted woolen shawl over her shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “This way!” said she, showing a path that led across the pasture-lands. + </p> + <p> + They walked along silently at first. The sky was clear, the wind had + freshened. Suddenly, as if by enchantment, the fog, which had hung over + the forest, became converted into needles of ice. Each tree was powdered + over with frozen snow, and on the hillsides overshadowing the valley the + massive tufts of forest were veiled in a bluish-white vapor. + </p> + <p> + Never had Julien de Buxieres been so long in tete-a-tete with a young + woman. The extreme solitude, the surrounding silence, rendered this dual + promenade more intimate and also more embarrassing to a young man who was + alarmed at the very thought of a female countenance. His ecclesiastical + education had imbued Julien with very rigorous ideas as to the careful and + reserved behavior which should be maintained between the sexes, and his + intercourse with the world had been too infrequent for the idea to have + been modified in any appreciable degree. It was natural, therefore, that + this walk across the fields in the company of Reine should assume an + exaggerated importance in his eyes. He felt himself troubled and yet happy + in the chance afforded him to become more closely acquainted with this + young girl, toward whom a secret sympathy drew him more and more. But he + did not know how to begin conversation, and the more he cudgelled his + brains to find a way of opening the attack, the more he found himself at + sea. Once more Reine came to his assistance. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Monsieur de Buxieres,” said she, “do matters go more to your liking + now? You have acted most generously toward Claudet, and he ought to be + pleased.” + </p> + <p> + “Has he spoken to you, then?” + </p> + <p> + “No; not himself, but good news, like bad, flies fast, and all the + villagers are singing your praises.” + </p> + <p> + “I only did a very simple and just thing,” replied Julien. + </p> + <p> + “Precisely, but those are the very things that are the hardest to do. And + according as they are done well or ill, so is the person that does them + judged by others.” + </p> + <p> + “You have thought favorably of me then, Mademoiselle Vincart,” he + ventured, with a timid smile. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; but my opinion is of little importance. You must be pleased with + yourself—that is more essential. I am sure that it must be + pleasanter now for you to live at Vivey?” + </p> + <p> + “Hm!—more bearable, certainly.” + </p> + <p> + The conversation languished again. As they approached the confines of the + farm they heard distant barking, and then the voices of human beings. + Finally two gunshots broke on the air. + </p> + <p> + “Ha, ha!” exclaimed Reine, listening, “the Auberive Society is following + the hounds, and Claudet must be one of the party. How is it you were not + with them?” + </p> + <p> + “Claudet took me there, and I was at the breakfast—but, + Mademoiselle, I confess that that kind of amusement is not very tempting + to me. At the first opportunity I made my escape, and left the party to + themselves.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, now, to be frank with you, you were wrong. Those gentlemen will + feel aggrieved, for they are very sensitive. You see, when one has to live + with people, one must yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh their + amusements.” + </p> + <p> + “You are saying exactly what Claudet said last night.” + </p> + <p> + “Claudet was right.” + </p> + <p> + “What am I to do? The chase has no meaning for me. I can not feel any + interest in the butchery of miserable animals that are afterward sent back + to their quarters.” + </p> + <p> + “I can understand that you do not care for the chase for its own sake; but + the ride in the open air, in the open forest? Our forests are so beautiful—look + there, now! does not that sight appeal to you?” + </p> + <p> + From the height they had now gained, they could see all over the valley, + illuminated at intervals by the pale rays of the winter sun. Wherever its + light touched the brushwood, the frosty leaves quivered like diamonds, + while a milky cloud enveloped the parts left in shadow. Now and then, a + slight breeze stirred the branches, causing a shower of sparkling atoms to + rise in the air, like miniature rainbows. The entire forest seemed clothed + in the pure, fairy-like robes of a virgin bride. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that is beautiful,” admitted Julien, hesitatingly; “I do not think I + ever saw anything similar: at any rate, it is you who have caused me to + notice it for the first time. But,” continued he, “as the sun rises + higher, all this phantasmagoria will melt and vanish. The beauty of + created things lasts only a moment, and serves as a warning for us not to + set our hearts on things that perish.” + </p> + <p> + Reine gazed at him with astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “Do you really think so?” exclaimed she: “that is very sad, and I do not + know enough to give an opinion. All I know is, that if God has created + such beautiful things it is in order that we may enjoy them. And that is + the reason why I worship these woods with all my heart. Ah! if you could + only see them in the month of June, when the foliage is at its fulness. + Flowers everywhere—yellow, blue, crimson! Music also everywhere—the + song of birds, the murmuring of waters, and the balmy scents in the air. + Then there are the lime-trees, the wild cherry, and the hedges red with + strawberries—it is intoxicating. And, whatever you may say, Monsieur + de Buxieres, I assure you that the beauty of the forest is not a thing to + be despised. Every season it is renewed: in autumn, when the wild fruits + and tinted leaves contribute their wealth of color; in winter, with its + vast carpets of snow, from which the tall ash springs to such a stately + height-look, now! up there!” + </p> + <p> + They were in the depths of the forest. Before them were colonnades of + slim, graceful trees, rising in one unbroken line toward the skies, their + slender branches forming a dark network overhead, and their lofty + proportions lessening in the distance, until lost in the solemn gloom + beyond. A religious silence prevailed, broken only by the occasional chirp + of the wren, or the soft pattering of some smaller fourfooted race. + </p> + <p> + “How beautiful!” exclaimed Reine, with animation; “one might imagine one’s + self in a cathedral! Oh! how I love the forest; a feeling of awe and + devotion comes over me, and makes me want to kneel down and pray!” + </p> + <p> + Julien looked at her with an uneasy kind of admiration. She was walking + slowly now, grave and thoughtful, as if in church. Her white hood had + fallen on her shoulders, and her hair, slightly stirred by the wind, + floated like a dark aureole around her pale face. Her luminous eyes + gleamed between the double fringes of her eyelids, and her mobile nostrils + quivered with suppressed emotion. As she passed along, the brambles from + the wayside, intermixed with ivy, and other hardy plants, caught on the + hem of her dress and formed a verdant train, giving her the appearance of + the high-priestess of some mysterious temple of Nature. At this moment, + she identified herself so perfectly with her nickname, “queen of the + woods,” that Julien, already powerfully affected by her peculiar and + striking style of beauty, began to experience a superstitious dread of her + influence. His Catholic scruples, or the remembrance of certain pious + lectures administered in his childhood, rendered him distrustful, and he + reproached himself for the interest he took in the conversation of this + seductive creature. He recalled the legends of temptations to which the + Evil One used to subject the anchorites of old, by causing to appear + before them the attractive but illusive forms of the heathen deities. He + wondered whether he were not becoming the sport of the same baleful + influence; if, like the Lamias and Dryads of antiquity, this queen of the + woods were not some spirit of the elements, incarnated in human form and + sent to him for the purpose of dragging his soul down to perdition. + </p> + <p> + In this frame of mind he followed in her footsteps, cautiously, and at a + distance, when she suddenly turned, as if waiting for him to rejoin her. + He then perceived that they had reached the end of the copse, and before + them lay an open space, on which the cut lumber lay in cords, forming dark + heaps on the frosty ground. Here and there were allotments of chosen trees + and poles, among which a thin spiral of smoke indicated the encampment of + the cutters. Reine made straight for them, and immediately presented the + new owner of the chateau to the workmen. They made their awkward + obeisances, scrutinizing him in the mistrustful manner customary with the + peasants of mountainous regions when they meet strangers. The master + workman then turned to Reine, replying to her remarks in a respectful but + familiar tone: + </p> + <p> + “Make yourself easy, mamselle, we shall do our best and rush things in + order to get through with the work. Besides, if you will come this way + with me, you will see that there is no idling; we are just now going to + fell an oak, and before a quarter of an hour is over it will be lying on + the ground, cut off as neatly as if with a razor.” + </p> + <p> + They drew near the spot where the first strokes of the axe were already + resounding. The giant tree did not seem affected by them, but remained + haughty and immovable. Then the blows redoubled until the trunk began to + tremble from the base to the summit, like a living thing. The steel had + made the bark, the sapwood, and even the core of the tree, fly in shivers; + but the oak had resumed its impassive attitude, and bore stoically the + assaults of the workmen. Looking upward, as it reared its proud and + stately head, one would have affirmed that it never could fall. Suddenly + the woodsmen fell back; there was a moment of solemn and terrible + suspense; then the enormous trunk heaved and plunged down among the + brushwood with an alarming crash of breaking branches. A sound as of + lamentation rumbled through the icy forest, and then all was still. + </p> + <p> + The men, with unconscious emotion, stood contemplating the monarch oak + lying prostrate on the ground. Reine had turned pale; her dark eyes + glistened with tears. + </p> + <p> + “Let us go,” murmured she to Julien; “this death of a tree affects me as + if it were that of a Christian.” + </p> + <p> + They took leave of the woodsmen, and reentered the forest. Reine kept + silence and her companion was at a loss to resume the conversation; so + they journeyed along together quietly until they reached a border line, + whence they could perceive the smoke from the roofs of Vivey. + </p> + <p> + “You have only to go straight down the hill to reach your home,” said she, + briefly; “au revoir, Monsieur de Buxieres.” + </p> + <p> + Thus they quitted each other, and, looking back, he saw that she slackened + her speed and went dreamily on in the direction of Planche-au-Vacher. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. LOVE’S INDISCRETION + </h2> + <p> + In the mountainous region of Langres, spring can hardly be said to appear + before the end of May. Until that time the cold weather holds its own; the + white frosts, and the sharp, sleety April showers, as well as the sudden + windstorms due to the malign influence of the ice-gods, arrest vegetation, + and only a few of the more hardy plants venture to put forth their + trembling shoots until later. But, as June approaches and the earth + becomes warmed through by the sun, a sudden metamorphosis is effected. + Sometimes a single night is sufficient for the floral spring to burst + forth in all its plenitude. The hedges are alive with lilies and + woodruffs; the blue columbines shake their foolscap-like blossoms along + the green side-paths; the milky spikes of the Virgin plant rise slender + and tall among the bizarre and many-colored orchids. Mile after mile, the + forest unwinds its fairy show of changing scenes. Sometimes one comes upon + a spot of perfect verdure; at other times one wanders in almost complete + darkness under the thick interlacing boughs of the ashtrees, through which + occasional gleams of light fall on the dark soil or on the spreading + ferns. Now the wanderer emerges upon an open space so full of sunshine + that the strawberries are already ripening; near them are stacked the + tender young trees, ready for spacing, and the billets of wood piled up + and half covered with thistle and burdock leaves; and a little farther + away, half hidden by tall weeds, teeming with insects, rises the peaked + top of the woodsman’s hut. Here one walks beside deep, grassy trenches, + which appear to continue without end, along the forest level; farther, the + wild mint and the centaurea perfume the shady nooks, the oaks and + lime-trees arch their spreading branches, and the honeysuckle twines + itself round the knotty shoots of the hornbeam, whence the thrush gives + forth her joyous, sonorous notes. + </p> + <p> + Not only in the forest, but also in the park belonging to the chateau, and + in the village orchards, spring had donned a holiday costume. Through the + open windows, between the massive bunches of lilacs, hawthorn, and + laburnum blossoms, Julien de Buxieres caught glimpses of rolling meadows + and softly tinted vistas. The gentle twittering of the birds and the + mysterious call of the cuckoo, mingled with the perfume of flowers, stole + into his study, and produced a sense of enjoyment as novel to him as it + was delightful. Having until the present time lived a sedentary life in + cities, he had had no opportunity of experiencing this impression of + nature in her awakening and luxuriant aspect; never had he felt so + completely under the seductive influence of the goddess Maia than at this + season when the abundant sap exudes in a white foam from the trunk of the + willow; when between the plant world and ourselves a magnetic current + seems to exist, which seeks to wed their fraternizing emanations with our + own personality. He was oppressed by the vividness of the verdure, + intoxicated with the odor of vegetation, agitated by the confused music of + the birds, and in this May fever of excitement, his thoughts wandered with + secret delight to Reine Vincart, to this queen of the woods, who was the + personification of all the witchery of the forest. Since their January + promenade in the glades of Charbonniere, he had seen her at a distance, + sometimes on Sundays in the little church at Vivey, sometimes like a + fugitive apparition at the turn of a road. They had also exchanged formal + salutations, but had not spoken to each other. More than once, after the + night had fallen, Julien had stopped in front of the courtyard of La + Thuiliere, and watched the lamps being lighted inside. But he had not + ventured to knock at the door of the house; a foolish timidity had + prevented him; so he had returned to the chateau, dissatisfied and + reproaching himself for allowing his awkward shyness to interpose, as it + were, a wall of ice between himself and the only person whose acquaintance + seemed to him desirable. + </p> + <p> + At other times he would become alarmed at the large place a woman occupied + in his thoughts, and he congratulated himself on having resisted the + dangerous temptation of seeing Mademoiselle Vincart again. He acknowledged + that this singular girl had for him an attraction against which he ought + to be on his guard. Reine might be said to live alone at La Thuiliere, for + her father could hardly be regarded seriously as a protector. Julien’s + visits might have compromised her, and the young man’s severe principles + of rectitude forbade him to cause scandal which he could not repair. He + was not thinking of marriage, and even had his thoughts inclined that way, + the proprieties and usages of society which he had always in some degree + respected, would not allow him to wed a peasant girl. It was evident, + therefore, that both prudence and uprightness would enjoin him to carry on + any future relations with Mademoiselle Vincart with the greatest possible + reserve. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, and in spite of these sage reflections, the enchanting image + of Reine haunted him more than was at all reasonable. Often, during his + hours of watchfulness, he would see her threading the avenues of the + forest, her dark hair half floating in the breeze, and wearing her white + hood and her skirt bordered with ivy. Since the spring had returned, she + had become associated in his mind with all the magical effects of nature’s + renewal. He discovered the liquid light of her dark eyes in the rippling + darkness of the streams; the lilies recalled the faintly tinted paleness + of her cheeks; the silene roses, scattered throughout the hedges, called + forth the remembrance of the young maiden’s rosy lips, and the vernal odor + of the leaves appeared to him like an emanation of her graceful and + wholesome nature. + </p> + <p> + This state of feeling began to act like an obsession, a sort of + witchcraft, which alarmed him. What was she really, this strange creature? + A peasant indeed, apparently; but there was also something more refined + and cultivated about her, due, doubtless, to her having received her + education in a city school. She both felt and expressed herself + differently from ordinary country girls, although retaining the frankness + and untutored charm of rustic natures. She exercised an uneasy fascination + over Julien, and at times he returned to the superstitious impression made + upon him by Reine’s behavior and discourse in the forest. He again + questioned with himself whether this female form, in its untamed beauty, + did not enfold some spirit of temptation, some insidious fairy, similar to + the Melusine, who appeared to Count Raymond in the forest of Poitiers. + </p> + <p> + Most of the time he would himself laugh at this extravagant supposition, + but, while endeavoring to make light of his own cowardice, the idea still + haunted and tormented him. Sometimes, in the effort to rid himself of the + persistence of his own imagination, he would try to exorcise the demon who + had got hold of him, and this exorcism consisted in despoiling the image + of his temptress of the veil of virginal purity with which his admiration + had first invested her. Who could assure him, after all, that this girl, + with her independent ways, living alone at her farm, running through the + woods at all hours, was as irreproachable as he had imagined? In the + village, certainly, she was respected by all; but people were very + tolerant—very easy, in fact—on the question of morals in this + district, where the gallantries of Claude de Buxieres were thought quite + natural, where the illegitimacy of Claudet offended no one’s sense of the + proprieties, and where the after-dinner conversations, among the class + considered respectable, were such as Julien had listened to with + repugnance. Nevertheless, even in his most suspicious moods, Julien had + never dared broach the subject to Claudet. + </p> + <p> + Every time that the name of Reine Vincart had come to his lips, a feeling + of bashfulness, in addition to his ordinary timidity, had prevented him + from interrogating Claudet concerning the character of this mysterious + queen of the woods. Like all novices in love-affairs Julien dreaded that + his feelings should be divined, at the mere mention of the young girl’s + name. He preferred to remain isolated, concentrating in himself his + desires, his trouble and his doubts. + </p> + <p> + Yet, whatever efforts he made, and however firmly he adhered to his + resolution of silence, the hypochondria from which he suffered could not + escape the notice of the ‘grand chasserot’. He was not clear-sighted + enough to discern the causes, but he could observe the effects. It + provoked him to find that all his efforts to enliven his cousin had proved + futile. He had cudgelled his brains to comprehend whence came these fits + of terrible melancholy, and, judging Julien by himself, came to the + conclusion that his ennui proceeded from an excess of strictness and good + behavior. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur de Buxieres,” said he, one evening when they were walking + silently, side by side, in the avenues of the park, which resounded with + the song of the nightingales, “there is one thing that troubles me, and + that is that you do not confide in me.” + </p> + <p> + “What makes you think so, Claudet?” demanded Julien, with surprise. + </p> + <p> + “Paybleu! the way you act. You are, if I may say so, too secretive. When + you wanted to make amends for Claude de Buxieres’s negligence, and + proposed that I should live here with you, I accepted without any + ceremony. I hoped that in giving me a place at your fire and your table, + you would also give me one in your affections, and that you would allow me + to share your sorrows, like a true brother comrade—” + </p> + <p> + “I assure you, my dear fellow, that you are mistaken. If I had any serious + trouble on my mind, you should be the first to know it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! that’s all very well to say; but you are unhappy all the same—one + can see it in your mien, and shall I tell you the reason? It is that you + are too sedate, Monsieur de Buxieres; you have need of a sweetheart to + brighten up your days.” + </p> + <p> + “Ho, ho!” replied Julien, coloring, “do you wish to have me married, + Claudet?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! that’s another affair. No; but still I should like to see you take + some interest in a woman—some gay young person who would rouse you + up and make you have a good time. There is no lack of such in the + district, and you would only have the trouble of choosing.” + </p> + <p> + M. de Buxieres’s color deepened, and he was visibly annoyed. + </p> + <p> + “That is a singular proposition,” exclaimed he, after awhile; “do you take + me for a libertine?” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t get on your high horse, Monsieur de Buxieres! There would be no one + hurt. The girls I allude to are not so difficult to approach.” + </p> + <p> + “That has nothing to do with it, Claudet; I do not enjoy that kind of + amusement.” + </p> + <p> + “It is the kind that young men of our age indulge in, all the same. + Perhaps you think there would be difficulties in the way. They would not + be insurmountable, I can assure you; those matters go smoothly enough + here. You slip your arm round her waist, give her a good, sounding salute, + and the acquaintance is begun. You have only to improve it!” + </p> + <p> + “Enough of this,” interrupted Julien, harshly, “we never can agree on such + topics!” + </p> + <p> + “As you please, Monsieur de Buxieres; since you do not like the subject, + we will not bring it up again. If I mentioned it at all, it was that I saw + you were not interested in either hunting or fishing, and thought you + might prefer some other kind of game. I do wish I knew what to propose + that would give you a little pleasure,” continued Claudet, who was + profoundly mortified at the ill-success of his overtures. “Now! I have it. + Will you come with me to-morrow, to the Ronces woods? The charcoal-dealers + who are constructing their furnaces for the sale, will complete their + dwellings this evening and expect to celebrate in the morning. They call + it watering the bouquet, and it is the occasion of a little festival, to + which we, as well at the presiding officials of the cutting, are invited. + Naturally, the guests pay their share in bottles of wine. You can hardly + be excused from showing yourself among these good people. It is one of the + customs of the country. I have promised to be there, and it is certain + that Reine Vincart, who has bought the Ronces property, will not fail to + be present at the ceremony.” + </p> + <p> + Julien had already the words on his lips for declining Claudet’s offer, + when the name of Reine Vincart produced an immediate change in his + resolution. It just crossed his mind that perhaps Claudet had thrown out + her name as a bait and an argument in favor of his theories on the + facility of love-affairs in the country. However that might be, the + allusion to the probable presence of Mademoiselle Vincart at the coming + fete, rendered young Buxieres more tractable, and he made no further + difficulties about accompanying his cousin. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, after partaking hastily of breakfast, they started on + their way toward the cutting. The charcoal-dealers had located themselves + on the border of the forest, not far from the spot where, in the month of + January, Reine and Julien had visited the wood cutters. Under the + sheltering branches of a great ash tree, the newly erected but raised its + peaked roof covered with clods of turf, and two furnaces, just completed, + occupied the ground lately prepared. One of them, ready for use, was + covered with the black earth called ‘frazil’, which is extracted from the + site of old charcoal works; the other, in course of construction, showed + the successive layers of logs ranged in circles inside, ready for the + fire. The workmen moved around, going and coming; first, the head-man or + patron, a man of middle age, of hairy chest, embrowned visage, and small + beady eyes under bushy eyebrows; his wife, a little, shrivelled, elderly + woman; their daughter, a thin awkward girl of seventeen, with fluffy hair + and a cunning, hard expression; and finally, their three boys, robust + young fellows, serving their apprenticeship at the trade. This party was + reenforced by one or two more single men, and some of the daughters of the + woodchoppers, attracted by the prospect of a day of dancing and joyous + feasting. + </p> + <p> + These persons were sauntering in and out under the trees, waiting for the + dinner, which was to be furnished mainly by the guests, the contribution + of the charcoal-men being limited to a huge pot of potatoes which the + patroness was cooking over the fire, kindled in front of the hut. + </p> + <p> + The arrival of Julien and Claudet, attended by the small cowboy, puffing + and blowing under a load of provisions, was hailed with exclamations of + gladness and welcome. While one of the assistants was carefully unrolling + the big loaves of white bread, the enormous meat pastry, and the bottles + encased in straw, Reine Vincart appeared suddenly on the scene, + accompanied by one of the farm-hands, who was also tottering under the + weight of a huge basket, from the corners of which peeped the ends of + bottles, and the brown knuckle of a smoked ham. At sight of the young + proprietress of La Thuiliere, the hurrahs burst forth again, with + redoubled and more sustained energy. As she stood there smiling, under the + greenish shadow cast by the ashtrees, Reine appeared to Julien even more + seductive than among the frosty surroundings of the previous occasion. Her + simple and rustic spring costume was marvellously becoming: a short + blue-and-yellow striped skirt, a tight jacket of light-colored material, + fitted closely to the waist, a flat linen collar tied with a narrow blue + ribbon, and a bouquet of woodruff at her bosom. She wore stout leather + boots, and a large straw hat, which she threw carelessly down on entering + the hut. Among so many faces of a different type, all somewhat disfigured + by hardships of exposure, this lovely face with its olive complexion, + lustrous black eyes, and smiling red lips, framed in dark, soft, wavy hair + resting on her plump shoulders, seemed to spread a sunshiny glow over the + scene. It was a veritable portrayal of the “queen of the woods,” appearing + triumphant among her rustic subjects. As an emblem of her royal + prerogative, she held in her hand an enormous bouquet of flowers she had + gathered on her way: honeysuckles, columbine, all sorts of grasses with + shivering spikelets, black alder blossoms with their white centres, and a + profusion of scarlet poppies. Each of these exhaled its own salubrious + springlike perfume, and a light cloud of pollen, which covered the + eyelashes and hair of the young girl with a delicate white powder. + </p> + <p> + “Here, Pere Theotime,” said she, handing her collection over to the master + charcoal-dealer, “I gathered these for you to ornament the roof of your + dwelling.” + </p> + <p> + She then drew near to Claudet; gave him her hand in comrade fashion, and + saluted Julien: + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres, I am very glad to see you here. Was + it Claudet who brought you, or did you come of your own accord?” + </p> + <p> + While Julien, dazed and bewildered, was seeking a reply, she passed + quickly to the next group, going from one to another, and watching with + interest the placing of the bouquet on the summit of the hut. One of the + men brought a ladder and fastened the flowers to a spike. When they were + securely attached and began to nod in the air, he waved his hat and + shouted: “Hou, houp!” This was the signal for going to table. + </p> + <p> + The food had been spread on the tablecloth under the shade of the + ash-trees, and all the guests sat around on sacks of charcoal; for Reine + and Julien alone they had reserved two stools, made by the master, and + thus they found themselves seated side by side. Soon a profound, almost + religious, silence indicated that the attack was about to begin; after + which, and when the first fury of their appetites had been appeased, the + tongues began to be loosened: jokes and anecdotes, seasoned with loud + bursts of laughter, were bandied to and fro under the spreading branches, + and presently the wine lent its aid to raise the spirits of the company to + an exuberant pitch. But there was a certain degree of restraint observed + by these country folk. Was it owing to Reine’s presence? Julien noticed + that the remarks of the working-people were in a very much better tone + than those of the Auberive gentry, with whom he had breakfasted; the + gayety of these children of the woods, although of a common kind, was + always kept within decent limits, and he never once had occasion to feel + ashamed. He felt more at ease among them than among the notables of the + borough, and he did not regret having accepted Claudet’s invitation. + </p> + <p> + “I am glad I came,” murmured he in Reine’s ear, “and I never have eaten + with so much enjoyment!” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! I am glad of it,” replied the young girl, gayly, “perhaps now you + will begin to like our woods.” + </p> + <p> + When nothing was left on the table but bones and empty bottles, Pere + Theotime took a bottle of sealed wine, drew the cork, and filled the + glasses. + </p> + <p> + “Now,” said he, “before christening our bouquet, we will drink to Monsieur + de Buxieres, who has brought us his good wine, and to our sweet lady, + Mademoiselle Vincart.” + </p> + <p> + The glasses clinked, and the toasts were drunk with fervor. + </p> + <p> + “Mamselle Reine,” resumed Pere Theotime, with a certain amount of + solemnity, “you can see, the hut is built; it will be occupied to-night, + and I trust good work will be done. You can perceive from here our first + furnace, all decorated and ready to be set alight. But, in order that good + luck shall attend us, you yourself must set light to the fire. I ask you, + therefore, to ascend to the top of the chimney and throw in the first + embers; may I ask this of your good-nature?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, certainly!” replied Reine, “come, Monsieur de Buxieres, you must see + how we light a charcoal furnace.” + </p> + <p> + All the guests jumped from their seats; one of the men took the ladder and + leaned it against the sloping side of the furnace. Meanwhile, Pere + Theotime was bringing an earthen vase full of burning embers. Reine + skipped lightly up the steps, and when she reached the top, stood erect + near the orifice of the furnace. + </p> + <p> + Her graceful outline came out in strong relief against the clear sky; one + by one, she took the embers handed her by the charcoal-dealer, and threw + them into the opening in the middle of the furnace. Soon there was a + crackling inside, followed by a dull rumbling; the chips and rubbish + collected at the bottom had caught fire, and the air-holes left at the + base of the structure facilitated the passage of the current, and hastened + the kindling of the wood. + </p> + <p> + “Bravo; we’ve got it!” exclaimed Pere Theotime. + </p> + <p> + “Bravo!” repeated the young people, as much exhilarated with the open air + as with the two or three glasses of white wine they had drunk. Lads and + lasses joined hands and leaped impetuously around the furnace. + </p> + <p> + “A song, Reine! Sing us a song!” cried the young girls. + </p> + <p> + She stood at the foot of the ladder, and, without further solicitation, + intoned, in her clear and sympathetic voice, a popular song, with a + rhythmical refrain: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + My father bid me + Go sell my wheat. + To the market we drove + “Good-morrow, my sweet! + How much, can you say, + Will its value prove?” + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove. + + “A hundred francs + Will its value prove.” + “When you sell your wheat, + Do you sell your love?” + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove! + + “My heart, Monsieur, + Will never rove, + I have promised it + To my own true love.” + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove. + + “For me he braves + The wind and the rain; + For me he weaves + A silver chain.” + + On my ‘broidered glove. + Lies the rose again. +</pre> + <p> + Repeating the refrain in chorus, boys and girls danced and leaped in the + sunlight. Julien leaned against the trunk of a tree, listening to the + sonorous voice of Reine, and could not take his eyes off the singer. When + she had ended her song, Reine turned in another direction; but the dancers + had got into the spirit of it and could not stand still; one of the men + came forward, and started another popular air, which all the rest repeated + in unison: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Up in the woods + Sleeps the fairy to-day: + The king, her lover, + Has strolled that way! + Will those who are young + Be married or nay? + Yea, yea! +</pre> + <p> + Carried away by the rhythm, and the pleasure of treading the soft grass + under their feet, the dancers quickened their pace. The chain of young + folks disconnected for a moment, was reformed, and twisted in and out + among the trees; sometimes in light, sometimes in shadow, until they + disappeared, singing, into the very heart of the forest. With the + exception of Pere Theotime and his wife, who had gone to superintend the + furnace, all the guests, including Claudet, had joined the gay throng. + Reine and Julien, the only ones remaining behind, stood in the shade near + the borderline of the forest. It was high noon, and the sun’s rays, + shooting perpendicularly down, made the shade desirable. Reine proposed to + her companion to enter the hut and rest, while waiting for the return of + the dancers. Julien accepted readily; but not without being surprised that + the young girl should be the first to suggest a tete-a-tete in the + obscurity of a remote hut. Although more than ever fascinated by the + unusual beauty of Mademoiselle Vincart, he was astonished, and + occasionally shocked, by the audacity and openness of her action toward + him. Once more the spirit of doubt took possession of him, and he + questioned whether this freedom of manners was to be attributed to + innocence or effrontery. After the pleasant friendliness of the midday + repast, and the enlivening effect of the dance round the furnace, he was + both glad and troubled to find himself alone with Reine. He longed to let + her know what tender admiration she excited in his mind; but he did not + know how to set about it, nor in what style to address a girl of so + strange and unusual a disposition. So he contented himself with fixing an + enamored gaze upon her, while she stood leaning against one of the inner + posts, and twisted mechanically between her fingers a branch of wild + honeysuckle. Annoyed at his taciturnity, she at last broke the silence: + </p> + <p> + “You are not saying anything, Monsieur de Buxieres; do you regret having + come to this fete?” + </p> + <p> + “Regret it, Mademoiselle?” returned he; “it is a long time since I have + had so pleasant a day, and I thank you, for it is to you I owe it.” + </p> + <p> + “To me? You are joking. It is the good-humor of the people, the spring + sunshine, and the pure air of the forest that you must thank. I have no + part in it.” + </p> + <p> + “You are everything in it, on the contrary,” said he, tenderly. “Before I + knew you, I had met with country people, seen the sun and trees, and so + on, and nothing made any impression on me. But, just now, when you were + singing over there, I felt gladdened and inspired; I felt the beauty of + the woods, I sympathized with these good people, and these grand trees, + all these things among which you live so happily. It is you who have + worked this miracle. Ah! you are well named. You are truly the fairy of + the feast, the queen of the woods!” + </p> + <p> + Astonished at the enthusiasm of her companion, Reine looked at him + sidewise, half closing her eyes, and perceived that he was altogether + transformed. He appeared to have suddenly thawed. He was no longer the + awkward, sickly youth, whose every movement was paralyzed by timidity, and + whose words froze on his tongue; his slender frame had become supple, his + blue eyes enlarged and illuminated; his delicate features expressed + refinement, tenderness, and passion. The young girl was moved and won by + so much emotion, the first that Julien had ever manifested toward her. Far + from being offended at this species of declaration, she replied, gayly: + </p> + <p> + “As to the queen of the woods working miracles, I know none so powerful as + these flowers.” + </p> + <p> + She unfastened the bouquet of white starry woodruff from her corsage, and + handed them over to him in their envelope of green leaves. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know them?” said she; “see how sweet they smell! And the odor + increases as they wither.” + </p> + <p> + Julien had carried the bouquet to his lips, and was inhaling slowly the + delicate perfume. + </p> + <p> + “Our woodsmen,” she continued, “make with this plant a broth which cures + from ill effects of either cold or heat as if by enchantment; they also + infuse it into white wine, and convert it into a beverage which they call + May wine, and which is very intoxicating.” + </p> + <p> + Julien was no longer listening to these details. He kept his eyes steadily + fixed on Mademoiselle Vincart, and continued to inhale rapturously the + bouquet, and to experience a kind of intoxication. + </p> + <p> + “Let me keep these flowers,” he implored, in a choking voice. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” replied she, gayly; “keep them, if it will give you + pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” he murmured, hiding them in his bosom. + </p> + <p> + Reine was surprised at his attaching such exaggerated importance to so + slight a favor, and a sudden flush overspread her cheeks. She almost + repented having given him the flowers when she saw what a tender reception + he had given them, so she replied, suggestively: + </p> + <p> + “Do not thank me; the gift is not significant. Thousands of similar + flowers grow in the forest, and one has only to stoop and gather them.” + </p> + <p> + He dared not reply that this bouquet, having been worn by her, was worth + much more to him than any other, but he thought it, and the thought + aroused in his mind a series of new ideas. As Reine had so readily granted + this first favor, was she not tacitly encouraging him to ask for others? + Was he dealing with a simple, innocent girl, or a village coquette, + accustomed to be courted? And on this last supposition should he not pass + for a simpleton in the eyes of this experienced girl, if he kept himself + at too great a distance. He remembered the advice of Claudet concerning + the method of conducting love-affairs smoothly with certain women of the + country. Whether she was a coquette or not, Reine had bewitched him. The + charm had worked more powerfully still since he had been alone with her in + this obscure hut, where the cooing of the wild pigeons faintly reached + their ears, and the penetrating odors of the forest pervaded their + nostrils. Julien’s gaze rested lovingly on Reine’s wavy locks, falling + heavily over her neck, on her half-covered eyes with their luminous pupils + full of golden specks of light, on her red lips, on the two little brown + moles spotting her somewhat decollete neck. He thought her adorable, and + was dying to tell her so; but when he endeavored to formulate his + declaration, the words stuck fast in his throat, his veins swelled, his + throat became dry, his head swam. In this disorder of his faculties he + brought to mind the recommendation of Claudet: “One arm round the waist, + two sounding kisses, and the thing is done.” He rose abruptly, and went up + to the young girl: + </p> + <p> + “Since you have given me these flowers,” he began, in a husky voice, “will + you also, in sign of friendship, give me your hand, as you gave it to + Claudet?” + </p> + <p> + After a moment’s hesitation, she held out her hand; but, hardly had he + touched it when he completely lost control of himself, and slipping the + arm which remained free around Reine’s waist, he drew her toward him and + lightly touched with his lips her neck, the beauty of which had so + magnetized him. + </p> + <p> + The young girl was stronger than he; in the twinkling of an eye she tore + herself from his audacious clasp, threw him violently backward, and with + one bound reached the door of the hut. She stood there a moment, pale, + indignant, her eyes blazing, and then exclaimed, in a hollow voice: + </p> + <p> + “If you come a step nearer, I will call the charcoalmen!” + </p> + <p> + But Julien had no desire to renew the attack; already sobered, cowed, and + repentant, he had retreated to the most obscure corner of the dwelling. + </p> + <p> + “Are you mad?” she continued, with vehemence, “or has the wine got into + your head? It is rather early for you to be adopting the ways of your + deceased cousin! I give you notice that they will not succeed with me!” + And, at the same moment, tears of humiliation filled her eyes. “I did not + expect this of you, Monsieur de Buxieres!” + </p> + <p> + “Forgive me!” faltered Julien, whose heart smote him at the sight of her + tears; “I have behaved like a miserable sinner and a brute! It was a + moment of madness—forget it and forgive me!” + </p> + <p> + “Nobody ever treated me with disrespect before,” returned the young girl, + in a suffocated voice; “I was wrong to allow you any familiarity, that is + all. It shall not happen to me again!” + </p> + <p> + Julien remained mute, overpowered with shame and remorse. Suddenly, in the + stillness around, rose the voices of the dancers returning and singing the + refrain of the rondelay: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + I had a rose— + On my heart it lay + Will those who are young + Be married, or nay? + Yea, yea! +</pre> + <p> + “There are our people,” said Reine, softly, “I am going to them; adieu—do + not follow me!” She left the but and hastened toward the furnace, while + Julien, stunned with the rapidity with which this unfortunate scene had + been enacted, sat down on one of the benches, a prey to confused feelings + of shame and angry mortification. No, certainly, he did not intend to + follow her! He had no desire to show himself in public with this young + girl whom he had so stupidly insulted, and in whose face he never should + be able to look again. Decidedly, he did not understand women, since he + could not even tell a virtuous girl from a frivolous coquette! Why had he + not been able to see that the good-natured, simple familiarity of Reine + Vincart had nothing in common with the enticing allurements of those who, + to use Claudet’s words, had “thrown their caps over the wall.” How was it + that he had not read, in those eyes, pure as the fountain’s source, the + candor and uprightness of a maiden heart which had nothing to conceal. + This cruel evidence of his inability to conduct himself properly in the + affairs of life exasperated and humiliated him, and at the same time that + he felt his self-love most deeply wounded, he was conscious of being more + hopelessly enamored of Reine Vincart. Never had she appeared so beautiful + as during the indignant movement which had separated her from him. Her + look of mingled anger and sadness, the expression of her firm, set lips, + the quivering nostrils, the heaving of her bosom, he recalled it all, and + the image of her proud beauty redoubled his grief and despair. + </p> + <p> + He remained a long time concealed in the shadow of the hut. Finally, when + he heard the voices dying away in different directions, and was satisfied + that the charcoal-men were attending to their furnace work, he made up his + mind to come out. But, as he did not wish to meet any one, instead of + crossing through the cutting he plunged into the wood, taking no heed in + what direction he went, and being desirous of walking alone as long as + possible, without meeting a single human visage. + </p> + <p> + As he wandered aimlessly through the deepening shadows of the forest, + crossed here and there by golden bars of light from the slanting rays of + the setting sun, he pondered over the probable results of his unfortunate + behavior. Reine would certainly keep silence on the affront she had + received, but would she be indulgent enough to forget or forgive the + insult? The most evident result of the affair would be that henceforth all + friendly relations between them must cease. She certainly would maintain a + severe attitude toward the person who had so grossly insulted her, but + would she be altogether pitiless in her anger? All through his dismal + feelings of self-reproach, a faint hope of reconciliation kept him from + utter despair. As he reviewed the details of the shameful occurrence, he + remembered that the expression of her countenance had been one more of + sorrow than of anger. The tone of melancholy reproach in which she had + uttered the words: “I did not expect this from you, Monsieur de Buxieres!” + seemed to convey the hope that he might, one day, be forgiven. At the same + time, the poignancy of his regret showed him how much hold the young girl + had taken upon his affections, and how cheerless and insipid his life + would be if he were obliged to continue on unfriendly terms with the + woodland queen. + </p> + <p> + He had come to this conclusion in his melancholy reflections, when he + reached the outskirts of the forest. + </p> + <p> + He stood above the calm, narrow valley of Vivey; on the right, over the + tall ash-trees, peeped the pointed turrets of the chateau; on the left, + and a little farther behind, was visible a whitish line, contrasting with + the surrounding verdure, the winding path to La Thuiliere, through the + meadow-land of Planche-au-Vacher. Suddenly, the sound of voices reached + his ears, and, looking more closely, he perceived Reine and Claudet + walking side by side down the narrow path. The evening air softened the + resonance of the voices, so that the words themselves were not audible, + but the intonation of the alternate speakers, and their confidential and + friendly gestures, evinced a very animated, if not tender, exchange of + sentiments. At times the conversation was enlivened by Claudet’s bursts of + laughter, or an amicable gesture from Reine. At one moment, Julien saw the + young girl lay her hand familiarly on the shoulder of the ‘grand + chssserot’, and immediately a pang of intense jealousy shot through his + heart. At last the young pair arrived at the banks of a stream, which + traversed the path and had become swollen by the recent heavy rains. + Claudet took Reine by the waist and lifted her in his vigorous arms, while + he picked his way across the stream; then they resumed their way toward + the bottom of the pass, and the tall brushwood hid their retreating forms + from Julien’s eager gaze, although it was long before the vibrations of + their sonorous voices ceased echoing in his ears. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” thought he, quite overcome by this new development, “she stands less + on ceremony with him than with me! How close they kept to each other in + that lonely path! With what animation they conversed! with what abandon + she allowed herself to be carried in his arms! All that indicates an + intimacy of long standing, and explains a good many things!” + </p> + <p> + He recalled Reine’s visit to the chateau, and how cleverly she had managed + to inform him of the parentage existing between Claudet and the deceased + Claude de Buxieres; how she had by her conversation raised a feeling of + pity in his mind for Claudet; and a desire to repair the negligence of the + deceased. + </p> + <p> + “How could I be so blind!” thought Julien, with secret scorn of himself; + “I did not see anything, I comprehended none of their artifices! They love + each other, that is sure, and I have been playing throughout the part of a + dupe. I do not blame him. He was in love, and allowed himself to be + persuaded. But she! whom I thought so open, so true, so loyal! Ah! she is + no better than others of her class, and she was coquetting with me in + order to insure her lover a position! Well! one more illusion is + destroyed. Ecclesiastes was right. ‘Inveni amarivrem morte mulierem’, + ‘woman is more bitter than death’!” + </p> + <p> + Twilight had come, and it was already dark in the forest. Slowly and + reluctantly, Julien descended the slope leading to the chateau, and the + gloom of the woods entered his heart. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. LOVE BY PROXY + </h2> + <p> + Jealousy is a maleficent deity of the harpy tribe; she embitters + everything she touches. + </p> + <p> + Ever since the evening that Julien had witnessed the crossing of the brook + by Reine and Claudet, a secret poison had run through his veins, and + embittered every moment of his life. Neither the glowing sun of June, nor + the glorious development of the woods had any charm for him. In vain did + the fields display their golden treasures of ripening corn; in vain did + the pale barley and the silvery oats wave their luxuriant growth against + the dark background of the woods; all these fairylike effects of summer + suggested only prosaic and misanthropic reflections in Julien’s mind. He + thought of the tricks, the envy and hatred that the possession of these + little squares of ground brought forth among their rapacious owners. The + prolific exuberance of forest vegetation was an exemplification of the + fierce and destructive activity of the blind forces of Nature. All the + earth was a hateful theatre for the continual enactment of bloody and + monotonous dramas; the worm consuming the plant; the bird mangling the + insect, the deer fighting among themselves, and man, in his turn, pursuing + all kinds of game. He identified nature with woman, both possessing in his + eyes an equally deceiving appearance, the same beguiling beauty, and the + same spirit of ambuscade and perfidy. The people around him inspired him + only with mistrust and suspicion. In every peasant he met he recognized an + enemy, prepared to cheat him with wheedling words and hypocritical + lamentations. Although during the few months he had experienced the + delightful influence of Reine Vincart, he had been drawn out of his former + prejudices, and had imagined he was rising above the littleness of + every-day worries; he now fell back into hard reality; his feet were again + embedded in the muddy ground of village politics, and consequently village + life was a burden to him. + </p> + <p> + He never went out, fearing to meet Reine Vincart. He fancied that the + sight of her might aggravate the malady from which he suffered and for + which he eagerly sought a remedy. + </p> + <p> + But, notwithstanding the cloistered retirement to which he had condemned + himself, his wound remained open. Instead of solitude having a healing + effect, it seemed to make his sufferings greater. When, in the evening, as + he sat moodily at his window, he would hear Claudet whistle to his dog, + and hurry off in the direction of La Thuiliere, he would say to himself: + “He is going to keep an appointment with Reine.” Then a feeling of blind + rage would overpower him; he felt tempted to leave his room and follow his + rival secretly—a moment afterward he would be ashamed of his + meanness. Was it not enough that he had once, although involuntarily, + played the degrading part of a spy! What satisfaction could he derive from + such a course? Would he be much benefited when he returned home with rage + in his heart and senses, after watching a love-scene between the young + pair? This consideration kept him in his seat, but his imagination ran + riot instead; it went galloping at the heels of Claudet, and accompanied + him down the winding paths, moistened by the evening dew. As the moon rose + above the trees, illuminating the foliage with her mild bluish rays, he + pictured to himself the meeting of the two lovers on the flowery turf + bathed in the silvery light. His brain seemed on fire. He saw Reine in + white advancing like a moonbeam, and Claudet passing his arm around the + yielding waist of the maiden. He tried to substitute himself in idea, and + to imagine the delight of the first words of welcome, and the ecstasy of + the prolonged embrace. A shiver ran through his whole body; a sharp pain + transfixed his heart; his throat closed convulsively; half fainting, he + leaned against the window-frame, his eyes closed, his ears stopped, to + shut out all sights or sounds, longing only for oblivion and complete + torpor of body and mind. + </p> + <p> + He did not realize his longing. The enchanting image of the woodland + queen, as he had beheld her in the dusky light of the charcoal-man’s hut, + was ever before him. He put his hands over his eyes. She was there still, + with her deep, dark eyes and her enticing cherry lips. Even the odor of + the honeysuckle arising from the garden assisted the reality of the + vision, by recalling the sprig of the same flower which Reine was twisting + round her fingers at their last interview. This sweet breath of flowers in + the night seemed like an emanation from the young girl herself, and was as + fleeting and intangible as the remembrance of vanished happiness. Again + and again did his morbid nature return to past events, and make his + present position more unbearable. + </p> + <p> + “Why,” thought he, “did I ever entertain so wild a hope? This wood-nymph, + with her robust yet graceful figure, her clear-headedness, her energy and + will-power, could she ever have loved a being so weak and unstable as + myself? No, indeed; she needs a lover full of life and vigor; a huntsman, + with a strong arm, able to protect her. What figure should I cut by the + side of so hearty and well-balanced a fellow?” + </p> + <p> + In these fits of jealousy, he was not so angry with Claudet for being + loved by Reine as for having so carefully concealed his feelings. And yet, + while inwardly blaming him for this want of frankness, he did not realize + that he himself was open to a similar accusation, by hiding from Claudet + what was troubling him so grievously. + </p> + <p> + Since the evening of the inauguration festival, he had become sullen and + taciturn. Like all timid persons, he took refuge in a moody silence, which + could not but irritate his cousin. They met every day at the same table; + to all appearance their intimacy was as great as ever, but, in reality, + there was no mutual exchange of feeling. Julien’s continued ill-humor was + a source of anxiety to Claudet, who turned his brain almost inside out in + endeavoring to discover its cause. He knew he had done nothing to provoke + any coolness; on the contrary, he had set his wits to work to show his + gratitude by all sorts of kindly offices. + </p> + <p> + By dint of thinking the matter over, Claudet came to the conclusion that + perhaps Julien was beginning to repent of his generosity, and that + possibly this coolness was a roundabout way of manifesting his change of + feeling. This seemed to be the only plausible solution of his cousin’s + behavior. “He is probably tired,” thought he, “of keeping us here at the + chateau, my mother and myself.” + </p> + <p> + Claudet’s pride and self-respect revolted at this idea. He did not intend + to be an incumbrance on any one, and became offended in his turn at the + mute reproach which he imagined he could read in his cousin’s troubled + countenance. This misconception, confirmed by the obstinate silence of + both parties, and aggravated by its own continuance, at last produced a + crisis. + </p> + <p> + It happened one night, after they had taken supper together, and Julien’s + ill-humor had been more evident than usual. Provoked at his persistent + taciturnity, and more than ever convinced that it was his presence that + young de Buxieres objected to, Claudet resolved to force an explanation. + Instead, therefore, of quitting the dining-room after dessert, and + whistling to his dog to accompany him in his habitual promenade, the + ‘grand chasserot’ remained seated, poured out a small glass of brandy, and + slowly filled his pipe. Surprised to see that he was remaining at home, + Julien rose and began to pace the floor, wondering what could be the + reason of this unexpected change. As suspicious people are usually prone + to attribute complicated motives for the most simple actions, he imagined + that Claudet, becoming aware of the jealous feeling he had excited, had + given up his promenade solely to mislead and avert suspicion. This idea + irritated him still more, and halting suddenly in his walk, he went up to + Claudet and said, brusquely: + </p> + <p> + “You are not going out, then?” + </p> + <p> + “No;” replied Claudet, “if you will permit me, I will stay and keep you + company. Shall I annoy you?” + </p> + <p> + “Not in the least; only, as you are accustomed to walk every evening, I + should not wish you to inconvenience yourself on my account. I am not + afraid of being alone, and I am not selfish enough to deprive you of + society more agreeable than mine.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean by that?” cried Claudet, pricking up his ears. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” muttered Julien, between his set teeth, “except that your + fancied obligation of keeping me company ought not to prevent you missing + a pleasant engagement, or keeping a rendezvous.” + </p> + <p> + “A rendezvous,” replied his interlocutor, with a forced laugh, “so you + think, when I go out after supper, I go to seek amusement. A rendezvous! + And with whom, if you please?” + </p> + <p> + “With your mistress, of course,” replied Julien, sarcastically, “from what + you said to me, there is no scarcity here of girls inclined to be + good-natured, and you have only the trouble of choosing among them. I + supposed you were courting some woodman’s young daughter, or some pretty + farmer girl, like—like Reine Vincart.” + </p> + <p> + “Refine Vincart!” repeated Claudet, sternly, “what business have you to + mix up her name with those creatures to whom you refer? Mademoiselle + Vincart,” added he, “has nothing in common with that class, and you have + no right, Monsieur de Buxieres, to use her name so lightly!” + </p> + <p> + The allusion to Reine Vincart had agitated Claudet to such a degree that + he did not notice that Julien, as he pronounced her name, was as much + moved as himself. + </p> + <p> + The vehemence with which Claudet resented the insinuation increased young + de Buxieres’s irritation. + </p> + <p> + “Ha, ha!” said he, laughing scornfully, “Reine Vincart is an exceedingly + pretty girl!” + </p> + <p> + “She is not only pretty, she is good and virtuous, and deserves to be + respected.” + </p> + <p> + “How you uphold her! One can see that you are interested in her.” + </p> + <p> + “I uphold her because you are unjust toward her. But I wish you to + understand that she has no need of any one standing up for her—her + good name is sufficient to protect her. Ask any one in the village—there + is but one voice on that question.” + </p> + <p> + “Come,” said Julien, huskily, “confess that you are in love with her.” + </p> + <p> + “Well! suppose I am,” said Claudet, angrily, “yes, I love her! There, are + you satisfied now?” + </p> + <p> + Although de Buxieres knew what he had to expect, he was not the less + affected by so open an avowal thrust at him, as it were. He stood for a + moment, silent; then, with a fresh burst of rage: + </p> + <p> + “You love her, do you? Why did you not tell me before? Why were you not + more frank with me?” + </p> + <p> + As he spoke, gesticulating furiously, in front of the open window, the + deep red glow of the setting sun, piercing through the boughs of the + ash-trees, threw its bright reflections on his blazing eyeballs and + convulsed features. His interlocutor, leaning against the opposite corner + of the window-frame, noticed, with some anxiety, the extreme agitation of + his behavior, and wondered what could be the cause of such emotion. + </p> + <p> + “I? Not frank with you! Ah, that is a good joke, Monsieur de Buxieres! + Naturally, I should not go proclaiming on the housetops that I have a + tender feeling for Mademoiselle Vincart, but, all the same, I should have + told you had you asked me sooner. I am not reserved; but, you must excuse + my saying it, you are walled in like a subterranean passage. One can not + get at the color of your thoughts. I never for a moment imagined that you + were interested in Reine, and you never have made me sufficiently at home + to entertain the idea of confiding in you on that subject.” + </p> + <p> + Julien remained silent. He had reseated himself at the table, where, + leaning his head in his hands, he pondered over what Claudet had said. He + placed his hand so as to screen his eyes, and bit his lips as if a painful + struggle was going on within him. The splendors of the setting sun had + merged into the dusky twilight, and the last piping notes of the birds + sounded faintly among the sombre trees. A fresh breeze had sprung up, and + filled the darkening room with the odor of honeysuckle. + </p> + <p> + Under the soothing influence of the falling night, Julien slowly raised + his head, and addressing Claudet in a low and measured voice like a father + confessor interrogating a penitent, said: + </p> + <p> + “Does Reine know that you love her?” + </p> + <p> + “I think she must suspect it,” replied Claudet, “although I never have + ventured to declare myself squarely. But girls are very quick, Reine + especially. They soon begin to suspect there is some love at bottom, when + a young man begins to hang around them too frequently.” + </p> + <p> + “You see her often, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Not as often as I should like. But, you know, when one lives in the same + district, one has opportunities of meeting—at the beech harvest, in + the woods, at the church door. And when you meet, you talk but little, + making the most of your time. Still, you must not suppose, as I think you + did, that we have rendezvous in the evening. Reine respects herself too + much to go about at night with a young man as escort, and besides, she has + other fish to fry. She has a great deal to do at the farm, since her + father has become an invalid.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, do you think she loves you?” said Julien, with a movement of + nervous irritation. + </p> + <p> + “I can not tell,” replied Claudet shrugging his shoulders, “she has + confidence in me, and shows me some marks of friendship, but I never have + ventured to ask her whether she feels anything more than friendship for + me. Look here, now. I have good reasons for keeping back; she is rich and + I am poor. You can understand that I would not, for any consideration, + allow her to think that I am courting her for her money—” + </p> + <p> + “Still, you desire to marry her, and you hope that she will not say no—you + acknowledge that!” cried Julien, vociferously. + </p> + <p> + Claudet, struck with the violence and bitterness of tone of his companion, + came up to him. + </p> + <p> + “How angrily you say that, Monsieur de Buxieres!” exclaimed he in his + turn; “upon my word, one might suppose the affair is very displeasing to + you. Will you let me tell you frankly an idea that has already entered my + head several times these last two or three days, and which has come again + now, while I have been listening to you? It is that perhaps you, yourself, + are also in love with Reine?” + </p> + <p> + “I!” protested Julien. He felt humiliated at Claudet’s perspicacity; but + he had too much pride and selfrespect to let his preferred rival know of + his unfortunate passion. He waited a moment to swallow something in his + throat that seemed to be choking him, and then, trying in vain to steady + his voice, he added: + </p> + <p> + “You know that I have an aversion for women; and for that matter, I think + they return it with interest. But, at all events, I am not foolish enough + to expose myself to their rebuffs. Rest assured, I shall not follow at + your heels!” + </p> + <p> + Claudet shook his head incredulously. + </p> + <p> + “You doubt it,” continued de Buxieres; “well, I will prove it to you. You + can not declare your wishes because Reine is rich and you are poor? I will + take charge of the whole matter.” + </p> + <p> + “I—I do not understand you,” faltered Claudet, bewildered at the + strange turn the conversation was taking. + </p> + <p> + “You will understand-soon,” asserted Julien, with a gesture of both + decision and resignation. + </p> + <p> + The truth was, he had made one of those resolutions which seem illogical + and foolish at first sight, but are natural to minds at once timid and + exalted. The suffering caused by Claudet’s revelations had become so acute + that he was alarmed. He recognized with dismay the disastrous effects of + this hopeless love, and determined to employ a heroic remedy to arrest its + further ravages. This was nothing less than killing his love, by + immediately getting Claudet married to Reine Vincart. Sacrifices like this + are easier to souls that have been subjected since their infancy to + Christian discipline, and accustomed to consider the renunciation of + mundane joys as a means of securing eternal salvation. As soon as this + idea had developed in Julien’s brain, he seized upon it with the + precipitation of a drowning man, who distractedly lays hold of the first + object that seems to offer him a means of safety, whether it be a dead + branch or a reed. + </p> + <p> + “Listen,” he resumed; “at the very first explanation that we had together, + I told you I did not intend to deprive you of your right to a portion of + your natural father’s inheritance. Until now, you have taken my word for + it, and we have lived at the chateau like two brothers. But now that a + miserable question of money alone prevents you from marrying the woman you + love, it is important that you should be legally provided for. We will go + to-morrow to Monsieur Arbillot, and ask him to draw up the deed, making + over to you from me one half of the fortune of Claude de Buxieres. You + will then be, by law, and in the eyes of all, one of the desirable matches + of the canton, and you can demand the hand of Mademoiselle Vincart, + without any fear of being thought presumptuous or mercenary.” + </p> + <p> + Claudet, to whom this conclusion was wholly unexpected, was thunderstruck. + His emotion was so great that it prevented him from speaking. In the + obscurity of the room his deep-set eyes seemed larger, and shone with the + tears he could not repress. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur Julien,” said he, falteringly, “I can not find words to thank + you. I am like an idiot. And to think that only a little while ago I + suspected you of being tired of me, and regretting your benefits toward + me! What an animal I am! I measure others by myself. Well! can you forgive + me? If I do not express myself well, I feel deeply, and all I can say is + that you have made me very happy!” He sighed heavily. “The question is + now,” continued he, “whether Reine will have me! You may not believe me, + Monsieur de Buxieres, but though I may seem very bold and resolute, I feel + like a wet hen when I get near her. I have a dreadful panic that she will + send me away as I came. I don’t know whether I can ever find courage to + ask her.” + </p> + <p> + “Why should she refuse you?” said Julien, sadly, “she knows that you love + her. Do you suppose she loves any one else?” + </p> + <p> + “That I don’t know. Although Reine is very frank, she does not let every + one know what is passing in her mind, and with these young girls, I tell + you, one is never sure of anything. That is just what I fear may be + possible.” + </p> + <p> + “If you fear the ordeal,” said de Buxieres, with a visible effort, “would + you like me to present the matter for you?” + </p> + <p> + “I should be very glad. It would be doing me a great service. It would be + adding one more kindness to those I have already received, and some day I + hope to make it all up to you.” + </p> + <p> + The next morning, according to agreement, Julien accompanied Claudet to + Auberive, where Maitre Arbillot drew up the deed of gift, and had it at + once signed and recorded. Afterward the young men adjourned to breakfast + at the inn. The meal was brief and silent. Neither seemed to have any + appetite. As soon as they had drunk their coffee, they turned back on the + Vivey road; but, when they had got as far as the great limetree, standing + at the entrance to the forest, Julien touched Claudet lightly on the + shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “Here,” said he, “we must part company. You will return to Vivey, and I + shall go across the fields to La Thuiliere. I shall return as soon as I + have had an interview with Mademoiselle Vincart. Wait for me at the + chateau.” + </p> + <p> + “The time will seem dreadfully long to me,” sighed Claudet; “I shall not + know how to dispose of my body until you return.” + </p> + <p> + “Your affair will be all settled within two or three hours from now. Stay + near the window of my room, and you will catch first sight of me coming + along in the distance. If I wave my hat, it will be a sign that I bring a + favorable answer.” + </p> + <p> + Claudet pressed his hand; they separated, and Julien descended the newly + mown meadow, along which he walked under the shade of trees scattered + along the border line of the forest. + </p> + <p> + The heat of the midday sun was tempered by a breeze from the east, which + threw across the fields and woods the shadows of the white fleecy clouds. + The young man, pale and agitated, strode with feverish haste over the + short-cropped grass, while the little brooklet at his side seemed to + murmur a flute-like, soothing accompaniment to the tumultuous beatings of + his heart. He was both elated and depressed at the prospect of submitting + his already torn and lacerated feelings to so severe a trial. The thought + of beholding Reine again, and of sounding her feelings, gave him a certain + amount of cruel enjoyment. He would speak to her of love—love for + another, certainly—but he would throw into the declaration he was + making, in behalf of another, some of his own tenderness; he would have + the supreme and torturing satisfaction of watching her countenance, of + anticipating her blushes, of gathering the faltering avowal from her lips. + He would once more drink of the intoxication of her beauty, and then he + would go and shut himself up at Vivey, after burying at La Thuiliere all + his dreams and profane desires. But, even while the courage of this + immolation of his youthful love was strong within him, he could not + prevent a dim feeling of hope from crossing his mind. Claudet was not + certain that he was beloved; and possibly Reine’s answer would be a + refusal. Then he should have a free field. + </p> + <p> + By a very human, but very illogical impulse, Julien de Buxieres had hardly + concluded the arrangement with Claudet which was to strike the fatal blow + to his own happiness when he began to forestall the possibilities which + the future might have in store for him. The odor of the wild mint and + meadow-sweet, dotting the banks of the stream, again awoke vague, happy + anticipations. Longing to reach Reine Vincart’s presence, he hastened his + steps, then stopped suddenly, seized with an overpowering panic. He had + not seen her since the painful episode in the hut, and it must have left + with her a very sorry impression. What could he do, if she refused to + receive him or listen to him? + </p> + <p> + While revolting these conflicting thoughts in his mind, he came to the + fields leading directly to La Thuiliere, and just beyond, across a waving + mass of oats and rye, the shining tops of the farm-buildings came in + sight. A few minutes later, he pushed aside a gate and entered the yard. + </p> + <p> + The shutters were closed, the outer gate was closed inside, and the house + seemed deserted. Julien began to think that the young girl he was seeking + had gone into the fields with the farm-hands, and stood uncertain and + disappointed in the middle of the courtyard. At this sudden intrusion into + their domain, a brood of chickens, who had been clucking sedately around, + and picking up nourishment at the same time, scattered screaming in every + direction, heads down, feet sprawling, until by unanimous consent they + made a beeline for a half-open door, leading to the orchard. Through this + manoeuvre, the young man’s attention was brought to the fact that through + this opening he could reach the rear facade of the building. He therefore + entered a grassy lane, winding round a group of stones draped with ivy; + and leaving the orchard on his left, he pushed on toward the garden itself—a + real country garden with square beds bordered by mossy clumps alternating + with currant-bushes, rows of raspberry-trees, lettuce and cabbage beds, + beans and runners climbing up their slender supports, and, here and there, + bunches of red carnations and peasant roses. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly, at the end of a long avenue, he discovered Reine Vincart, seated + on the steps before an arched door, communicating with the kitchen. A + plum-tree, loaded with its violet fruit, spread its light shadow over the + young girl’s head, as she sat shelling fresh-gathered peas and piling the + faint green heaps of color around her. The sound of approaching steps on + the grassy soil caused her to raise her head, but she did not stir. In his + intense emotion, Julien thought the alley never would come to an end. He + would fain have cleared it with a single bound, so as to be at once in the + presence of Mademoiselle Vincart, whose immovable attitude rendered his + approach still more difficult. Nevertheless, he had to get over the ground + somehow at a reasonable pace, under penalty of making himself ridiculous, + and he therefore found plenty of time to examine Reine, who continued her + work with imperturbable gravity, throwing the peas as she shelled them + into an ash-wood pail at her feet. + </p> + <p> + She was bareheaded, and wore a striped skirt and a white jacket fitted to + her waist. The checkered shadows cast by the tree made spots of light and + darkness over her face and her uncovered neck, the top button of her + camisole being unfastened on account of the heat. De Buxieres had been + perfectly well recognized by her, but an emotion, at least equal to that + experienced by the young man, had transfixed her to the spot, and a subtle + feminine instinct had urged her to continue her employment, in order to + hide the sudden trembling of her fingers. During the last month, ever + since the adventure in the hut, she had thought often of Julien; and the + remembrance of the audacious kiss which the young de Buxieres had so + impetuously stolen from her neck, invariably brought the flush of shame to + her brow. But, although she was very indignant at the fiery nature of his + caress, as implying a want of respect little in harmony with Julien’s + habitual reserve, she was astonished at herself for not being still more + angry. At first, the affront put upon her had roused a feeling of + indignation, but now, when she thought of it, she felt only a gentle + embarrassment, and a soft beating of the heart. She began to reflect that + to have thus broken loose from all restraint before her, this timid youth + must have been carried away by an irresistible burst of passion, and any + woman, however high-minded she may be, will forgive such violent homage + rendered to the sovereign power of her beauty. Besides his feeding of her + vanity, another independent and more powerful motive predisposed her to + indulgence: she felt a tender and secret attraction toward Monsieur de + Buxieres. This healthy and energetic girl had been fascinated by the + delicate charm of a nature so unlike her own in its sensitiveness and + disposition to self-blame. Julien’s melancholy blue eyes had, unknown to + himself, exerted a magnetic influence on Reine’s dark, liquid orbs, and, + without endeavoring to analyze the sympathy that drew her toward a nature + refined and tender even to weakness, without asking herself where this + unreflecting instinct might lead her, she was conscious of a growing + sentiment toward him, which was not very much unlike love itself. + </p> + <p> + Julien de Buxieres’s mood was not sufficiently calm to observe anything, + or he would immediately have perceived the impression that his sudden + appearance had produced upon Reine Vincart. As soon as he found himself + within a few steps of the young girl, he saluted her awkwardly, and she + returned his bow with marked coldness. Extremely disconcerted at this + reception, he endeavored to excuse himself for having invaded her dwelling + in so unceremonious a manner. + </p> + <p> + “I am all the more troubled,” added he, humbly, “that after what has + happened, my visit must appear to you indiscreet, if not improper.” + </p> + <p> + Reine, who had more quickly recovered her self-possession, pretended not + to understand the unwise allusion that had escaped the lips of her + visitor. She rose, pushed away with her foot the stalks and pods, which + encumbered the passage, and replied, very shortly: + </p> + <p> + “You are excused, Monsieur. There is no need of an introduction to enter + La Thuiliere. Besides, I suppose that the motive which has brought you + here can only be a proper one.” + </p> + <p> + While thus speaking, she shook her skirt down, and without any affectation + buttoned up her camisole. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, Mademoiselle,” faltered Julien, “it is a most serious and + respectable motive that causes me to wish for an interview, and—if—I + do not disturb you—” + </p> + <p> + “Not in the least, Monsieur; but, if you wish to speak with me, it is + unnecessary for you to remain standing. Allow me to fetch you a chair.” + </p> + <p> + She went into the house, leaving the young man overwhelmed with the + coolness of his reception; a few minutes later she reappeared, bringing a + chair, which she placed under the tree. “Sit here, you will be in the + shade.” + </p> + <p> + She seated herself on the same step as before, leaning her back against + the wall, and her head on her hand. + </p> + <p> + “I am ready to listen to you,” she said. + </p> + <p> + Julien, much less under his own control than she, discovered that his + mission was more difficult than he had imagined it would be; he + experienced a singular amount of embarrassment in unfolding his subject; + and was obliged to have recourse to prolonged inquiries concerning the + health of Monsieur Vincart. + </p> + <p> + “He is still in the same condition,” said Reine, “neither better nor + worse, and, with the illness which afflicts him, the best I can hope for + is that he may remain in that condition. But,” continued she, with a + slight inflection of irony; “doubtless it is not for the purpose of + inquiring after my father’s health that you have come all the way from + Vivey?” + </p> + <p> + “That is true, Mademoiselle,” replied he, coloring. “What I have to speak + to you about is a very delicate matter. You will excuse me, therefore, if + I am somewhat embarrassed. I beg of you, Mademoiselle, to listen to me + with indulgence.” + </p> + <p> + “What can he be coming to?” thought Reine, wondering why he made so many + preambles before beginning. And, at the same time, her heart began to beat + violently. + </p> + <p> + Julien took the course taken by all timid people after meditating for a + long while on the best way to prepare the young girl for the communication + he had taken upon himself to make—he lost his head and inquired + abruptly: + </p> + <p> + “Mademoiselle Reine, do you not intend to marry?” + </p> + <p> + Reine started, and gazed at him with a frightened air. + </p> + <p> + “I!” exclaimed she, “Oh, I have time enough and I am not in a hurry.” + Then, dropping her eyes: “Why do you ask that?” + </p> + <p> + “Because I know of some one who loves you and who would be glad to marry + you.” + </p> + <p> + She became very pale, took up one of the empty pods, twisted it nervously + around her finger without speaking. + </p> + <p> + “Some one belonging to our neighborhood?” she faltered, after a few + moments’ silence. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; some one whom you know, and who is not a recent arrival here. Some + one who possesses, I believe, sterling qualities sufficient to make a good + husband, and means enough to do credit to the woman who will wed him. + Doubtless you have already guessed to whom I refer?” + </p> + <p> + She sat motionless, her lips tightly closed, her features rigid, but the + nervous twitching of her fingers as she bent the green stem back and + forth, betrayed her inward agitation. + </p> + <p> + “No; I can not tell,” she replied at last, in an almost inaudible voice. + </p> + <p> + “Truly?” he exclaimed, with an expression of astonishment, in which was a + certain amount of secret satisfaction; “you can not tell whom I mean? You + have never thought of the person of whom I am speaking in that light?” + </p> + <p> + “No; who is that person?” + </p> + <p> + She had raised her eyes toward his, and they shone with a deep, mysterious + light. + </p> + <p> + “It is Claudet Sejournant,” replied Julien, very gently; and in an altered + tone. + </p> + <p> + The glow that had illumined the dark orbs of the young girl faded away, + her eyelids dropped, and her countenance became as rigid as before; but + Julien did not notice anything. The words he had just uttered had cost him + too much agony, and he dared not look at his companion, lest he should + behold her joyful surprise, and thereby aggravate his suffering. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Reine, coldly, “in that case, why did not Claudet come himself + and state his own case?” + </p> + <p> + “His courage failed him at the last moment—and so—” + </p> + <p> + “And so,” continued she, with sarcastic bitterness of tone, “you took upon + yourself to speak for him?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I promised him I would plead his cause. I was sure, moreover, that I + should not have much difficulty in gaining the suit. Claudet has loved you + for a long time. He is good-hearted, and a fine fellow to look at. And as + to worldly advantages, his position is now equal to your own. I have made + over to him, by legal contract, the half of his father’s estate. What + answer am I to take back?” + </p> + <p> + He spoke with difficulty in broken sentences, without turning his eyes + toward Mademoiselle Vincart. The silence that followed his last question + seemed to him unbearable, and the contrasting chirping of the noisy + grasshoppers, and the buzzing of the flies in the quiet sunny garden, + resounded unpleasantly in his ears. + </p> + <p> + Reine remained speechless. She was disconcerted and well-nigh overpowered + by the unexpected announcement, and her brain seemed unable to bear the + crowd of tumultuous and conflicting emotions which presented themselves. + Certainly, she had already suspected that Claudet had a secret liking for + her, but she never had thought of encouraging the feeling. The avowal of + his hopes neither surprised nor hurt her; that which pained her was the + intervention of Julien, who had taken in hand the cause of his relative. + Was it possible that this same M. de Buxieres, who had made so audacious a + display of his tender feeling in the hut, could now come forward as + Claudet’s advocate, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for + him to do? In that case, his astonishing behavior at the fete, which had + caused her so much pain, and which she had endeavored to excuse in her own + mind as the untutored outbreak of his pentup love, that fiery caress, was + only the insulting manifestation of a brutal caprice? The transgressor + thought so little of her, she was of such small importance in his eyes, + that he had no hesitation in proposing that she marry Claudet? She beheld + herself scorned, humiliated, insulted by the only man in whom she ever had + felt interested. In the excess of her indignation she felt herself + becoming hardhearted and violent; a profound discouragement, a stony + indifference to all things, impelled her to extreme measures, and, not + being able at the moment to find any one on whom she could put them in + operation, she was almost tempted to lay violent hands on herself. + </p> + <p> + “What shall I say to Claudet?” repeated Julien, endeavoring to conceal the + suffering which was devouring his heart by an assumption of outward + frigidity. + </p> + <p> + She turned slowly round, fixed her searching eyes, which had become as + dark as waters reflecting a stormy sky, upon his face, and demanded, in + icy tones: + </p> + <p> + “What do you advise me to say?” + </p> + <p> + Now, if Julien had been less of a novice, he would have understood that a + girl who loves never addresses such a question; but the feminine heart was + a book in which he was a very poor speller. He imagined that Reine was + only asking him as a matter of form, and that it was from a feeling of + maidenly reserve that she adopted this passive method of escaping from + openly declaring her wishes. She no doubt desired his friendly aid in the + matter, and he felt as if he ought to grant her that satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + “I have the conviction,” stammered he, “that Claudet will make a good + husband, and you will do well to accept him.” + </p> + <p> + Reine bit her lip, and her paleness increased so as to set off still more + the fervid lustre of her eyes. The two little brown moles stood out more + visibly on her white neck, and added to her attractions. + </p> + <p> + “So be it!” exclaimed she, “tell Claudet that I consent, and that he will + be welcome at La Thuiliere.” + </p> + <p> + “I will tell him immediately.” He bent gravely and sadly before Reine, who + remained standing and motionless against the door. “Adieu, Mademoiselle!” + </p> + <p> + He turned away abruptly; plunged into the first avenue he came to, lost + his way twice and finally reached the courtyard, and thence escaped at + breakneck speed across the fields. + </p> + <p> + Reine maintained her statue-like pose as long as the young man’s footsteps + resounded on the stony paths; but when they died gradually away in the + distance, when nothing could be heard save the monotonous trill of the + grasshoppers basking in the sun, she threw herself down on the green heap + of rubbish; she covered her face with her hands and gave way to a + passionate outburst of tears and sobs. + </p> + <p> + In the meanwhile, Julien de Buxieres, angry with himself, irritated by the + speedy success of his mission, was losing his way among the pasturages, + and getting entangled in the thickets. All the details of the interview + presented themselves before his mind with remorseless clearness. He seemed + more lonely, more unfortunate, more disgusted with himself and with all + else than he ever had been before. Ashamed of the wretched part he had + just been enacting, he felt almost childish repugnance to returning to + Vivey, and tried to pick out the paths that would take him there by the + longest way. But he was not sufficiently accustomed to laying out a route + for himself, and when he thought he had a league farther to go, and had + just leaped over an intervening hedge, the pointed roofs of the chateau + appeared before him at a distance of not more than a hundred feet, and at + one of the windows on the first floor he could distinguish Claudet, + leaning for ward, as if to interrogate him. + </p> + <p> + He remembered then the promise he had made the young huntsman; and + faithful to his word, although with rage and bitterness in his heart, he + raised his hat, and with effort, waved it three times above his head. At + this signal, the forerunner of good news, Claudet replied by a triumphant + shout, and disappeared from the window. A moment later, Julien heard the + noise of furious galloping down the enclosures of the park. It was the + lover, hastening to learn the particulars of the interview. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK 3. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. THE STRANGE, DARK SECRET + </h2> + <p> + Julien had once entertained the hope that Claudet’s marriage with Reine + would act as a kind of heroic remedy for the cure of his unfortunate + passion, he very soon perceived that he had been wofully mistaken. As soon + as he had informed the grand chasserot of the success of his undertaking, + he became aware that his own burden was considerably heavier. Certainly it + had been easier for him to bear uncertainty than the boisterous rapture + evinced by his fortunate rival. His jealousy rose against it, and that was + all. Now that he had torn from Reine the avowal of her love for Claudet, + he was more than ever oppressed by his hopeless passion, and plunged into + a condition of complete moral and physical disintegration. It mingled with + his blood, his nerves, his thoughts, and possessed him altogether, + dwelling within him like an adored and tyrannical mistress. Reine appeared + constantly before him as he had contemplated her on the outside steps of + the farmhouse, in her never-to-be-forgotten negligee of the short skirt + and the half-open bodice. He again beheld the silken treasure of her + tresses, gliding playfully around her shoulders, the clear, honest look of + her limpid eyes, the expressive smile of her enchanting lips, and with a + sudden revulsion of feeling he reflected that perhaps before a month was + over, all these charms would belong to Claudet. Then, almost at the same + moment, like a swallow, which, with one rapid turn of its wing, changes + its course, his thoughts went in the opposite direction, and he began to + imagine what would have happened if, instead of replying in the + affirmative, Reine had objected to marrying Claudet. He could picture + himself kneeling before her as before the Madonna, and in a low voice + confessing his love. He would have taken her hands so respectfully, and + pleaded so eloquently, that she would have allowed herself to be + convinced. The little, hands would have remained prisoners in his own; he + would have lifted her tenderly, devotedly, in his arms, and under the + influence of this feverish dream, he fancied he could feel the beating + heart of the young girl against his own bosom. Suddenly he would wake up + out of his illusions, and bite his lips with rage on finding himself in + the dull reality of his own dwelling. + </p> + <p> + One day he heard footsteps on the gravel; a sonorous and jovial voice met + his ear. It was Claudet, starting for La Thuiliere. Julien bent forward to + see him, and ground his teeth as he watched his joyous departure. The + sharp sting of jealousy entered his soul, and he rebelled against the + evident injustice of Fate. How had he deserved that life should present so + dismal and forbidding an aspect to him? He had had none of the joys of + infancy; his youth had been spent wearily under the peevish discipline of + a cloister; he had entered on his young manhood with all the awkwardness + and timidity of a night-bird that is made to fly in the day. Up to the age + of twenty-seven years, he had known neither love nor friendship; his time + had been given entirely to earning his daily bread, and to the cultivation + of religious exercises, which consoled him in some measure for his + apparently useless way of living. Latterly, it is true, Fortune had seemed + to smile upon him, by giving him a little more money and liberty, but this + smile was a mere mockery, and a snare more hurtful than the pettinesses + and privations of his past life. The fickle goddess, continuing her part + of mystifier, had opened to his enraptured sight a magic window through + which she had shown him a charming vision of possible happiness; but while + he was still gazing, she had closed it abruptly in his face, laughing + scornfully at his discomfiture. What sense was there in this perversion of + justice, this perpetual mockery of Fate? At times the influence of his + early education would resume its sway, and he would ask himself whether + all this apparent contradiction were not a secret admonition from on high, + warning him that he had not been created to enjoy the fleeting pleasures + of this world, and ought, therefore, to turn his attention toward things + eternal, and renounce the perishable delights of the flesh? + </p> + <p> + “If so,” thought he, irreverently, “the warning comes rather late, and it + would have answered the purpose better had I been allowed to continue in + the narrow way of obscure poverty!” Now that the enervating influence of a + more prosperous atmosphere had weakened his courage, and cooled the ardor + of his piety, his faith began to totter like an old wall. His religious + beliefs seemed to have been wrecked by the same storm which had destroyed + his passionate hopes of love, and left him stranded and forlorn without + either haven or pilot, blown hither and thither solely by the violence of + his passion. + </p> + <p> + By degrees he took an aversion to his home, and would spend entire days in + the woods. Their secluded haunts, already colored by the breath of autumn, + became more attractive to him as other refuge failed him. They were his + consolation; his doubts, weakness, and amorous regrets, found sympathy and + indulgence under their silent shelter. He felt less lonely, less + humiliated, less prosaic among these great forest depths, these lofty + ash-trees, raising their verdant branches to heaven. He found he could + more easily evoke the seductive image of Reine Vincart in these calm + solitudes, where the recollections of the previous springtime mingled with + the phantoms of his heated imagination and clothed themselves with almost + living forms. He seemed to see the young girl rising from the mists of the + distant valleys. The least fluttering of the leaves heralded her fancied + approach. At times the hallucination was so complete that he could see, in + the interlacing of the branches, the undulations of her supple form, and + the graceful outlines of her profile. Then he would be seized by an insane + desire to reach the fugitive and speak to her once more, and would go + tearing along the brushwood for that purpose. Now and then, in the half + light formed by the hanging boughs, he would see rays of golden light, + coming straight down to the ground, and resting there lightly like + diaphanous apparitions. Sometimes the rustling of birds taking flight, + would sound in his ears like the timid frou-frou of a skirt, and Julien, + fascinated by the mysterious charm of these indefinite objects, and + following the impulse of their mystical suggestions, would fling himself + impetuously into the jungle, repeating to him self the words of the + “Canticle of Canticles”: “I hear the voice of my beloved; behold! she + cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.” He would + continue to press forward in pursuit of the intangible apparition, until + he sank with exhaustion near some stream or fountain. Under the influence + of the fever, which was consuming his brain, he would imagine the + trickling water to be the song of a feminine voice. He would wind his arms + around the young saplings, he would tear the berries from the bushes, + pressing them against his thirsty lips, and imagining their odoriferous + sweetness to be a fond caress from the loved one. + </p> + <p> + He would return from these expeditions exhausted but not appeased. + Sometimes he would come across Claudet, also returning home from paying + his court to Reine Vincart; and the unhappy Julien would scrutinize his + rival’s countenance, seeking eagerly for some trace of the impressions he + had received during the loving interview. His curiosity was nearly always + baffled; for Claudet seemed to have left all his gayety and conversational + powers at La Thuiliere. During their tete-a-tete meals, he hardly spoke at + all, maintaining a reserved attitude and a taciturn countenance. Julien, + provoked at this unexpected sobriety, privately accused his cousin of + dissimulation, and of trying to conceal his happiness. His jealousy so + blinded him that he considered the silence of Claudet as pure hypocrisy + not recognizing that it was assumed for the purpose of concealing some + unpleasantness rather than satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + The fact was that Claudet, although rejoicing at the turn matters had + taken, was verifying the poet’s saying: “Never is perfect happiness our + lot.” When Julien brought him the good news, and he had flown so joyfully + to La Thuiliere, he had certainly been cordially received by Reine, but, + nevertheless, he had noticed with surprise an absent and dreamy look in + her eyes, which did not agree with his idea of a first interview of + lovers. When he wished to express his affection in the vivacious and + significant manner ordinarily employed among the peasantry, that is to + say, by vigorous embracing and resounding kisses, he met with unexpected + resistance. + </p> + <p> + “Keep quiet!” was the order, “and let us talk rationally!” + </p> + <p> + He obeyed, although not agreeing in her view of the reserve to be + maintained between lovers; but, he made up his mind to return to the + charge and triumph over her bashful scruples. In fact, he began again the + very next day, and his impetuous ardor encountered the same refusal in the + same firm, though affectionate manner. He ventured to complain, telling + Reine that she did not love him as she ought. + </p> + <p> + “If I did not feel friendly toward you,” replied the young girl, + laconically, “should I have allowed you to talk to me of marriage?” + </p> + <p> + Then, seeing that he looked vexed and worried, and realizing that she was + perhaps treating him too roughly, she continued, more gently: + </p> + <p> + “Remember, Claudet, that I am living all alone at the farm. That obliges + me to have more reserve than a girl whose mother is with her. So you must + not be offended if I do not behave exactly as others might, and rest + assured that it will not prevent me from being a good wife to you, when we + are married.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, now,” thought Claudet, as he was returning despondently to Vivey: + “I can’t help thinking that a little caress now and then wouldn’t hurt any + one!” + </p> + <p> + Under these conditions it is not to be supposed he was in a mood to relate + any of the details of such meagre lovemaking. His self-love was wounded by + Reine’s coldness. Having always been “cock-of-the-walk,” he could not + understand why he had such poor success with the only one about whom he + was in earnest. He kept quiet, therefore, hiding his anxiety under the + mask of careless indifference. Moreover, a certain primitive instinct of + prudence made him circumspect. In his innermost soul, he still entertained + doubts of Julien’s sincerity. Sometimes he doubted whether his cousin’s + conduct had not been dictated by the bitterness of rejected love, rather + than a generous impulse of affection, and he did not care to reveal + Reine’s repulse to one whom he vaguely suspected of being a former lover. + His simple, ardent nature could not put up with opposition, and he thought + only of hastening the day when Reine would belong to him altogether. But, + when he broached this subject, he had the mortification to find that she + was less impatient than himself. + </p> + <p> + “There is no hurry,” she replied, “our affairs are not in order, our + harvests are not housed, and it would be better to wait till the dull + season.” + </p> + <p> + In his first moments of joy and effervescence, Claudet had evinced the + desire to announce immediately the betrothal throughout the village. This + Reine had opposed; she thought they should avoid awakening public + curiosity so long beforehand, and she extracted from Claudet a promise to + say nothing until the date of the marriage should be settled. He had + unwillingly consented, and thus, during the last month, the matter had + been dragging on indefinitely: + </p> + <p> + With Julien de Buxieres, this interminable delay, these incessant comings + and goings from the chateau to the farm, as well as the mysterious conduct + of the bridegroom-elect, became a subject of serious irritation, amounting + almost to obsession. He would have wished the affair hurried up, and the + sacrifice consummated without hindrance. He believed that when once the + newly-married pair had taken up their quarters at La Thuiliere, the very + certainty that Reine belonged in future to another would suffice to effect + a radical cure in him, and chase away the deceptive phantoms by which he + was pursued. + </p> + <p> + One evening, as Claudet was returning home, more out of humor and silent + than usual, Julien asked him, abruptly: + </p> + <p> + “Well! how are you getting along? When is the wedding?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing is decided yet,” replied Claudet, “we have time enough!” + </p> + <p> + “You think so?” exclaimed de Buxieres, sarcastically; “you have + considerable patience for a lover!” + </p> + <p> + The remark and the tone provoked Claudet. + </p> + <p> + “The delay is not of my making,” returned he. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” replied the other, quickly, “then it comes from Mademoiselle + Vincart?” And a sudden gleam came into his eyes, as if Claudet’s assertion + had kindled a spark of hope in his breast. The latter noticed the + momentary brightness in his cousin’s usually stormy countenance, and + hastened to reply: + </p> + <p> + “Nay, nay; we both think it better to postpone the wedding until the + harvest is in.” + </p> + <p> + “You are wrong. A wedding should not be postponed. Besides, this prolonged + love-making, these daily visits to the farm—all that is not very + proper. It is compromising for Mademoiselle Vincart!” + </p> + <p> + Julien shot out these remarks with a degree of fierceness and violence + that astonished Claudet. + </p> + <p> + “You think, then,” said he, “that we ought to rush matters, and have the + wedding before winter?” + </p> + <p> + “Undoubtedly!” + </p> + <p> + The next day, at La Thuiliere, the grand chasserot, as he stood in the + orchard, watching Reine spread linen on the grass, entered bravely on the + subject. + </p> + <p> + “Reine,” said he, coaxingly, “I think we shall have to decide upon a day + for our wedding.” + </p> + <p> + She set down the watering-pot with which she was wetting the linen, and + looked anxiously at her betrothed. + </p> + <p> + “I thought we had agreed to wait until the later season. Why do you wish + to change that arrangement?” + </p> + <p> + “That is true; I promised not to hurry you, Reine, but it is beyond me to + wait—you must not be vexed with me if I find the time long. Besides, + they know nothing, around the village, of our intentions, and my coming + here every day might cause gossip and make it unpleasant for you. At any + rate, that is the opinion of Monsieur de Buxieres, with whom I was + conferring only yesterday evening.” + </p> + <p> + At the name of Julien, Reine frowned and bit her lip. + </p> + <p> + “Aha!” said she, “it is he who has been advising you?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; he says the sooner we are married, the better it will be.” + </p> + <p> + “Why does he interfere in what does not concern him?” said she, angrily, + turning her head away. She stood a moment in thought, absently pushing + forward the roll of linen with her foot. Then, shrugging her shoulders and + raising her head, she said slowly, while still avoiding Claudet’s eyes: + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps you are right—both of you. Well, let it be so! I authorize + you to go to Monsieur le Cure and arrange the day with him.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, thanks, Reine!” exclaimed Claudet, rapturously; “you make me very + happy!” + </p> + <p> + He pressed her hands in his, but though absorbed in his own joyful + feelings, he could not help remarking that the young girl was trembling in + his grasp. He even fancied that there was a suspicious, tearful glitter in + her brilliant eyes. + </p> + <p> + He left her, however, and repaired at once to the cure’s house, which + stood near the chateau, a little behind the church. + </p> + <p> + The servant showed him into a small garden separated by a low wall from + the cemetery. He found the Abbe Pernot seated on a stone bench, sheltered + by a trellised vine. He was occupied in cutting up pieces of hazel-nuts to + make traps for small birds. + </p> + <p> + “Good-evening, Claudet!” said the cure, without moving from his work; “you + find me busy preparing my nets; if you will permit me, I will continue, + for I should like to have my two hundred traps finished by this evening. + The season is advancing, you know! The birds will begin their migrations, + and I should be greatly provoked if I were not equipped in time for the + opportune moment. And how is Monsieur de Buxieres? I trust he will not be + less good-natured than his deceased cousin, and that he will allow me to + spread my snares on the border hedge of his woods. But,” added he, as he + noticed the flurried, impatient countenance of his visitor, “I forgot to + ask you, my dear young fellow, to what happy chance I owe your visit? + Excuse my neglect!” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t mention it, Monsieur le Cure. You have guessed rightly. It is a + very happy circumstance which brings me. I am about to marry.” + </p> + <p> + “Aha!” laughed the Abbe, “I congratulate you, my dear young friend. This + is really delightful news. It is not good for man to be alone, and I am + glad to know you must give up the perilous life of a bachelor. Well, tell + me quickly the name of your betrothed. Do I know her?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course you do, Monsieur le Cure; there are few you know so well. It is + Mademoiselle Vincart.” + </p> + <p> + “Reine?” + </p> + <p> + The Abbe flung away the pruning-knife and branch that he was cutting, and + gazed at Claudet with a stupefied air. At the same time, his jovial face + became shadowed, and his mouth assumed an expression of consternation. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, indeed, Reine Vincart,” repeated Claudet, somewhat vexed at the + startled manner of his reverence; “are you surprised at my choice?” + </p> + <p> + “Excuse me-and-is it all settled?” stammered the Abbe, with bewilderment, + “and—and do you really love each other?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly; we agree on that point; and I have come here to arrange with + you about having the banns published.” + </p> + <p> + “What! already?” murmured the cure, buttoning and unbuttoning the top of + his coat in his agitation, “you seem to be in a great hurry to go to work. + The union of the man and the woman—ahem—is a serious matter, + which ought not to be undertaken without due consideration. That is the + reason why the Church has instituted the sacrament of marriage. Hast thou + well considered, my son?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, certainly, I have reflected,” exclaimed Claudet with some + irritation, “and my mind is quite made up. Once more, I ask you, Monsieur + le Cure, are you displeased with my choice, or have you anything to say + against Mademoiselle Vincart?” + </p> + <p> + “I? no, absolutely nothing. Reine is an exceedingly good girl.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, my friend, I will go over to-morrow and see your fiancee, and we + will talk matters over. I shall act for the best, in the interests of both + of you, be assured of that. In the meantime, you will both be united this + evening in my prayers; but, for to-day, we shall have to stop where we + are. Good-evening, Claudet! I will see you again.” + </p> + <p> + With these enigmatic words, he dismissed the young lover, who returned to + the chateau, vexed and disturbed by his strange reception. + </p> + <p> + The moment the door of the presbytery had closed behind Claudet, the Abbe + Pernot, flinging to one side all his preparations, began to pace nervously + up and down the principal garden-walk. He appeared completely unhinged. + His features were drawn, through an unusual tension of ideas forced upon + him. He had hurriedly caught his skullcap from his head, as if he feared + the heat of his meditation might cause a rush of blood to the head. He + quickened his steps, then stopped suddenly, folded his arms with great + energy, then opened them again abruptly to thrust his hands into the + pockets of his gown, searching through them with feverish anxiety, as if + he expected to find something which might solve obscure and embarrassing + questions. + </p> + <p> + “Good Lord! Good Lord! What a dreadful piece of business; and right in the + bird season, too! But I can say nothing to Claudet. It is a secret that + does not belong to me. How can I get out of it? Tutt! tutt! tutt!” + </p> + <p> + These monosyllabic ejaculations broke forth like the vexed clucking of a + frightened blackbird; after which relief, the Abbe resumed his fitful + striding up and down the box-bordered alley. This lasted until the hour of + twilight, when Augustine, the servant, as soon as the Angelus had sounded, + went to inform her master that they were waiting prayers for him in the + church. He obeyed the summons, although in a somewhat absent mood, and + hurried over the services in a manner which did not contribute to the + edification of the assistants. As soon as he got home, he ate his Supper + without appetite, mumbled his prayers, and shut himself up in the room he + used as a study and workshop. He remained there until the night was far + advanced, searching through his scanty library to find two dusty volumes + treating of “cases of conscience,” which he looked eagerly over by the + feeble light of his study lamp. During this laborious search he emitted + frequent sighs, and only left off reading occasionally in order to dose + himself plentifully with snuff. At last, as he felt that his eyes were + becoming inflamed, his ideas conflicting in his brain, and as his lamp was + getting low, he decided to go to bed. But he slept badly, turned over at + least twenty times, and was up with the first streak of day to say his + mass in the chapel. He officiated with more dignity and piety than was his + wont; and after reading the second gospel he remained for a long while + kneeling on one of the steps of the altar. After he had returned to the + sacristy, he divested himself quickly of his sacerdotal robes, reached his + room by a passage of communication, breakfasted hurriedly, and putting on + his three-cornered hat, and seizing his knotty, cherry-wood cane, he shot + out of doors as if he had been summoned to a fire. + </p> + <p> + Augustine, amazed at his precipitate departure, went up to the attic, and, + from behind the shelter of the skylight, perceived her master striding + rapidly along the road to Planche-au-Vacher. There she lost sight of him—the + underwood was too thick. But, after a few minutes, the gaze of the + inquisitive woman was rewarded by the appearance of a dark object emerging + from the copse, and defining itself on the bright pasture land beyond. + “Monsieur le Cure is going to La Thuiliere,” thought she, and with this + half-satisfaction she descended to her daily occupations. + </p> + <p> + It was true, the Abbe Pernot was walking, as fast as he could, to the + Vincart farm, as unmindful of the dew that tarnished his shoe-buckles as + of the thorns which attacked his calves. He had that within him which + spurred him on, and rendered him unconscious of the accidents on his path. + Never, during his twenty-five years of priestly office, had a more + difficult question embarrassed his conscience. The case was a grave one, + and moreover, so urgent that the Abbe was quite at a loss how to proceed. + How was it that he never had foreseen that such a combination of + circumstances might occur? A priest of a more fervent spirit, who had the + salvation of his flock more at heart, could not have been taken so + unprepared. Yes; that was surely the cause! The profane occupations in + which he had allowed himself to take so much enjoyment, had distracted his + watchfulness and obscured his perspicacity. Providence was now punishing + him for his lukewarmness, by interposing across his path this + stumbling-block, which was probably sent to him as a salutary warning, but + which he saw no way of getting over. + </p> + <p> + While he was thus meditating and reproaching himself, the thrushes were + calling to one another from the branches of their favorite trees; whole + flights of yellowhammers burst forth from the hedges red with haws; but he + took no heed of them and did not even give a single thought to his + neglected nests and snares. + </p> + <p> + He went straight on, stumbling over the juniper bushes, and wondering what + he should say when he reached the farm, and how he should begin. Sometimes + he addressed himself, thus: “Have I the right to speak? What a revelation! + And to a young girl! Oh, Lord, lead me in the straight way of thy truth, + and instruct me in the right path!” + </p> + <p> + As he continued piously repeating this verse of the Psalmist, in order to + gain spiritual strength, the gray roofs of La Thuiliere rose before him; + he could hear the crowing of the cocks and the lowing of the cows in the + stable. Five minutes after, he had pushed open the door of the kitchen + where La Guite was arranging the bowls for breakfast. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, Guitiote,” said he, in a choking voice; “is Mademoiselle + Vincart up?” + </p> + <p> + “Holy Virgin! Monsieur le Cure! Why, certainly Mademoiselle is up. She was + on foot before any of us, and now she is trotting around the orchard. I + will go fetch her.” + </p> + <p> + “No, do not stir. I know the way, and I will go and find her myself.” + </p> + <p> + She was in the orchard, was she? The Abbe preferred it should be so; he + thought the interview would be less painful, and that the surrounding + trees would give him ideas. He walked across the kitchen, descended the + steps leading from the ground floor to the garden, and ascended the slope + in search of Reine, whom he soon perceived in the midst of a bower formed + by clustering filbert-trees. + </p> + <p> + At sight of the cure, Reine turned pale; he had doubtless come to tell her + the result of his interview with Claudet, and what day had been definitely + chosen for the nuptial celebration. She had been troubled all night by the + reflection that her fate would soon be irrevocably scaled; she had wept, + and her eyes betrayed it. Only the day before, she had looked upon this + project of marriage, which she had entertained in a moment of anger and + injured feeling, as a vague thing, a vaporous eventuality of which the + realization was doubtful; now, all was arranged, settled, cruelly certain; + there was no way of escaping from a promise which Claudet, alas! was bound + to consider a serious one. These thoughts traversed her mind, while the + cure was slowly approaching the filbert-trees; she felt her heart throb, + and her eyes again filled with tears. Yet her pride would not allow that + the Abbe should witness her irresolution and weeping; she made an effort, + overcame the momentary weakness, and addressed the priest in an almost + cheerful voice: + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur le Cure, I am sorry that they have made you come up this hill to + find me. Let us go back to the farm, and I will offer you a cup of + coffee.” + </p> + <p> + “No, my child,” replied the Abbe, motioning with his hand that she should + stay where she was, “no, thank you! I will not take anything. Remain where + you are. + </p> + <p> + “I wish to talk to you, and we shall be less liable to be disturbed here.” + </p> + <p> + There were two rustic seats under the nut-trees; the cure took one and + asked Reine to take the other, opposite to him. There they were, under the + thick, verdant branches, hidden from indiscreet passers-by, surrounded by + silence, installed as in a confessional. + </p> + <p> + The morning quiet, the solitude, the half light, all invited meditation + and confidence; nevertheless the young girl and the priest sat motionless; + both agitated and embarrassed and watching each other without uttering a + sound. It was Reine who first broke the silence. + </p> + <p> + “You have seen Claudet, Monsieur le Cure?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes!” replied the Abbe, sighing deeply. + </p> + <p> + “He—spoke to you of our-plans,” continued the young girl, in a + quavering voice, “and you fixed the day?” + </p> + <p> + “No, my child, we settled nothing. I wanted to see you first, and converse + with you about something very important.” + </p> + <p> + The Abbe hesitated, rubbed a spot of mud off his soutane, raised his + shoulders like a man lifting a heavy burden, then gave a deep cough. + </p> + <p> + “My dear child,” continued he at length, prudently dropping his voice a + tone lower, “I will begin by repeating to you what I said yesterday to + Claudet Sejournant: the marriage, that is to say, the indissoluble union, + of man and woman before God, is one of the most solemn and serious acts of + life. The Church has constituted it a sacrament, which she administers + only on certain formal conditions. Before entering into this bond, one + ought, as we are taught by Holy Writ, to sound the heart, subject the very + inmost of the soul to searching examinations. I beg of you, therefore, + answer my questions freely, without false shame, just as if you were at + the tribunal of repentance. Do you love Claudet?” + </p> + <p> + Reine trembled. This appeal to her sincerity renewed all her perplexities + and scruples. She raised her full, glistening eyes to the cure, and + replied, after a slight hesitation: + </p> + <p> + “I have a sincere affection for Claudet-and-much esteem.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand that,” replied the priest, compressing his lips, “but—excuse + me if I press the matter—has the engagement you have made with him + been determined simply by considerations of affection and suitableness, or + by more interior and deeper feelings?” + </p> + <p> + “Pardon, Monsieur le Cure,” returned Reine, coloring, “it seems to me that + a sentiment of friendship, joined to a firm determination to prove a + faithful and devoted wife, should be, in your eyes as they are in mine, a + sufficient assurance that—” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, certainly, my dear child; and many husbands would be contented + with less. However, it is not only a question of Claudet’s happiness, but + of yours also. Come now! let me ask you: is your affection for young + Sejournant so powerful that in the event of any unforeseen circumstance + happening, to break off the marriage, you would be forever unhappy?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” replied Reine, more embarrassed than ever, “you ask too grave a + question, Monsieur le Cure! If it were broken off without my having to + reproach myself for it, it is probable that I should find consolation in + time.” + </p> + <p> + “Very good! Consequently, you do not love Claudet, if I may take the word + love in the sense understood by people of the world. You only like, you do + not love him? Tell me. Answer frankly.” + </p> + <p> + “Frankly, Monsieur le Cure, no!” + </p> + <p> + “Thanks be to God! We are saved!” exclaimed the Abbe, drawing a long + breath, while Reine, amazed, gazed at him with wondering eyes. + </p> + <p> + “I do not understand you,” faltered she; “what is it?” + </p> + <p> + “It is this: the marriage can not take place.” + </p> + <p> + “Can not? why?” + </p> + <p> + “It is impossible, both in the eyes of the Church and in those of the + world.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl looked at him with increasing amazement. + </p> + <p> + “You alarm me!” cried she. “What has happened? What reasons hinder me from + marrying Claudet?” + </p> + <p> + “Very powerful reasons, my dear child. I do not feel at liberty to reveal + them to you, but you must know that I am not speaking without authority, + and that you may rely on the statement I have made.” + </p> + <p> + Reine remained thoughtful, her brows knit, her countenance troubled. + </p> + <p> + “I have every confidence in you, Monsieur le Cure, but—” + </p> + <p> + “But you hesitate about believing me,” interrupted the Abbe, piqued at not + finding in one of his flock the blind obedience on which he had reckoned. + “You must know, nevertheless, that your pastor has no interest in + deceiving you, and that when he seeks to influence you, he has in view + only your well-being in this world and in the next.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not doubt your good intentions,” replied Reine, with firmness, “but + a promise can not be annulled without sufficient cause. I have given my + word to Claudet, and I am too loyal at heart to break faith with him + without letting him know the reason.” + </p> + <p> + “You will find some pretext.” + </p> + <p> + “And supposing that Claudet would be content with such a pretext, my own + conscience would not be,” objected the young girl, raising her clear, + honest glance toward the priest; “your words have entered my soul, they + are troubling me now, and it will be worse when I begin to think this + matter over again. I can not bear uncertainty. I must see my way clearly + before me. I entreat you then, Monsieur le Cure, not to do things by + halves. You have thought it your duty to tell me I can not wed with + Claudet; now tell me why not?” + </p> + <p> + “Why not? why not?” repeated the Abbe, angrily. “I distress myself in + telling you that I am not authorized to satisfy your unwise curiosity! You + must humble your intelligence and believe without arguing.” + </p> + <p> + “In matters of faith, that may be possible,” urged Reine, obstinately, + “but my marriage has nothing to do with discussing the truths of our holy + religion. I therefore respectfully ask to be enlightened, Monsieur le + Cure; otherwise—” + </p> + <p> + “Otherwise?” repeated the Abby Pernot, inquiringly, rolling his eyes + uneasily. + </p> + <p> + “Otherwise, I shall keep my word respectably, and I shall marry Claudet.” + </p> + <p> + “You will not do that?” said he, imploringly, joining his hands as if in + supplication; “after being openly warned by me, you dare not burden your + soul with such a terrible responsibility. Come, my child, does not the + possibility of committing a mortal sin alarm your conscience as a + Christian?” + </p> + <p> + “I can not sin if I am in ignorance, and as to my conscience, Monsieur le + Cure, do you think it is acting like a Christian to alarm without + enlightening?” + </p> + <p> + “Is that your last word?” inquired the Abbe, completely aghast. + </p> + <p> + “It is my last word,” she replied, vehemently, moved both by a feeling of + self-respect, and a desire to force the hand of her interlocutor. + </p> + <p> + “You are a proud, obstinate girl!” exclaimed the Abbe, rising abruptly, + “you wish to compel me to reveal this secret! Well, have your way! I will + tell you. May the harm which may result from it fall lightly upon you, and + do not hereafter reproach me for the pain I am about to inflict upon you.” + </p> + <p> + He checked himself for a moment, again joined his hands, and raising his + eyes toward heaven ejaculated fervently, as if repeating his devotions in + the oratory: “O Lord, thou knowest I would have spared her this bitter + cup, but, between two evils, I have avoided the greater. If I forfeit my + solemn promise, consider, O Lord, I pray thee, that I do it to avoid + disgrace and exposure for her, and deign to forgive thy servant!” + </p> + <p> + He seated himself again, placed one of his hands before his eyes, and + began, in a hollow voice, Reine, all the while gazing nervously at him: + </p> + <p> + “My child, you are forcing me to violate a secret which has been solemnly + confided to me. It concerns a matter not usually talked about before young + girls, but you are, I believe, already a woman in heart and understanding, + and you will hear resignedly what I have to tell you, however much the + recital may trouble you. I have already informed you that your marriage + with Claudet is impossible. I now declare that it would be criminal, for + the reason that incest is an abomination.” + </p> + <p> + “Incest!” repeated Reine, pale and trembling, “what do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “I mean,” sighed the cure, “that you are Claudet’s sister, not having the + same mother, but the same father: Claude-Odouart de Buxieres.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! you are mistaken! that cannot be!” + </p> + <p> + “I am stating facts. It grieves me to the heart, my dear child, that in + speaking of your deceased mother, I should have to reveal an error over + which she lamented, like David, with tears of blood. She confessed her + sin, not to the priest, but to a friend, a few days before her death. In + justice to her memory, I ought to add that, like most of the unfortunates + seduced by this untamable de Buxieres, she succumbed to his wily + misrepresentations. She was a victim rather than an accomplice. The man + himself acknowledged as much in a note entrusted to my care, which I have + here.” + </p> + <p> + And the Abbe’ drew from his pocket an old, worn letter, the writing yellow + with age, and placed it before Reine. In this letter, written in Claude de + Buxieres’s coarse, sprawling hand, doubtless in reply to a reproachful + appeal from his mistress, he endeavored to offer some kind of honorable + amends for the violence he had used, and to calm Madame Vincart’s remorse + by promising, as was his custom, to watch over the future of the child + which should be born to her. + </p> + <p> + “That child was yourself, my poor girl,” continued the Abbe, picking up + the letter which Reine had thrown down, after reading it, with a gesture + of sickened disgust. + </p> + <p> + She appeared not to hear him. She had buried her face in her hands, to + hide the flushing of her cheeks, and sat motionless, altogether crushed + beneath the shameful revelation; convulsive sobs and tremblings + occasionally agitating her frame. + </p> + <p> + “You can now understand,” continued the priest, “how the announcement of + this projected marriage stunned and terrified me. I could not confide to + Claudet the reason for my stupefaction, and I should have been thankful if + you could have understood so that I could have spared you this cruel + mortification, but you would not take any intimation from me. And now, + forgive me for inflicting this cross upon you, and bear it with courage, + with Christian fortitude.” + </p> + <p> + “You have acted as was your duty,” murmured Reine, sadly, “and I thank + you, Monsieur le Cure!” + </p> + <p> + “And will you promise me to dismiss Claudet at once—today?” + </p> + <p> + “I promise you.” + </p> + <p> + The Abbe Pernot advanced to take her hand, and administer some words of + consolation; but she evaded, with a stern gesture, the good man’s pious + sympathy, and escaped toward the dwelling. + </p> + <p> + The spacious kitchen was empty when she entered. The shutters had been + closed against the sun, and it had become cool and pleasant. Here and + there, among the copper utensils, and wherever a chance ray made a gleam + of light, the magpie was hopping about, uttering short, piercing cries. In + the recess of the niche containing the colored prints, sat the old man + Vincart, dozing, in his usual supine attitude, his hands spread out, his + eyelids drooping, his mouth half open. At the sound of the door, his eyes + opened wide. He rather guessed at, than saw, the entrance of the young + girl, and his pallid lips began their accustomed refrain: “Reine! + Rei-eine!” + </p> + <p> + Reine flew impetuously toward the paralytic old man, threw herself on her + knees before him, sobbing bitterly, and covered his hands with kisses. Her + caresses were given in a more respectful, humble, contrite manner than + ever before. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! father—father!” faltered she; “I loved you always, I shall love + you now with all my heart and soul!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. LOVE’S SAD ENDING + </h2> + <p> + The kitchen was bright with sunshine, and the industrious bees were + buzzing around the flowers on the window-sills, while Reine was listlessly + attending to culinary duties, and preparing her father’s meal. The + humiliating disclosures made by the Abbe Pernot weighed heavily upon her + mind. She foresaw that Claudet would shortly be at La Thuiliere in order + to hear the result of the cure’s visit; but she did not feel sufficiently + mistress of herself to have a decisive interview with him at such short + notice, and resolved to gain at least one day by absenting herself from + the farm. It seemed to her necessary that she should have that length of + time to arrange her ideas, and evolve some way of separating Claudet and + herself without his suspecting the real motive of rupture. So, telling La + Guite to say that unexpected business had called her away, she set out for + the woods of Maigrefontaine. + </p> + <p> + Whenever she had felt the need of taking counsel with herself before + deciding on any important matter, the forest had been her refuge and her + inspiration. The refreshing solitude of the valleys, watered by living + streams, acted as a strengthening balm to her irresolute will; her soul + inhaled the profound peace of these leafy retreats. By the time she had + reached the inmost shade of the forest her mind had become calmer, and + better able to unravel the confusion of thoughts that surged like troubled + waters through her brain. The dominant idea was, that her self-respect had + been wounded; the shock to her maidenly modesty, and the shame attendant + upon the fact, affected her physically, as if she had been belittled and + degraded by a personal stain; and this downfall caused her deep + humiliation. By slow degrees, however, and notwithstanding this state of + abject despair, she felt, cropping up somewhere in her heart, a faint germ + of gladness, and, by close examination, discovered its origin: she was now + loosed from her obligations toward Claudet, and the prospect of being once + more free afforded her immediate consolation. + </p> + <p> + She had so much regretted, during the last few weeks, the feeling of + outraged pride which had incited her to consent to this marriage; her + loyal, sincere nature had revolted at the constraint she had imposed upon + herself; her nerves had been so severely taxed by having to receive her + fiance with sufficient warmth to satisfy his expectations, and yet not + afford any encouragement to his demonstrative tendencies, that the + certainty of her newly acquired freedom created a sensation of relief and + well-being. But, hardly had she analyzed and acknowledged this sensation + when she reproached herself for harboring it when she was about to cause + Claudet such affliction. + </p> + <p> + Poor Claudet! what a cruel blow was in store for him! He was so + guilelessly in love, and had such unbounded confidence in the success of + his projects! Reine was overcome by tender reminiscences. She had always + experienced, as if divining by instinct the natural bonds which united + them, a sisterly affection for Claudet. Since their earliest infancy, at + the age when they learned their catechism under the church porch, they had + been united in a bond of friendly fellowship. With Reine, this tender + feeling had always remained one of friendship, but, with Claudet, it had + ripened into love; and now, after allowing the poor young fellow to + believe that his love was reciprocated, she was forced to disabuse him. It + was useless for her to try to find some way of softening the blow; there + was none. Claudet was too much in love to remain satisfied with empty + words; he would require solid reasons; and the only conclusive one which + would convince him, without wounding his self-love, was exactly the one + which the young girl could not give him. She was, therefore, doomed to + send Claudet away with the impression that he had been jilted by a + heartless and unprincipled coquette. And yet something must be done. The + grand chasserot had been too long already in the toils; there was + something barbarously cruel in not freeing him from his illusions. + </p> + <p> + In this troubled state of mind, Reine gazed appealingly at the silent + witnesses of her distress. She heard a voice within her saying to the + tall, vaulted ash, “Inspire me!” to the little rose-colored centaurea of + the wayside, “Teach me a charm to cure the harm I have done!” But the + woods, which in former days had been her advisers and instructors, + remained deaf to her invocation. For the first time, she felt herself + isolated and abandoned to her own resources, even in the midst of her + beloved forest. + </p> + <p> + It is when we experience these violent mental crises, that we become + suddenly conscious of Nature’s cold indifference to our sufferings. She + really is nothing more than the reflex of our own sensations, and can only + give us back what we lend her. Beautiful but selfish, she allows herself + to be courted by novices, but presents a freezing, emotionless aspect to + those who have outlived their illusions. + </p> + <p> + Reine did not reach home until the day had begun to wane. La Guite + informed her that Claudet had waited for her during part of the afternoon, + and that he would come again the next day at nine o’clock. Notwithstanding + her bodily fatigue, she slept uneasily, and her sleep was troubled by + feverish dreams. Every time she closed her eyes, she fancied herself + conversing with Claudet, and woke with a start at the sound of his angry + voice. + </p> + <p> + She arose at dawn, descended at once to the lower floor, to get through + her morning tasks, and as soon as the big kitchen clock struck nine, she + left the house and took the path by which Claudet would come. A feeling of + delicate consideration toward her lover had impelled her to choose for her + explanation any other place than the one where she had first received his + declaration of love, and consented to the marriage. Very soon he came in + sight, his stalwart figure outlined against the gray landscape. He was + walking rapidly; her heart smote her, her hands became like ice, but she + summoned all her fortitude, and went bravely forward to meet him. + </p> + <p> + When he came within forty or fifty feet, he recognized Reine, and took a + short cut across the stubble studded with cobwebs glistening with dew. + </p> + <p> + “Aha! my Reine, my queen, good-morning!” cried he, joyously, “it is sweet + of you to come to meet me!” + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, Claudet. I came to meet you because I wish to speak with + you on matters of importance, and I preferred not to have the conversation + take place in our house. Shall we walk as far as the Planche-au-Vacher?” + </p> + <p> + He stopped short, astonished at the proposal and also at the sad and + resolute attitude of his betrothed. He examined her more closely, noticed + her deep-set eyes, her cheeks, whiter than usual. + </p> + <p> + “Why, what is the matter, Reine?” he inquired; “you are not yourself; do + you not feel well?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and no. I have passed a bad night, thinking over matters that are + troubling me, and I think that has produced some fever.” + </p> + <p> + “What matters? Any that concern us?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes;” replied she, laconically. + </p> + <p> + Claudet opened his eyes. The young girl’s continued gravity began to alarm + him; but, seeing that she walked quickly forward, with an absent air, her + face lowered, her brows bent, her mouth compressed, he lost courage and + refrained from asking her any questions. They walked on thus in silence, + until they came to the open level covered with juniper-bushes, from which + solitary place, surrounded by hawthorn hedges, they could trace the narrow + defile leading to Vivey, and the faint mist beyond. + </p> + <p> + “Let us stop here,” said Reine, seating herself on a flat, mossy stone, + “we can talk here without fear of being disturbed.” + </p> + <p> + “No fear of that,” remarked Claudet, with a forced smile, “with the + exception of the shepherd of Vivey, who comes here sometimes with his + cattle, we shall not see many passers-by. It must be a secret that you + have to tell me, Reine?” he added. + </p> + <p> + “No;” she returned, “but I foresee that my words will give you pain, my + poor Claudet, and I prefer you should hear them without being annoyed by + the farm-people passing to and fro.” + </p> + <p> + “Explain yourself!” he exclaimed, impetuously. “For heaven’s sake, don’t + keep me in suspense!” + </p> + <p> + “Listen, Claudet. When you asked my hand in marriage, I answered yes, + without taking time to reflect. But, since I have been thinking over our + plans, I have had scruples. My father is becoming every day more of an + invalid, and in his present state I really have no right to live for any + one but him. One would think he was aware of our intentions, for since you + have been visiting at the farm, he is more agitated and suffers more. I + think that any change in his way of living would bring on a stroke, and I + never should forgive myself if I thought I had shortened his life. That is + the reason why, as long as I have him with me, I do not see that it will + be possible for me to dispose of myself. On the other hand, I do not wish + to abuse your patience. I therefore ask you to take back your liberty and + give me back my promise.” + </p> + <p> + “That is to say, you won’t have me!” he exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “No; my poor friend, it means only that I shall not marry so long as my + father is living, and that I can not ask you to wait until I am perfectly + free. Forgive me for having entered into the engagement too carelessly, + and do not on that account take your friendship from me.” + </p> + <p> + “Reine,” interrupted Claudet, angrily, “don’t turn your brain inside out + to make me believe that night is broad day. I am not a child, and I see + very well that your father’s health is only a pretext. You don’t want me, + that’s all, and, with all due respect, you have changed your mind very + quickly! Only the day before yesterday you authorized me to arrange about + the day for the ceremony with the Abbe Pernot. Now that you have had a + visit from the cure, you want to put the affair off until the week when + two Sundays come together! I am a little curious to know what that + confounded old abbe has been babbling about me, to turn you inside out + like a glove in such a short time.” + </p> + <p> + Claudet’s conscience reminded him of several rare frolics, chance + love-affairs, meetings in the woods, and so on, and he feared the priest + might have told Reine some unfavorable stories about him. “Ah!” he + continued, clenching his fists, “if this old poacher in a cassock has done + me an ill turn with you, he will not have much of a chance for paradise!” + </p> + <p> + “Undeceive yourself,” said Reine, quickly, “Monsieur le Cure is your + friend, like myself; he esteems you highly, and never has said anything + but good of you.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed!” sneered the young man, “as you are both so fond of me, how + does it happen that you have given me my dismissal the very day after your + interview with the cure?” + </p> + <p> + Reine, knowing Claudet’s violent disposition, and wishing to avoid trouble + for the cure, thought it advisable to have recourse to evasion. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur le Cure,” said she, “has had no part in my decision. He has not + spoken against you, and deserves no reproaches from you.” + </p> + <p> + “In that case, why do you send me away?” + </p> + <p> + “I repeat again, the comfort and peace of my father are paramount with me, + and I do not intend to marry so long as he may have need of me.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Claudet, persistently, “I love you, and I will wait.” + </p> + <p> + “It can not be.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Because,” replied she, sharply, “because it would be kind neither to you, + nor to my father, nor to me. Because marriages that drag along in that way + are never good for anything!” + </p> + <p> + “Those are bad reasons!” he muttered, gloomily. + </p> + <p> + “Good or bad,” replied the young girl, “they appear valid to me, and I + hold to them.” + </p> + <p> + “Reine,” said he, drawing near to her and looking straight into her eyes, + “can you swear, by the head of your father, that you have given me the + true reason for your rejecting me?” + </p> + <p> + She became embarrassed, and remained silent. + </p> + <p> + “See!” he exclaimed, “you dare not take the oath!” + </p> + <p> + “My word should suffice,” she faltered. + </p> + <p> + “No; it does not suffice. But your silence says a great deal, I tell you! + You are too frank, Reine, and you don’t know how to lie. I read it in your + eyes, I do. The true reason is that you do not love me.” + </p> + <p> + She shrugged her shoulders and turned away her head. + </p> + <p> + “No, you do not love me. If you had any love for me, instead of + discouraging me, you would hold out some hope to me, and advise me to have + patience. You never have loved me, confess now!” + </p> + <p> + By dint of this persistence, Reine by degrees lost her self-confidence. + She could realize how much Claudet was suffering, and she reproached + herself for the torture she was inflicting upon him. Driven into a corner, + and recognizing that the avowal he was asking for was the only one that + would drive him away, she hesitated no longer. + </p> + <p> + “Alas!” she murmured, lowering her eyes, “since you force me to tell you + some truths that I would rather have kept from you, I confess you have + guessed. I have a sincere friendship for you, but that is all. I have + concluded that to marry a person one ought to love him differently, more + than everything else in the world, and I feel that my heart is not turned + altogether toward you.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Claudet, bitterly, “it is turned elsewhere.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean? I do not understand you.” + </p> + <p> + “I mean that you love some one else.” + </p> + <p> + “That is not true,” she protested. + </p> + <p> + “You are blushing—a proof that I have hit the nail!” + </p> + <p> + “Enough of this!” cried she, imperiously. + </p> + <p> + “You are right. Now that you have said you don’t want me any longer, I + have no right to ask anything further. Adieu!” + </p> + <p> + He turned quickly on his heel. Reine was conscious of having been too hard + with him, and not wishing him to go away with such a grief in his heart, + she sought to retain him by placing her hand upon his arm. + </p> + <p> + “Come, Claudet,” said she, entreatingly, “do not let us part in anger. It + pains me to see you suffer, and I am sorry if I have said anything unkind + to you. Give me your hand in good fellowship, will you?” + </p> + <p> + But Claudet drew back with a fierce gesture, and glancing angrily at + Reine, he replied, rudely: + </p> + <p> + “Thanks for your regrets and your pity; I have no use for them.” She + understood that he was deeply hurt; gave up entreating, and turned away + with eyes full of tears. + </p> + <p> + He remained motionless, his arms crossed, in the middle of the road. After + some minutes, he turned his head. Reine was already nothing more than a + dark speck against the gray of the increasing fog. Then he went off, + haphazard, across the pasture-lands. The fog was rising slowly, and the + sun, shorn of its beams, showed its pale face faintly through it. To the + right and the left, the woods were half hidden by moving white billows, + and Claudet walked between fluid walls of vapor. This hidden sky, these + veiled surroundings, harmonized with his mental condition. It was easier + for him to hide his chagrin. “Some one else! Yes; that’s it. She loves + some other fellow! how was it I did not find that out the very first day?” + Then he recalled how Reine shrank from him when he solicited a caress; how + she insisted on their betrothal being kept secret, and how many times she + had postponed the date of the wedding. It was evident that she had + received him only in self-defence, and on the pleading of Julien de + Buxieres. Julien! the name threw a gleam of light across his brain, + hitherto as foggy as the country around him. Might not Julien be the + fortunate rival on whom Reine’s affections were so obstinately set? Still, + if she had always loved Monsieur de Buxieres, in what spirit of perversity + or thoughtlessness had she suffered the advances of another suitor? + </p> + <p> + Reine was no coquette, and such a course of action would be repugnant to + her frank, open nature. It was a profound enigma, which Claudet, who had + plenty of good common sense, but not much insight, was unable to solve. + But grief has, among its other advantages, the power of rendering our + perceptions more acute; and by dint of revolving the question in his mind, + Claudet at last became enlightened. Had not Reine simply followed the + impulse of her wounded feelings? She was very proud, and when the man whom + she secretly loved had come coolly forward to plead the cause of one who + was indifferent to her, would not her self-respect be lowered, and would + she not, in a spirit of bravado, accept the proposition, in order that he + might never guess the sufferings of her spurned affections? There was no + doubt, that, later, recognizing that the task was beyond her strength, she + had felt ashamed of deceiving Claudet any longer, and, acting on the + advice of the Abbe Pernot, had made up her mind to break off a union that + was repugnant to her. + </p> + <p> + “Yes;” he repeated, mournfully to himself, “that must have been the way it + happened.” And with this kind of explanation of Reine’s actions, his + irritation seemed to lessen. Not that his grief was less poignant, but the + first burst of rage had spent itself like a great wind-storm, which + becomes lulled after a heavy fall of rain; the bitterness was toned down, + and he was enabled to reason more clearly. + </p> + <p> + Julien—well, what was the part of Julien in all this disturbance? + “If what I imagine is true,” thought he, “Monsieur de Buxieres knows that + Reine loves him, but has he any reciprocal feeling for her? With a man as + mysterious as my cousin, it is not easy to find out what is going on in + his heart. Anyhow, I have no right to complain of him; as soon as he + discovered my love for Reine, did he not, besides ignoring his own claim, + offer spontaneously to take my message? Still, there is something queer at + the bottom of it all, and whatever it costs me, I am going to find it + out.” + </p> + <p> + At this moment, through the misty air, he heard faintly the village clock + strike eleven. “Already so late! how the time flies, even when one is + suffering!” He bent his course toward the chateau, and, breathless and + excited, without replying to Manette’s inquiries, he burst into the hall + where his cousin was pacing up and down, waiting for breakfast. At this + sudden intrusion Julien started, and noted Claudet’s quick breathing and + disordered state. + </p> + <p> + “Ho, ho!” exclaimed he, in his usual, sarcastic tone, “what a hurry you + are in! I suppose you have come to say the wedding-day is fixed at last?” + </p> + <p> + “No!” replied Claudet, briefly, “there will be no wedding.” + </p> + <p> + Julien tottered, and turned to face his cousin. + </p> + <p> + “What’s that? Are you joking?” + </p> + <p> + “I am in no mood for joking. Reine will not have me; she has taken back + her promise.” + </p> + <p> + While pronouncing these words, he scrutinized attentively his cousin’s + countenance, full in the light from the opposite window. He saw his + features relax, and his eyes glow with the same expression which he had + noticed a few days previous, when he had referred to the fact that Reine + had again postponed the marriage. + </p> + <p> + “Whence comes this singular change?” stammered de Buxieres, visibly + agitated; “what reasons does Mademoiselle Vincart give in explanation?” + </p> + <p> + “Idle words: her father’s health, disinclination to leave him. You may + suppose I take such excuses for what they are worth. The real cause of her + refusal is more serious and more mortifying.” + </p> + <p> + “You know it, then?” exclaimed Julien, eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “I know it, because I forced Reine to confess it.” + </p> + <p> + “And the reason is?” + </p> + <p> + “That she does not love me.” + </p> + <p> + “Reine—does not love you!” + </p> + <p> + Again a gleam of light irradiated the young man’s large, blue eyes. + Claudet was leaning against the table, in front of his cousin; he + continued slowly, looking him steadily in the face: + </p> + <p> + “That is not all. Not only does Reine not love me, but she loves some one + else.” + </p> + <p> + Julien changed color; the blood coursed over his cheeks, his forehead, his + ears; he drooped his head. + </p> + <p> + “Did she tell you so?” he murmured, at last, feebly. + </p> + <p> + “She did not, but I guessed it. Her heart is won, and I think I know by + whom.” + </p> + <p> + Claudet had uttered these last words slowly and with a painful effort, at + the same time studying Julien’s countenance with renewed inquiry. The + latter became more and more troubled, and his physiognomy expressed both + anxiety and embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + “Whom do you suspect?” he stammered. + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” replied Claudet, employing a simple artifice to sound the obscure + depth of his cousin’s heart, “it is useless to name the person; you do not + know him.” + </p> + <p> + “A stranger?” + </p> + <p> + Julien’s countenance had again changed. His hands were twitching + nervously, his lips compressed, and his dilated pupils were blazing with + anger, instead of triumph, as before. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; a stranger, a clerk in the iron-works at Grancey, I think.” + </p> + <p> + “You think!—you think!” cried Julien, fiercely, “why don’t you have + more definite information before you accuse Mademoiselle Vincart of such + treachery?” + </p> + <p> + He resumed pacing the hall, while his interlocutor, motionless, remained + silent, and kept his eyes steadily upon him. + </p> + <p> + “It is not possible,” resumed Julien, “Reine can not have played us such a + trick! When I spoke to her for you, it was so easy to say she was already + betrothed!” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” objected Claudet, shaking his head, “she had reasons for not + letting you know all that was in her mind.” + </p> + <p> + “What reasons?” + </p> + <p> + “She doubtless believed at that time that the man she preferred did not + care for her. There are some people who, when they are vexed, act in + direct contradiction to their own wishes. I have the idea that Reine + accepted me only for want of some one better, and afterward, being too + openhearted to dissimulate for any length of time, she thought better of + it, and sent me about my business.” + </p> + <p> + “And you,” interrupted Julien, sarcastically, “you, who had been accepted + as her betrothed, did not know better how to defend your rights than to + suffer yourself to be ejected by a rival, whose intentions, even, you have + not clearly ascertained!” + </p> + <p> + “By Jove! how could I help it? A fellow that takes an unwilling bride is + playing for too high stakes. The moment I found there was another she + preferred, I had but one course before me—to take myself off.” + </p> + <p> + “And you call that loving!” shouted de Buxieres, “you call that losing + your heart! God in heaven! if I had been in your place, how differently I + should have acted! Instead of leaving, with piteous protestations, I + should have stayed near Reine, I should have surrounded her with + tenderness. I should have expressed my passion with so much force that its + flame should pass from my burning soul to hers, and she would have been + forced to love me! Ah! If I had only thought! if I had dared! how + different it would have been!” + </p> + <p> + He jerked out his sentences with unrestrained frenzy. He seemed hardly to + know what he was saying, or that he had a listener. Claudet stood + contemplating him in sullen silence: “Aha!” thought he, with bitter + resignation; “I have sounded you at last. I know what is in the bottom of + your heart.” + </p> + <p> + Manette, bringing in the breakfast, interrupted their colloquy, and both + assumed an air of indifference, according to a tacit understanding that a + prudent amount of caution should be observed in her presence. They ate + hurriedly, and as soon as the cloth was removed, and they were again + alone, Julien, glancing with an indefinable expression at Claudet, + muttered savagely: + </p> + <p> + “Well! what do you decide?” + </p> + <p> + “I will tell you later,” responded the other, briefly. + </p> + <p> + He quitted the room abruptly, told Manette that he would not be home until + late, and strode out across the fields, his dog following. He had taken + his gun as a blind, but it was useless for Montagnard to raise his bark; + Claudet allowed the hares to scamper away with out sending a single shot + after them. He was busy inwardly recalling the details of the conversation + he had had with his cousin. The situation now was simplified Julien was in + love with Reine, and was vainly combating his overpowering passion. What + reason had he for concealing his love? What motive or reasoning had + induced him, when he was already secretly enamored of the girl, to push + Claudet in front and interfere to procure her acceptance of him as a + fiance? This point alone remained obscure. Was Julien carrying out certain + theories of the respect due his position in society, and did he fear to + contract a misalliance by marrying a mere farmer’s daughter? Or did he, + with his usual timidity and distrust of himself, dread being refused by + Reine, and, half through pride, half through backward ness, keep away for + fear of a humiliating rejection? With de Buxieres’s proud and suspicious + nature, each of these suppositions was equally likely. The conclusion most + undeniable was, that notwithstanding his set ideas and his moral + cowardice, Julien had an ardent and over powering love for Mademoiselle + Vincart. As to Reine herself, Claudet was more than ever convinced that + she had a secret inclination toward somebody, although she had denied the + charge. But for whom was her preference? Claudet knew the neighborhood too + well to believe the existence of any rival worth talking about, other than + his cousin de Buxieres. None of the boys of the village or the surrounding + towns had ever come courting old Father Vincart’s daughter, and de + Buxieres himself possessed sufficient qualities to attract Reine. + Certainly, if he were a girl, he never should fix upon Julien for a lover; + but women often have tastes that men can not comprehend, and Julien’s + refinement of nature, his bashfulness, and even his reserve, might easily + have fascinated a girl of such strong will and somewhat peculiar notions. + It was probable, therefore, that she liked him, and perhaps had done so + for a long time; but, being clear-sighted and impartial, she could see + that he never would marry her, because her condition in life was not equal + to his own. Afterward, when the man she loved had flaunted his + indifference so far as to plead the cause of another, her pride had + revolted, and in the blind agony of her wounded feelings, she had thrown + herself into the arms of the first comer, as if to punish herself for + entertaining loving thoughts of a man who could so disdain her affection. + </p> + <p> + So, by means of that lucid intuition which the heart alone can furnish, + Claudet at last succeeded in evolving the naked truth. But the fatiguing + labor of so much thinking, to which his brain was little accustomed, and + the sadness which continued to oppress him, overcame him to such an extent + that he was obliged to sit down and rest on a clump of brushwood. He gazed + over the woods and the clearings, which he had so often traversed light of + heart and of foot, and felt mortally unhappy. These sheltering lanes and + growing thickets, where he had so frequently encountered Reine, the + beautiful hunting-grounds in which he had taken such delight, only + awakened painful sensations, and he felt as if he should grow to hate them + all if he were obliged to pass the rest of his days in their midst. As the + day waned, the sinuosities of the forest became more blended; the depth of + the valleys was lost in thick vapors. The wind had risen. The first + falling leaves of the season rose and fell like wounded birds; heavy + clouds gathered in the sky, and the night was coming on apace. Claudet was + grateful for the sudden darkness, which would blot out a view now so + distasteful to him. Shortly, on the Auberive side, along the winding + Aubette, feeble lights became visible, as if inviting the young man to + profit by their guidance. He arose, took the path indicated, and went to + supper, or rather, to a pretence of supper, in the same inn where he had + breakfasted with Julien, whence the latter had gone on his mission to + Reine. This remembrance alone would have sufficed to destroy his appetite. + </p> + <p> + He did not remain long at table; he could not, in fact, stay many minutes + in one place, and so, notwithstanding the urgent insistence of the + hostess, he started on the way back to Vivey, feeling his way through the + profound darkness. When he reached the chateau, every one was in bed. + Noiselessly, his dog creeping after him, he slipped into his room, and, + overcome with fatigue, fell into a heavy slumber. + </p> + <p> + The next morning his first visit was to Julien. He found him in a nervous + and feverish condition, having passed a sleepless night. Claudet’s + revelations had entirely upset his intentions, and planted fresh thorns of + jealousy in his heart. On first hearing that the marriage was broken off, + his heart had leaped for joy, and hope had revived within him; but the + subsequent information that Mademoiselle Vincart was probably interested + in some lover, as yet unknown, had grievously sobered him. He was + indignant at Reine’s duplicity, and Claudet’s cowardly resignation. The + agony caused by Claudet’s betrothal was a matter of course, but this + love-for-a-stranger episode was an unexpected and mortal wound. He was + seized with violent fits of rage; he was sometimes tempted to go and + reproach the young girl with what he called her breach of faith, and then + go and throw himself at her feet and avow his own passion. + </p> + <p> + But the mistrust he had of himself, and his incurable bashfulness, + invariably prevented these heroic resolutions from being carried out. He + had so long cultivated a habit of minute, fatiguing criticism upon every + inward emotion that he had almost incapacitated himself for vigorous + action. + </p> + <p> + He was in this condition when Claudet came in upon him. At the noise of + the opening door, Julien raised his head, and looked dolefully at his + cousin. + </p> + <p> + “Well?” said he, languidly. + </p> + <p> + “Well!” retorted Claudet, bravely, “on thinking over what has been + happening during the last month, I have made sure of one thing of which I + was doubtful.” + </p> + <p> + “Of what were you doubtful?” returned de Buxieres, quite ready to take + offence at the answer. + </p> + <p> + “I am about to tell you. Do you remember the first conversation we had + together concerning Reine? You spoke of her with so much earnestness that + I then suspected you of being in love with her.” + </p> + <p> + “I—I—hardly remember,” faltered Julien, coloring. + </p> + <p> + “In that case, my memory is better than yours, Monsieur de Buxieres. + To-day, my suspicions have become certainties. You are in love with Reine + Vincart!” + </p> + <p> + “I?” faintly protested his cousin. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t deny it, but rather, give me your confidence; you will not be sorry + for it. You love Reine, and have loved her for a long while. You have + succeeded in hiding it from me because it is hard for you to unbosom + yourself; but, yesterday, I saw it quite plainly. You dare not affirm the + contrary!” + </p> + <p> + Julien, greatly agitated, had hidden his face in his hands. After a + moment’s silence, he replied, defiantly: “Well, and supposing it is so? + What is the use of talking about it, since Reine’s affections are placed + elsewhere?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! that’s another matter. Reine has declined to have me, and I really + think she has some other affair in her head. Yet, to confess the truth, + the clerk at the iron-works was a lover of my own imagining; she never + thought of him.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why did you tell such a lie?” cried Julien, impetuously. + </p> + <p> + “Because I thought I would plead the lie to get at the truth. Forgive me + for having made use of this old trick to put you on the right track. It + wasn’t such a bad idea, for I succeeded in finding out what you took so + much pains to hide from me.” + </p> + <p> + “To hide from you? Yes, I did wish to hide it from you. Wasn’t that right, + since I was convinced that Reine loved you?” exclaimed Julien, in an + almost stifled voice, as if the avowal were choking him. “I have always + thought it idle to parade one’s feelings before those who do not care + about them.” + </p> + <p> + “You were wrong,” returned poor Claudet, sighing deeply, “if you had + spoken for yourself, I have an idea you would have been better received, + and you would have spared me a terrible heart-breaking.” + </p> + <p> + He said it with such profound sadness that Julien, notwithstanding the + absorbing nature of his own thoughts, was quite overcome, and almost on + the point of confessing, openly, the intensity of his feeling toward Reine + Vincart. But, accustomed as he was, by long habit, to concentrate every + emotion within himself, he found it impossible to become, all at once, + communicative; he felt an invincible and almost maidenly bashfulness at + the idea of revealing the secret sentiments of his soul, and contented + himself with saying, in a low voice: + </p> + <p> + “Do you not love her any more, then?” + </p> + <p> + “I? oh, yes, indeed! But to be refused by the only girl I ever wished to + marry takes all the spirit out of me. I am so discouraged, I feel like + leaving the country. If I were to go, it would perhaps be doing you a + service, and that would comfort me a little. You have treated me as a + friend, and that is a thing one doesn’t forget. I have not the means to + pay you back for your kindness, but I think I should be less sorry to go + if my departure would leave the way more free for you to return to La + Thuiliere.” + </p> + <p> + “You surely would not leave on my account?” exclaimed Julien, in alarm. + </p> + <p> + “Not solely on your account, rest assured. If Reine had loved me, it never + would have entered my head to make such a sacrifice for you, but she will + not have me. I am good for nothing here. I am only in your way.” + </p> + <p> + “But that is a wild idea! Where would you go?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! there would be no difficulty about that. One plan would be to go as a + soldier. Why not? I am hardy, a good walker, a good shot, can stand + fatigue; I have everything needed for military life. It is an occupation + that I should like, and I could earn my epaulets as well as my neighbor. + So that perhaps, Monsieur de Buxieres, matters might in that way be + arranged to suit everybody.” + </p> + <p> + “Claudet!” stammered Julien, his voice thick with sobs, “you are a better + man than I! Yes; you are a better man than I!” + </p> + <p> + And, for the first time, yielding to an imperious longing for expansion, + he sprang toward the grand chasserot, clasped him in his arms, and + embraced him fraternally. + </p> + <p> + “I will not let you expatriate yourself on my account,” he continued; “do + not act rashly, I entreat!” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t worry,” replied Claudet, laconically, “if I so decide, it will not + be without deliberation.” + </p> + <p> + In fact, during the whole of the ensuing week, he debated in his mind this + question of going away. Each day his position at Vivey seemed more + unbearable. Without informing any one, he had been to Langres and + consulted an officer of his acquaintance on the subject of the formalities + required previous to enrolment. + </p> + <p> + At last, one morning he resolved to go over to the military division and + sign his engagement. But he was not willing to consummate this sacrifice + without seeing Reine Vincart for the last time. He was nursing, down in + the bottom of his heart, a vague hope, which, frail and slender as the + filament of a plant, was yet strong enough to keep him on his native soil. + Instead of taking the path to Vivey, he made a turn in the direction of La + Thuiliere, and soon reached the open elevation whence the roofs of the + farm-buildings and the turrets of the chateau could both alike be seen. + There he faltered, with a piteous sinking of the heart. Only a few steps + between himself and the house, yet he hesitated about entering; not that + he feared a want of welcome, but because he dreaded lest the reawakening + of his tenderness should cause him to lose a portion of the courage he + should need to enable him to leave. He leaned against the trunk of an old + pear-tree and surveyed the forest site on which the farm was built. + </p> + <p> + The landscape retained its usual placidity. In the distance, over the + waste lands, the shepherd Tringuesse was following his flock of sheep, + which occasionally scattered over the fields, and then, under the dog’s + harassing watchfulness, reformed in a compact group, previous to + descending the narrow hill-slope. One thing struck Claudet: the pastures + and the woods bore exactly the same aspect, presented the same play of + light and shade as on that afternoon of the preceding year, when he had + met Reine in the Ronces woods, a few days before the arrival of Julien. + The same bright yet tender tint reddened the crab-apple and the + wild-cherry; the tomtits and the robins chirped as before, among the + bushes, and, as in the previous year, one heard the sound of the beechnuts + and acorns dropping on the rocky paths. Autumn went through her tranquil + rites and familiar operations, always with the same punctual regularity; + and all this would go on just the same when Claudet was no longer there. + There would only be one lad the less in the village streets, one hunter + failing to answer the call when they were surrounding the woods of + Charbonniere. This dim perception of how small a space man occupies on the + earth, and of the ease with which he is forgotten, aided Claudet + unconsciously in his effort to be resigned, and he determined to enter the + house. As he opened the gate of the courtyard, he found himself face to + face with Reine, who was coming out. + </p> + <p> + The young girl immediately supposed he had come to make a last assault, in + the hope of inducing her to yield to his wishes. She feared a renewal of + the painful scene which had closed their last interview, and her first + impulse was to put herself on her guard. Her countenance darkened, and she + fixed a cold, questioning gaze upon Claudet, as if to keep him at a + distance. But, when she noted the sadness of her young relative’s + expression, she was seized with pity. Making an effort, however, to + disguise her emotion, she pretended to accost him with the calm and + cordial friendship of former times. + </p> + <p> + “Why, good-morning, Claudet,” said she, “you come just in time. A quarter + of an hour later you would not have found me. Will you come in and rest a + moment?” + </p> + <p> + “Thanks, Reine,” said he, “I will not hinder you in your work. But I + wanted to say, I am sorry I got angry the other day; you were right, we + must not leave each other with ill-feeling, and, as I am going away for a + long time, I desire first to take your hand in friendship.” + </p> + <p> + “You are going away?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I am going now to Langres to enroll myself as a soldier. And true it + is, one knows when one goes away, but it is hard to know when one will + come back. That is why I wanted to say good-by to you, and make peace, so + as not to go away with too great a load on my heart.” + </p> + <p> + All Reine’s coldness melted away. This young fellow, who was leaving his + country on her account, was the companion of her infancy, more than that, + her nearest relative. Her throat swelled, her eyes filled with tears. She + turned away her head, that he might not perceive her emotion, and opened + the kitchen-door. + </p> + <p> + “Come in, Claudet,” said she, “we shall be more comfortable in the + dining-room. We can talk there, and you will have some refreshment before + you go, will you not?” + </p> + <p> + He obeyed, and followed her into the house. She went herself into the + cellar, to seek a bottle of old wine, brought two glasses, and filled them + with a trembling hand. + </p> + <p> + “Shall you remain long in the service?” asked she. + </p> + <p> + “I shall engage for seven years.” + </p> + <p> + “It is a hard life that you are choosing.” + </p> + <p> + “What am I to do?” replied he, “I could not stay here doing nothing.” + </p> + <p> + Reine went in and out of the room in a bewildered fashion. Claudet, too + much excited to perceive that the young girl’s impassiveness was only on + the surface, said to himself: “It is all over; she accepts my departure as + an event perfectly natural; she treats me as she would Theotime, the + coal-dealer, or the tax-collector Boucheseiche. A glass of wine, two or + three unimportant questions, and then, good-by-a pleasant journey, and + take care of yourself!” + </p> + <p> + Then he made a show of taking an airy, insouciant tone. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well!” he exclaimed, “I’ve always been drawn toward that kind of + life. A musket will be a little heavier than a gun, that’s all; then I + shall see different countries, and that will change my ideas.” He tried to + appear facetious, poking around the kitchen, and teasing the magpie, which + was following his footsteps with inquisitive anxiety. Finally, he went up + to the old man Vincart, who was lying stretched out in his picture-lined + niche. He took the flabby hand of the paralytic old man, pressed it gently + and endeavored to get up a little conversation with him, but he had it all + to himself, the invalid staring at him all the time with uneasy, wide-open + eyes. Returning to Reine, he lifted his glass. + </p> + <p> + “To your health, Reine!” said he, with forced gayety, “next time we clink + glasses together, I shall be an experienced soldier—you’ll see!” + </p> + <p> + But, when he put the glass to his lips, several big tears fell in, and he + had to swallow them with his wine. + </p> + <p> + “Well!” he sighed, turning away while he passed the back of his hand + across his eyes, “it must be time to go.” + </p> + <p> + She accompanied him to the threshold. + </p> + <p> + “Adieu, Reine!” + </p> + <p> + “Adieu!” she murmured, faintly. + </p> + <p> + She stretched out both hands, overcome with pity and remorse. He perceived + her emotion, and thinking that she perhaps still loved him a little, and + repented having rejected him, threw his arms impetuously around her. He + pressed her against his bosom, and imprinted kisses, wet with tears, upon + her cheek. He could not leave her, and redoubled his caresses with + passionate ardor, with the ecstasy of a lover who suddenly meets with a + burst of tenderness on the part of the woman he has tenderly loved, and + whom he expects never to fold again in his arms. He completely lost his + self-control. His embrace became so ardent that Reine, alarmed at the + sudden outburst, was overcome with shame and terror, notwithstanding the + thought that the man, who was clasping her in his arms with such passion, + was her own brother. + </p> + <p> + She tore herself away from him and pushed him violently back. + </p> + <p> + “Adieu!” she cried, retreating to the kitchen, of which she hastily shut + the door. + </p> + <p> + Claudet stood one moment, dumfounded, before the door so pitilessly shut + in his face, then, falling suddenly from his happy state of illusion to + the dead level of reality, departed precipitately down the road. + </p> + <p> + When he turned to give a parting glance, the farm buildings were no longer + visible, and the waste lands of the forest border, gray, stony, and + barren, stretched their mute expanse before him. + </p> + <p> + “No!” exclaimed he, between his set teeth, “she never loved me. She thinks + only of the other man! I have nothing more to do but go away and never + return!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. LOVE HEALS THE BROKEN HEART + </h2> + <p> + In arriving at Langres, Claudet enrolled in the seventeenth battalion of + light infantry. Five days later, paying no attention to the lamentations + of Manette, he left Vivey, going, by way of Lyon, to the camp at Lathonay, + where his battalion was stationed. Julien was thus left alone at the + chateau to recover as best he might from the dazed feeling caused by the + startling events of the last few weeks. After Claudet’s departure, he felt + an uneasy sensation of discomfort, and as if he himself had lessened in + value. He had never before realized how little space he occupied in his + own dwelling, and how much living heat Claudet had infused into the house + which was now so cold and empty. He felt poor and diminished in spirit, + and was ashamed of being so useless to himself and to others. He had + before him a prospect of new duties, which frightened him. The management + of the district, which Claudet had undertaken for him, would now fall + entirely on his shoulders, and just at the time of the timber sales and + the renewal of the fences. Besides all this, he had Manette on his + conscience, thinking he ought to try to soften her grief at her son’s + unexpected departure. The ancient housekeeper was like Rachel, she refused + to be comforted, and her temper was not improved by her recent trials. She + filled the air with lamentations, and seemed to consider Julien + responsible for her troubles. The latter treated her with wonderful + patience and indulgence, and exhausted his ingenuity to make her time pass + more pleasantly. This was the first real effort he had made to subdue his + dislikes and his passive tendencies, and it had the good effect of + preparing him, by degrees, to face more serious trials, and to take the + initiative in matters of greater importance. He discovered that the energy + he expended in conquering a first difficulty gave him more ability to + conquer the second, and from that result he decided that the will is like + a muscle, which shrivels in inaction and is developed by exercise; and he + made up his mind to attack courageously the work before him, although it + had formerly appeared beyond his capabilities. + </p> + <p> + He now rose always at daybreak. Gaitered like a huntsman, and escorted by + Montagnard, who had taken a great liking to him, he would proceed to the + forest, visit the cuttings, hire fresh workmen, familiarize himself with + the woodsmen, interest himself in their labors, their joys and their + sorrows; then, when evening came, he was quite astonished to find himself + less weary, less isolated, and eating with considerable appetite the + supper prepared for him by Manette. Since he had been traversing the + forest, not as a stranger or a person of leisure, but with the + predetermination to accomplish some useful work, he had learned to + appreciate its beauties. The charms of nature and the living creatures + around no longer inspired him with the defiant scorn which he had imbibed + from his early solitary life and his priestly education; he now viewed + them with pleasure and interest. In proportion, as his sympathies expanded + and his mind became more virile, the exterior world presented a more + attractive appearance to him. + </p> + <p> + While this work of transformation was going on within him, he was aided + and sustained by the ever dear and ever present image of Reine Vincart. + The trenches, filled with dead leaves, the rows of beech-trees, stripped + of their foliage by the rude breath of winter, the odor peculiar to + underwood during the dead season, all recalled to his mind the impressions + he had received while in company with the woodland queen. Now that, he + could better understand the young girl’s adoration of the marvellous + forest world, he sought out, with loving interest, the sites where she had + gone into ecstasy, the details of the landscape which she had pointed out + to him the year before, and had made him admire. The beauty of the scene + was associated in his thoughts with Reine’s love, and he could not think + of either separately. But, notwithstanding the steadfastness and force of + his love, he had not yet made any effort to see Mademoiselle Vincart. At + first, the increase of occupation caused by Claudet’s departure, the new + duties devolving upon him, together with his inexperience, had prevented + Julien from entertaining the possibility of renewing relations that had + been so violently sundered. Little by little, however; as he reviewed the + situation of affairs, which his cousin’s generous sacrifice had + engendered, he began to consider how he could benefit thereby. Claudet’s + departure had left the field free, but Julien felt no more confidence in + himself than before. The fact that Reine had so unaccountably refused to + marry the grand chasserot did not seem to him sufficient encouragement. + Her motive was a secret, and therefore, of doubtful interpretation. + Besides, even if she were entirely heart-whole, was that a reason why she + should give Julien a favorable reception? Could she forget the cruel + insult to which he had subjected her? And immediately after that + outrageous behavior of his, he had had the stupidity to make a proposal + for Claudet. That was the kind of affront, thought he, that a woman does + not easily forgive, and the very idea of presenting himself before her + made his heart sink. He had seen her only at a distance, at the Sunday + mass, and every time he had endeavored to catch her eye she had turned + away her head. She also avoided, in every way, any intercourse with the + chateau. Whenever a question arose, such as the apportionment of lands, or + the allotment of cuttings, which would necessitate her having recourse to + M. de Buxieres, she would abstain from writing herself, and correspond + only through the notary, Arbillot. Claudet’s heroic departure, therefore, + had really accomplished nothing; everything was exactly at the same point + as the day after Julien’s unlucky visit to La Thuiliere, and the same + futile doubts and fears agitated him now as then. It also occurred to him, + that while he was thus debating and keeping silence, days, weeks, and + months were slipping away; that Reine would soon reach her twenty-third + year, and that she would be thinking of marriage. It was well known that + she had some fortune, and suitors were not lacking. Even allowing that she + had no afterthought in renouncing Claudet, she could not always live alone + at the farm, and some day she would be compelled to accept a marriage of + convenience, if not of love. + </p> + <p> + “And to think,” he would say to himself, “that she is there, only a few + steps away, that I am consumed with longing, that I have only to traverse + those pastures, to throw myself at her feet, and that I positively dare + not! Miserable wretch that I am, it was last spring, while we were in that + but together, that I should have spoken of my love, instead of terrifying + her with my brutal caresses! Now it is too late! I have wounded and + humiliated her; I have driven away Claudet, who would at any rate have + made her a stalwart lover, and I have made two beings unhappy, without + counting myself. So much for my miserable shufflings and evasion! Ah! if + one could only begin life over again!” + </p> + <p> + While thus lamenting his fate, the march of time went steadily on, with + its pitiless dropping out of seconds, minutes, and hours. The worst part + of winter was over; the March gales had dried up the forests; April was + tingeing the woods with its tender green; the song of the cuckoo was + already heard in the tufted bowers, and the festival of St. George had + passed. + </p> + <p> + Taking advantage of an unusually clear day, Julien went to visit a farm, + belonging to him, in the plain of Anjeures, on the border of the forest of + Maigrefontaine. After breakfasting with the farmer, he took the way home + through the woods, so that he might enjoy the first varied effects of the + season. + </p> + <p> + The forest of Maigrefontaine, situated on the slope of a hill, was full of + rocky, broken ground, interspersed with deep ravines, along which narrow + but rapid streams ran to swell the fishpond of La Thuiliere. Julien had + wandered away from the road, into the thick of the forest where the + budding vegetation was at its height, where the lilies multiply and the + early spring flowers disclose their umbellshaped clusters, full of tiny, + white stars. The sight of these blossoms, which had such a tender meaning + for him, since he had identified the name with that of Reine, brought + vividly before him the beloved image of the young girl. He walked slowly + and languidly on, heated by his feverish recollections and desires, + tormented by useless self-reproach, and physically intoxicated by the + balmy atmosphere and the odor of the flowering shrubs at his feet. + Arriving at the edge of a somewhat deep pit, he tried to leap across with + a single bound, but, whether he made a false start, or that he was + weakened and dizzy with the conflicting emotions with which he had been + battling, he missed his footing and fell, twisting his ankle, on the side + of the embankment. He rose with an effort and put his foot to the ground, + but a sharp pain obliged him to lean against the trunk of a neighboring + ash-tree. His foot felt as heavy as lead, and every time he tried to + straighten it his sufferings were intolerable. All he could do was to drag + himself along from one tree to another until he reached the path. + </p> + <p> + Exhausted by this effort; he sat down on the grass, unbuttoned his gaiter, + and carefully unlaced his boot. His foot had swollen considerably. He + began to fear he had sprained it badly, and wondered how he could get back + to Vivey. Should he have to wait on this lonely road until some woodcutter + passed, who would take him home? Montagnard, his faithful companion, had + seated himself in front of him, and contemplated him with moist, troubled + eyes, at the same time emitting short, sharp whines, which seemed to say: + </p> + <p> + “What is the matter?” and, “How are we going to get out of this?” + </p> + <p> + Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching. He perceived a flutter of white + skirts behind the copse, and just at the moment he was blessing the lucky + chance that had sent some one in that direction, his eyes were gladdened + with a sight of the fair visage of Reine. + </p> + <p> + She was accompanied by a little girl of the village, carrying a basket + full of primroses and freshly gathered ground ivy. Reine was quite + familiar with all the medicinal herbs of the country, and gathered them in + their season, in order to administer them as required to the people of the + farm. When she was within a few feet of Julien, she recognized him, and + her brow clouded over; but almost immediately she noticed his altered + features and that one of his feet was shoeless, and divined that something + unusual had happened. Going straight up to him, she said: + </p> + <p> + “You seem to be suffering, Monsieur de Buxieres. What is the matter?” + </p> + <p> + “A—a foolish accident,” replied he, putting on a careless manner. “I + fell and sprained my ankle.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl knit her brows with an anxious expression; then, after a + moment’s hesitation; she said: + </p> + <p> + “Will you let me see your foot? My mother understood about bone-setting, + and I have been told that I inherit her gift of curing sprains.” + </p> + <p> + She drew from the basket an empty bottle and a handkerchief. + </p> + <p> + “Zelie,” said she to the little damsel, who was standing astonished at the + colloquy, “go quickly down to the stream, and fill this bottle.” + </p> + <p> + While she was speaking, Julien, greatly embarrassed, obeyed her + suggestions, and uncovered his foot. Reine, without any prudery or + nonsense, raised the wounded limb, and felt around cautiously. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” said she at last, “that the muscles are somewhat injured.” + </p> + <p> + Without another word, she tore the handkerchief into narrow strips, and + poured the contents of the bottle, which Zelie had filled, slowly over the + injure member, holding her hand high for that purpose. Then, with a soft + yet firm touch, she pressed the injured muscles into their places, while + Julien bit his lips and did his very utmost to prevent her seeing how much + he was suffering. After this massage treatment, the young girl bandaged + the ankle tightly with the linen bands, and fastened them securely with + pins. + </p> + <p> + “There,” said she, “now try to put on your shoe and stocking; they will + give support to the muscles. Now you, Zelie, run, fit to break your neck, + to the farm, make them harness the wagon, and tell them to bring it here, + as close to the path as possible.” + </p> + <p> + The girl picked up her basket and started on a trot. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur de Buxieres;” said Reine, “do you think you can walk as far as + the carriage road, by leaning on my arm?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes;” he replied, with a grateful glance which greatly embarrassed + Mademoiselle Vincart, “you have relieved me as if by a miracle. I feel + much better and as if I could go anywhere you might lead, while leaning on + your arm!” + </p> + <p> + She helped him to rise, and he took a few steps with her aid. + </p> + <p> + “Why, it feels really better,” sighed he. + </p> + <p> + He was so happy in feeling himself thus tenderly supported by Reine, that + he altogether forgot his pain. + </p> + <p> + “Let us walk slowly,” continued she, “and do not be afraid to lean on me. + All you have to think of is reaching the carriage.” + </p> + <p> + “How good you are,” stammered he, “and how ashamed I am!” + </p> + <p> + “Ashamed of what?” returned Reine, hastily. “I have done nothing + extraordinary; anyone else would have acted in the same manner.” + </p> + <p> + “I entreat you,” replied he, earnestly, “not to spoil my happiness. I know + very well that the first person who happened to pass would have rendered + me some charitable assistance; but the thought that it is you—you + alone—who have helped me, fills me with delight, at: the same time + that it increases my remorse. I so little deserve that you should interest + yourself in my behalf!” + </p> + <p> + He waited, hoping perhaps that she would ask for an explanation, but, + seeing that she did not appear to understand, he added: + </p> + <p> + “I have offended you. I have misunderstood you, and I have been cruelly + punished for my mistake. But what avails my tardy regret in healing the + injuries I have inflicted! Ah! if one could only go backward, and efface, + with a single stroke, the hours in which one has been blind and + headstrong!” + </p> + <p> + “Let us not speak of that!” replied she, shortly, but in a singularly + softened tone. + </p> + <p> + In spite of herself, she was touched by this expression of repentance, so + naively acknowledged in broken, disconnected sentences, vibrating with the + ring of true sincerity. In proportion as he abased himself, her anger + diminished, and she recognized that she loved him just the same, + notwithstanding his defects, his weakness, and his want of tact and + polish. She was also profoundly touched by his revealing to her, for the + first time, a portion of his hidden feelings. + </p> + <p> + They had become silent again, but they felt nearer to each other than ever + before; their secret thoughts seemed to be transmitted to each other; a + mute understanding was established between them. She lent him the support + of her arm with more freedom, and the young man seemed to experience fresh + delight in her firm and sympathetic assistance. + </p> + <p> + Progressing slowly, although more quickly than they would have chosen + themselves, they reached the foot of the path, and perceived the wagon + waiting on the beaten road. Julien mounted therein with the aid of Reine + and the driver. When he was stretched on the straw, which had been spread + for him on the bottom of the wagon, he leaned forward on the side, and his + eyes met those of Reine. For a few moments their gaze seemed riveted upon + each other, and their mutual understanding was complete. These few, brief + moments contained a whole confession of love; avowals mingled with + repentance, promises of pardon, tender reconciliation! + </p> + <p> + “Thanks!” he sighed at last, “will you give me your hand?” + </p> + <p> + She gave it, and while he held it in his own, Reine turned toward the + driver on the seat. + </p> + <p> + “Felix,” said she, warningly, “drive slowly and avoid the ruts. + Good-night, Monsieur de Buxieres, send for the doctor as soon as you get + in, and all will be well. I will send to inquire how you are getting + along.” + </p> + <p> + She turned and went pensively down the road to La Thuiliere, while the + carriage followed slowly the direction to Vivey. + </p> + <p> + The doctor, being sent for immediately on Julien’s arrival, pronounced it + a simple sprain, and declared that the preliminary treatment had been very + skilfully applied, that the patient had now only to keep perfectly still. + Two days later came La Guite from Reine, to inquire after M. de Buxieres’s + health. She brought a large bunch of lilies which Mademoiselle Vincart had + sent to the patient, to console him for not being able to go in the woods, + which Julien kept for several days close by his side. + </p> + <p> + This accident, happening at Maigrefontaine, and providentially attended to + by Reine Vincart, the return to the chateau in the vehicle belonging to La + Thuiliere, the sending of the lilies, were all a source of great + mystification to Manette. She suspected some amorous mystery in all these + events, commented somewhat uncharitably on every minor detail, and took + care to carry her comments all over the village. Very soon the entire + parish, from the most insignificant woodchopper to the Abbe Pernot + himself, were made aware that there was something going on between M. de + Buxieres and the daughter of old M. Vincart. + </p> + <p> + In the mean time, Julien, quite unconscious that his love for Reine was + providing conversation for all the gossips of the country, was cursing the + untoward event that kept him stretched in his invalid-chair. At last, one + day, he discovered he could put his foot down and walk a little with the + assistance of his cane; a few days after, the doctor gave him permission + to go out of doors. His first visit was to La Thuiliere. + </p> + <p> + He went there in the afternoon and found Reine in the kitchen, seated by + the side of her paralytic father, who was asleep. She was reading a + newspaper, which she retained in her hand, while rising to receive her + visitor. After she had congratulated him on his recovery, and he had + expressed his cordial thanks for her timely aid, she showed him the paper. + </p> + <p> + “You find me in a state of disturbance,” said she, with a slight degree of + embarrassment, “it seems that we are going to have war and that our troops + have entered Italy. Have you any news of Claudet?” + </p> + <p> + Julien started. This was the last remark he could have expected. Claudet’s + name had not been once mentioned in their interview at Maigrefontaine, and + he had nursed the hope that Reine thought no longer about him. + </p> + <p> + All his mistrust returned in a moment on hearing this name come from the + young girl’s lips the moment he entered the house, and seeing the emotion + which the news in the paper had caused her. + </p> + <p> + “He wrote me a few days ago,” replied he. + </p> + <p> + “Where is he?” + </p> + <p> + “In Italy, with his battalion, which is a part of the first army corps. + His last letter is dated from Alexandria.” + </p> + <p> + Reine’s eyes suddenly filled with tears, and she gazed absently at the + distant wooded horizon. + </p> + <p> + “Poor Claudet!” murmured she, sighing, “what is he doing just now, I + wonder?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” thought Julien, his visage darkening, “perhaps she loves him still!” + </p> + <p> + Poor Claudet! At the very time they are thus talking about him at the + farm, he is camping with his battalion near Voghera, on the banks of one + of the obscure tributaries of the river Po, in a country rich in waving + corn, interspersed with bounteous orchards and hardy vines climbing up to + the very tops of the mulberry-trees. His battalion forms the extreme end + of the advance guard, and at the approach of night, Claudet is on duty on + the banks of the stream. It is a lovely May night, irradiated by millions + of stars, which, under the limpid Italian sky, appear larger and nearer to + the watcher than they appeared in the vaporous atmosphere of the + Haute-Marne. + </p> + <p> + Nightingales are calling to one another among the trees of the orchard, + and the entire landscape seems imbued with their amorous music. What + ecstasy to listen to them! What serenity their liquid harmonies spread + over the smiling landscape, faintly revealing its beauties in the mild + starlight. + </p> + <p> + Who would think that preparations for deadly combat were going on through + the serenity of such a night? Occasionally a sharp exchange of musketry + with the advanced post of the enemy bursts upon the ear, and all the + nightingales keep silence. Then, when quiet is restored in the upper air, + the chorus of spring songsters begins again. Claudet leans on his gun, and + remembers that at this same hour the nightingales in the park at Vivey, + and in the garden of La Thuiliere, are pouring forth the same melodies. He + recalls the bright vision of Reine: he sees her leaning at her window, + listening to the same amorous song issuing from the coppice woods of + Maigrefontaine. His heart swells within him, and an over-powering + homesickness takes possession of him. But the next moment he is ashamed of + his weakness, he remembers his responsibility, primes his ear, and begins + investigating the dark hollows and rising hillocks where an enemy might + hide. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, May 20th, he is awakened by a general hubbub and noise + of fighting. The battalion to which he belongs has made an attack upon + Montebello, and is sending its sharpshooters among the cornfields and + vineyards. Some of the regiments invade the rice-fields, climb the walls + of the vineyards, and charge the enemy’s column-ranks. The sullen roar of + the cannon alternates with the sharp report of guns, and whole showers of + grape-shot beat the air with their piercing whistle. All through the + uproar of guns and thunder of the artillery, you can distinguish the + guttural hurrahs of the Austrians, and the broken oaths of the French + troopers. The trenches are piled with dead bodies, the trumpets sound the + attack, the survivors, obeying an irresistible impulse, spring to the + front. The ridges are crested with human masses swaying to and fro, and + the first red uniform is seen in the streets of Montebello, in relief + against the chalky facades bristling with Austrian guns, pouring forth + their ammunition on the enemy below. The soldiers burst into the houses, + the courtyards, the enclosures; every instant you hear the breaking open + of doors, the crashing of windows, and the scuffling of the terrified + inmates. The white uniforms retire in disorder. The village belongs to the + French! Not just yet, though. From the last houses on the street, to the + entrance of the cemetery, is rising ground, and just behind stands a small + hillock. The enemy has retrenched itself there, and, from its cannons + ranged in battery, is raining a terrible shower on the village just + evacuated. + </p> + <p> + The assailants hesitate, and draw back before this hailstorm of iron; + suddenly a general appears from under the walls of a building already + crumbling under the continuous fire, spurs his horse forward, and shouts: + “Come, boys, let us carry the fort!” + </p> + <p> + Among the first to rally to this call, one rifleman in particular, a fine, + broad-shouldered active fellow, with a brown moustache and olive + complexion, darts forward to the point indicated. It is Claudet. Others + are behind him, and soon more than a hundred men, with their bayonets, are + hurling themselves along the cemetery road; the grand chasserot leaps + across the fields, as he used formerly in pursuit of the game in the + Charbonniere forest. The soldiers are falling right and left of him, but + he hardly sees them; he continues pressing forward, breathless, excited, + scarcely stopping to think. As he is crossing one of the meadows, however, + he notices the profusion of scarlet gladiolus and also observes that the + rye and barley grow somewhat sturdier here than in his country; these are + the only definite ideas that detach themselves clearly from his seething + brain. The wall of the cemetery is scaled; they are fighting now in the + ditches, killing one another on the side of the hill; at last, the fort is + taken and they begin routing the enemy. But, at this moment, Claudet + stoops to pick up a cartridge, a ball strikes him in the forehead, and, + without a sound, he drops to the ground, among the noisome fennels which + flourish in graveyards—he drops, thinking of the clock of his native + village. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ...................... +</pre> + <p> + “I have sad news for you,” said Julien to Reine, as he entered the garden + of La Thuiliere, one June afternoon. + </p> + <p> + He had received official notice the evening before, through the mayor, of + the decease of “Germain-Claudet Sejournant, volunteer in the seventeenth + battalion of light infantry, killed in an engagement with the enemy, May + 20, 1859.” + </p> + <p> + Reine was standing between two hedges of large peasant-roses. At the first + words that fell from M. de Buxieres’s lips, she felt a presentiment of + misfortune. + </p> + <p> + “Claudet?” murmured she. + </p> + <p> + “He is dead,” replied Julien, almost inaudibly, “he fought bravely and was + killed at Montebello.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl remained motionless, and for a moment de Buxieres thought + she would be able to bear, with some degree of composure, this + announcement of the death in a foreign country of a man whom she had + refused as a husband. Suddenly she turned aside, took two or three steps, + then leaning her head and folded arms on the trunk of an adjacent tree, + she burst into a passion of tears. The convulsive movement of her + shoulders and stifled sobs denoted the violence of her emotion. M. de + Buxieres, alarmed at this outbreak, which he thought exaggerated, felt a + return of his old misgivings. He was jealous now of the dead man whom she + was so openly lamenting. Her continued weeping annoyed him; he tried to + arrest her tears by addressing some consolatory remarks to her; but, at + the very first word, she turned away, mounted precipitately the + kitchen-stairs, and disappeared, closing the door behind her. Some minutes + after, La Guite brought a message to de Buxieres that Reine wished to be + alone, and begged him to excuse her. + </p> + <p> + He took his departure, disconcerted, downhearted, and ready to weep + himself, over the crumbling of his hopes. As he was nearing the first + outlying houses of the village, he came across the Abbe Pernot, who was + striding along at a great rate, toward the chateau. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” exclaimed the priest, “how are you, Monsieur de Buxieres, I was just + going over to see you. Is it true that you have received bad news?” + </p> + <p> + Julien nodded his head affirmatively, and informed the cure of the sad + notice he had received. The Abbe’s countenance lengthened, his mouth took + on a saddened expression, and during the next few minutes he maintained an + attitude of condolence. + </p> + <p> + “Poor fellow!” he sighed, with a slight nasal intonation, “he did not have + a fair chance! To have to leave us at twenty-six years of age, and in full + health, it is very hard. And such a jolly companion; such a clever shot!” + </p> + <p> + Finally, not being naturally of a melancholy turn of mind, nor able to + remain long in a mournful mood, he consoled himself with one of the pious + commonplaces which he was in the habit of using for the benefit of others: + “The Lord is just in all His dealings, and holy in all His works; He + reckons the hairs of our heads, and our destinies are in His hands. We + shall celebrate a fine high mass for the repose of Claudet’s soul.” + </p> + <p> + He coughed, and raised his eyes toward Julien. + </p> + <p> + “I wished,” continued he, “to see you for two reasons, Monsieur de + Buxieres: first of all, to hear about Claudet, and secondly, to speak to + you on a matter—a very delicate matter—which concerns you, but + which also affects the safety of another person and the dignity of the + parish.” + </p> + <p> + Julien was gazing at him with a bewildered air. The cure pushed open the + little park gate, and passing through, added: + </p> + <p> + “Let us go into your place; we shall be better able to talk over the + matter.” + </p> + <p> + When they were underneath the trees, the Abbe resumed: + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur de Buxieres, do you know that you are at this present time + giving occasion for the tongues of my parishioners to wag more than is at + all reasonable? Oh!” continued he, replying to a remonstrating gesture of + his companion, “it is unpremeditated on your part, I am sure, but, all the + same, they talk about you—and about Reine.” + </p> + <p> + “About Mademoiselle Vincart?” exclaimed Julien, indignantly, “what can + they say about her?” + </p> + <p> + “A great many things which are displeasing to me. They speak of your + having sprained your ankle while in the company of Reine Vincart; of your + return home in her wagon; of your frequent visits to La Thuiliere, and I + don’t know what besides. And as mankind, especially the female portion, is + more disposed to discover evil than good, they say you are compromising + this young person. Now, Reine is living, as one may say, alone and + unprotected. It behooves me, therefore, as her pastor, to defend her + against her own weakness. That is the reason why I have taken upon myself + to beg you to be more circumspect, and not trifle with her reputation.” + </p> + <p> + “Her reputation?” repeated Julien, with irritation. “I do not understand + you, Monsieur le Cure!” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t, hey! Why, I explain my meaning pretty clearly. Human beings + are weak; it is easy to injure a girl’s reputation, when you try to make + yourself agreeable, knowing you can not marry her.” + </p> + <p> + “And why could I not marry her?” inquired Julien, coloring deeply. + </p> + <p> + “Because she is not in your own class, and you would not love her enough + to overlook the disparity, if marriage became necessary.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you know about it?” returned Julien, with violence. “I have no + such foolish prejudices, and the obstacles would not come from my side. + But, rest easy, Monsieur,” continued he, bitterly, “the danger exists only + in the imagination of your parishioners. Reine has never cared for me! It + was Claudet she loved!” + </p> + <p> + “Hm, hm!” interjected the cure, dubiously. + </p> + <p> + “You would not doubt it,” insisted de Buxieres, provoked at the Abbe’s + incredulous movements of his head, “if you had seen her, as I saw her, + melt into tears when I told her of Sejournant’s death. She did not even + wait until I had turned my back before she broke out in her lamentations. + My presence was of very small account. Ah! she has but too cruelly made me + feel how little she cares for me!” + </p> + <p> + “You love her very much, then?” demanded the Abbe, slyly, an almost + imperceptible smile curving his lips. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes! I love her,” exclaimed he, impetuously; then coloring and + drooping his head. “But it is very foolish of me to betray myself, since + Reine cares nothing at all for me!” + </p> + <p> + There was a moment of silence, during which the curb took a pinch of snuff + from a tiny box of cherry wood. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur de Buxieres;” said he, With a particularly oracular air, + “Claudet is dead, and the dead, like the absent, are always in the wrong. + But who is to say whether you are not mistaken concerning the nature of + Reine’s unhappiness? I will have that cleared up this very day. + Good-night; keep quiet and behave properly.” + </p> + <p> + Thereupon he took his departure, but, instead of returning to the + parsonage, he directed his steps hurriedly toward La Thuiliere. + Notwithstanding a vigorous opposition from La Guite, he made use of his + pastoral authority to penetrate into Reine’s apartment, where he shut + himself up with her. What he said to her never was divulged outside the + small chamber where the interview took place. He must, however, have found + words sufficiently eloquent to soften her grief, for when he had gone away + the young girl descended to the garden with a soothed although still + melancholy mien. She remained a long time in meditation in the thicket of + roses, but her meditations had evidently no bitterness in them, and a + miraculous serenity seemed to have spread itself over her heart like a + beneficent balm. + </p> + <p> + A few days afterward, during the unpleasant coolness of one of those + mornings, white with dew, which are the peculiar privilege of the + mountain-gorges in Langres, the bells of Vivey tolled for the dead, + announcing the celebration of a mass in memory of Claudet. The grand + chasserot having been a universal favorite with every one in the + neighborhood, the church was crowded. The steep descent from the high + plain overlooked the village. They came thronging in through the wooded + glens of Praslay; by the Auberive road and the forests of Charbonniere; + companions in hunting and social amusements, foresters and wearers of + sabots, campers in the woods, inmates of the farms embedded in the forests—none + failed to answer the call. The rustic, white-walled nave was too narrow to + contain them all, and the surplus flowed into the street. Arbeltier, the + village carpenter, had erected a rudimentary catafalque, which was draped + in black and bordered with wax tapers, and placed in front of the altar + steps. On the pall, embroidered with silver tears, were arranged large + bunches of wild flowers, sent from La Thuiliere, and spreading an aromatic + odor of fresh verdure around. The Abbe Pernot, wearing his insignia of + mourning, officiated. Through the side windows were seen portions of the + blue sky; the barking of the dogs and singing of birds were heard in the + distance; and even while listening to the ‘Dies irae’, the curb could not + help thinking of the robust and bright young fellow who, only the year + previous, had been so joyously traversing the woods, escorted by + Charbonneau and Montagnard, and who was now lying in a foreign land, in + the common pit of the little cemetery of Montebello. + </p> + <p> + As each verse of the funeral service was intoned, Manette Sejournant, + prostrate on her prie-dieu, interrupted the monotonous chant with + tumultuous sobs. Her grief was noisy and unrestrained, but those present + sympathized more with the quiet though profound sorrow of Reine Vincart. + The black dress of the young girl contrasted painfully with the dead + pallor of her complexion. She emitted no sighs, but, now and then, a + contraction of the lips, a trembling of the hands testified to the inward + struggle, and a single tear rolled slowly down her cheek. + </p> + <p> + From the corner where he had chosen to stand alone, Julien de Buxieres + observed, with pain, the mute eloquence of her profound grief, and became + once more a prey to the fiercest jealousy. He could not help envying the + fate of this deceased, who was mourned in so tender a fashion. Again the + mystery of an attachment so evident and so tenacious, followed by so + strange a rupture, tormented his uneasy soul. “She must have loved + Claudet, since she is in mourning for him,” he kept repeating to himself, + “and if she loved him, why this rupture, which she herself provoked, and + which drove the unhappy man to despair?” + </p> + <p> + At the close of the absolution, all the assistants defiled close beside + Julien, who was now standing in front of the catafalque. When it came to + Reine Vincart’s turn, she reached out her hand to M. de Buxieres; at the + same time, she gazed at him with such friendly sadness, and infused into + the clasp of her hand something so cordial and intimate that the young + man’s ideas were again completely upset. He seemed to feel as if it were + an encouragement to speak. When the men and women had dispersed, and a + surging of the crowd brought him nearer to Reine, he resolved to follow + her, without regard to the question of what people would say, or the + curious eyes that might be watching him. + </p> + <p> + A happy chance came in his way. Reine Vincart had gone home by the path + along the outskirts of the wood and the park enclosure. Julien went + hastily back to the chateau, crossed the gardens, and followed an interior + avenue, parallel to the exterior one, from which he was separated only by + a curtain of linden and nut trees. He could just distinguish, between the + leafy branches, Reine’s black gown, as she walked rapidly along under the + ashtrees. At the end of the enclosure, he pushed open a little gate, and + came abruptly out on the forest path. + </p> + <p> + On beholding him standing in advance of her, the young girl appeared more + surprised than displeased. After a momentary hesitation, she walked + quietly toward him. + </p> + <p> + “Mademoiselle Reine,” said he then, gently, “will you allow me to + accompany you as far as La Thuiliere?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” she replied, briefly. + </p> + <p> + She felt a presentiment that something decisive was about to take place + between her and Julien, and her voice trembled as she replied. Profiting + by the tacit permission, de Buxieres walked beside Reine; the path was so + narrow that their garments rustled against each other, yet he did not seem + in haste to speak, and the silence was interrupted only by the occasional + flight of a bird, or the crackling of some falling branches. + </p> + <p> + “Reine,” said Julien, suddenly, “you have so often and so kindly extended + to me the hand of friendship, that I have decided to speak frankly, and + open my heart to you. I love you, Reine, and have loved you for a long + time. But I have been so accustomed to hide what I think, I know so little + how to conduct myself in the varying circumstances of life, and I have so + much mistrust of myself, that I never have dared to tell you before now. + This will explain to you my stupid behavior. I am suffering the penalty + to-day, for while I was hesitating, another took my place; although he is + dead, his shadow stands between us, and I know that you love him still.” + </p> + <p> + She listened to him with bent head and half-closed eyes, and her heart + began to beat violently. + </p> + <p> + “I never have loved him in the way you suppose,” she replied, simply. + </p> + <p> + A gleam of light shot through Julien’s melancholy blue eyes. Both remained + silent. The green pasture-lands, bathed in the full noonday sun, were + lying before them. The grasshoppers were chirping in the bushes, and the + skylarks were soaring aloft with their joyous songs. Julien was + endeavoring to extract the exact meaning from the reply he had just heard. + He was partly reassured, but some points had still to be cleared up. + </p> + <p> + “But still,” said he, “you are lamenting his loss.” + </p> + <p> + A melancholy smile flitted for an instant over Reine’s pure, rosy lips. + </p> + <p> + “Are you jealous of my tears?” said she, softly. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes!” he exclaimed, with sudden exultation, “I love you so entirely + that I can not help envying Claudet his share in your affections! If his + death causes you such poignant regret, he must have been nearer and dearer + to you than those that survive.” + </p> + <p> + “You might reasonably suppose otherwise,” replied she, almost in a + whisper, “since I refused to marry him.” + </p> + <p> + He shook his head, seemingly unable to accept that positive statement. + </p> + <p> + Then Reine began to reflect that a man of his distrustful and despondent + temperament would, unless the whole truth were revealed to him, be + forevermore tormented by morbid and injurious misgivings. She knew he + loved her, and she wished him to love her in entire faith and security. + She recalled the last injunctions she had received from the Abbe Pernot, + and, leaning toward Julien, with tearful eyes and cheeks burning with + shame, she whispered in his ear the secret of her close relationship to + Claudet. + </p> + <p> + This painful and agitating confidence was made in so low a voice as to be + scarcely distinguished from the soft humming of the insects, or the gentle + twittering of the birds. + </p> + <p> + The sun was shining everywhere; the woods were as full of verdure and + blossoms as on the day when the young man had manifested his passion with + such savage violence. Hardly had the last words of her avowal expired on + Reine’s lips, when Julien de Buxieres threw his arms around her and fondly + kissed away the tears from her eyes. + </p> + <p> + This time he was not repelled. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS: + + Accustomed to hide what I think + Amusements they offered were either wearisome or repugnant + Consoled himself with one of the pious commonplaces + Dreaded the monotonous regularity of conjugal life + Fawning duplicity + Had not been spoiled by Fortune’s gifts + How small a space man occupies on the earth + Hypocritical grievances + I am not in the habit of consulting the law + I measure others by myself + It does not mend matters to give way like that + Like all timid persons, he took refuge in a moody silence + More disposed to discover evil than good + Nature’s cold indifference to our sufferings + Never is perfect happiness our lot + Opposing his orders with steady, irritating inertia + Others found delight in the most ordinary amusements + Plead the lie to get at the truth + Sensitiveness and disposition to self-blame + The ease with which he is forgotten + There are some men who never have had any childhood + Those who have outlived their illusions + Timidity of a night-bird that is made to fly in the day + To make a will is to put one foot into the grave + Toast and white wine (for breakfast) + Vague hope came over him that all would come right + Vexed, act in direct contradiction to their own wishes + Women: they are more bitter than death + Yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh their amusements + You have considerable patience for a lover + You must be pleased with yourself—that is more essential +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s A Woodland Queen, Complete, by Andre Theuriet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOODLAND QUEEN, COMPLETE *** + +***** This file should be named 3938-h.htm or 3938-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/3/3938/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Woodland Queen, Complete + +Author: Andre Theuriet + +Last Updated: March 3, 2009 +Release Date: October 5, 2006 [EBook #3938] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOODLAND QUEEN, COMPLETE *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +A WOODLAND QUEEN + +('Reine des Bois') + +By ANDRE THEURIET + +With a Preface by MELCHIOR DE VOGUE, of the French academy + + + + +ANDRE THEURIET + +CLAUDE-ADHEMAR-ANDRE THEURIET was born at Marly-le-Roi (Seine et Oise), +October 8,1833. His ancestors came from Lorraine. He was educated at +Bar-le-Duc and went to Paris in 1854 to study jurisprudence. After +finishing his courses he entered the Department of the Treasury, and +after an honorable career there, resigned as chef-de-bureau. He is a +poet, a dramatist, but, above all, a writer of great fiction. + +As early as 1857 the poems of Theuriet were printed in the 'Revue de +Paris' and the 'Revue des Deux Mondes'. His greatest novel, 'Reine des +Bois' (Woodland Queen), was crowned by the Academie Francaise in 1890. +To the public in general he became first known in 1870 by his 'Nouvelles +Intimes'. Since that time he has published a great many volumes of +poems, drama, and fiction. A great writer, he perhaps meets the wishes +of that large class of readers who seek in literature agreeable rest and +distraction, rather than excitement or aesthetic gratification. He is +one of the greatest spirits that survived the bankruptcy of Romanticism. +He excels in the description of country nooks and corners; of that +polite rusticity which knows nothing of the delving laborers of 'La +Terre', but only of graceful and learned leisure, of solitude nursed in +revery, and of passion that seems the springtide of germinating +nature. He possesses great originality and the passionate spirit of a +'paysagiste': pictures of provincial life and family-interiors seem to +appeal to his most pronounced sympathies. His taste is delicate, his +style healthy and frank, and at the same time limpid and animated. + +After receiving, in 1890, the Prix Vitet for the ensemble of his +literary productions, he was elected to the Academy in 1896. To the +stage Theuriet has given 'Jean-Marie', drama in verses (Odeon, February +11, 1871). It is yet kept on the repertoire together with his 'Maison de +deux Barbeaux (1865), Raymonde (1887), and Les Maugars (1901).' + +His novels, tales, and poems comprise a long list. 'Le Bleu et le +Noir' (1873) was also crowned by the Academy. Then followed, at short +intervals: 'Mademoiselle Guignon (1874.); Le Mariage de Gerard (1875); +La Fortune d'Angele (1876); Raymonde (1877),' a romance of modern life, +vastly esteemed by the reading public; 'Le Don Juan de Vireloup (1877); +Sous Bois, Impressions d'un Forestier (1878); Le Filleul d'un Marquis +(1878); Les Nids (1879); Le fils Maugars (1879); La Maison de deux +Barbeaux (1879); Toute seule (1880); Sauvageonne (1880), his most +realistic work; Les Enchantements de la Foret (1881); Le Livre de +la Payse (poetry, 1882); Madame Heurteloup (1882); Peche de Jeunesse +(1883); Le Journal de Tristan, mostly autobiographical; Bigarreau +(1885); Eusebe Lombard (1885); Les OEillets de Kerlatz (1885); Helene +(1886); Nos Oiseaux (beautiful verses, 1886); La Vie Rustique (1887); +Amour d'Automne (1888); Josette (1888); Deux Soeurs (1889); Contes pour +les Soirs d'Hiver (1890); Charme Dangereux (1891); La Ronde des Saisons +et des Mois (1889); La Charmeresse (1891); Fleur de Nice (1896); Bois +Fleury (1897); Refuge (1898); Villa Tranquille (1899); Claudette (1900); +La Petite Derniere (1901); Le Manuscrit du Chanoine (1902), etc. + +Besides this abundant production Andre Theuriet has also contributed +to various journals and magazines: 'Le Moniteur, Le Musee Universal, +L'Illustration, Le Figaro, Le Gaulois, La Republique Francaise, etc.; +he has lectured in Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, and has even found +leisure to fill the post as Mayor of Bourg-la-Reine (Seine et Oise), +perhaps no onerous office (1882-1900). He has also been an 'Officier de +la Legion d'Honneur' since 1895. + + MELCHIOR DE VOGUE + de l'Academie Francaise. + + + + +A WOODLAND QUEEN + + + + +BOOK 1. + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE UNFINISHED WILL + +Toward the middle of October, about the time of the beechnut harvest, +M. Eustache Destourbet, justice of the Peace of Auberive, accompanied +by his clerk, Etienne Seurrot, left his home at Abbatiale, in order to +repair to the Chateau of Vivey, where he was to take part in removing +the seals on some property whose owner had deceased. + +At that period, 1857, the canton of Auberive, which stretches its +massive forests like a thick wall between the level plain of Langres and +the ancient Chatillonais, had but one main road of communication: that +from Langres to Bar-sur-Aube. The almost parallel adjacent route, from +Auberive to Vivey, was not then in existence; and in order to reach +this last commune, or hamlet, the traveller had to follow a narrow +grass-bordered path, leading through the forest up the hill of +Charboniere, from the summit of which was seen that intermingling of +narrow gorges and wooded heights which is so characteristic of this +mountainous region. On all sides were indented horizons of trees, among +which a few, of more dominant height, projected their sharp outlines +against the sky; in the distance were rocky steeps, with here and +there a clump of brambles, down which trickled slender rivulets; still +farther, like little islands, half submerged in a sea of foliage, were +pastures of tender green dotted with juniper bushes, almost black in +their density, and fields of rye struggling painfully through the stony +soil--the entire scene presenting a picture of mingled wildness and +cultivation, aridity and luxuriant freshness. + +Justice Destourbet, having strong, wiry limbs, ascended cheerily the +steep mountain-path. His tall, spare figure, always in advance of his +companion, was visible through the tender green of the young oaks, +clothed in a brown coat, a black cravat, and a very high hat, which the +justice, who loved correctness in details, thought it his duty to don +whenever called upon to perform his judicial functions. The clerk, +Seurrot, more obese, and of maturer age, protuberant in front, and +somewhat curved in the back, dragged heavily behind, perspiring and out +of breath, trying to keep up with his patron, who, now and then seized +with compassion, would come to a halt and wait for his subordinate. + +"I trust," said Destourbet, after one of these intervals which enabled +the clerk to walk by his side, "I trust we shall find Maitre Arbillot +down there; we shall have need of his services in looking over and +filing the papers of the deceased." + +"Yes, Monsieur," answered Seurrot, "the notary will meet us at the +chateau; he went to Praslay to find out from his associates whether +Monsieur de Buxieres had not left a will in his keeping. In my humble +opinion, that is hardly likely; for the deceased had great confidence in +Maitre Arbillot, and it seems strange that he should choose to confide +his testamentary intentions to a rival notary." + +"Well," observed the justice, "perhaps when the seals are raised, we may +discover an autograph will in some corner of a drawer." + +"It is to be hoped so, Monsieur," replied Seurrot; "I wish it with all +my heart, for the sake of Claudet Sejournant, for he is a good fellow, +although on the sinister bar of the escutcheon, and a right jolly +companion." + +"Yes; and a marvellous good shot," interrupted the justice. "I recognize +all that; but even if he had a hundred other good qualities, the grand +chasserot, as they call him here, will be on the wrong side of the hedge +if Monsieur de Buxieres has unfortunately died intestate. In the eye of +the law, as you are doubtless aware, a natural child, who has not been +acknowledged, is looked upon as a stranger." + +"Monsieur de Buxieres always treated Claudet as his own son, and every +one knew that he so considered him." + +"Possibly, but if the law were to keep count of all such cases, there +would be no end to their labors; especially in all questions of the +'cujus'. Odouart de Buxieres was a terribly wild fellow, and they say +that these old beech-trees of Vivey forest could tell many a tale of his +exploits." + +"He, he!" assented the clerk, laughing slyly, and showing his toothless +gums, "there is some truth in that. The deceased had the devil in his +boots. He could see neither a deer nor a pretty girl without flying +in pursuit. Ah, yes! Many a trick has he played them--talk of your +miracles, forsooth!--well, Claudet was his favorite, and Monsieur de +Buxieres has told me, over and over again, that he would make him his +heir, and I shall be very much astonished if we do not find a will." + +"Seurrot, my friend," replied the justice, calmly, "you are too +experienced not to know that our country folks dread nothing so much as +testifying to their last wishes--to make a will, to them, is to put +one foot into the grave. They will not call in the priest or the notary +until the very last moment, and very often they delay until it is too +late. Now, as the deceased was at heart a rustic, I fear greatly that he +did not carry his intentions into execution." + +"That would be a pity--for the chateau, the lands, and the entire +fortune would go to an heir of whom Monsieur Odouart never had taken +account--to one of the younger branch of Buxieres, whom he had never +seen, having quarrelled with the family." + +"A cousin, I believe," said the justice. + +"Yes, a Monsieur Julien de Buxieres, who is employed by the Government +at Nancy." + +"In fact, then, and until we receive more ample information, he is, for +us, the sole legitimate heir. Has he been notified?" + +"Yes, Monsieur. He has even sent his power of attorney to Monsieur +Arbillot's clerk." + +"So much the better," said M. Destourbet, "in that case, we can proceed +regularly without delay." + +While thus conversing, they had traversed the forest, and emerged on +the hill overlooking Vivey. From the border line where they stood, they +could discover, between the half-denuded branches of the line of aspens, +the sinuous, deepset gorge, in which the Aubette wound its tortuous way, +at the extremity of which the village lay embanked against an almost +upright wall of thicket and pointed rocks. On the west this narrow +defile was closed by a mill, standing like a sentinel on guard, in +its uniform of solid gray; on each side of the river a verdant line +of meadow led the eye gradually toward the clump of ancient and lofty +ash-trees, behind which rose the Buxieres domicile. This magnificent +grove of trees, and a monumental fence of cast-iron, were the only +excuse for giving the title of chateau to a very commonplace structure, +of which the main body presented bare, whitewashed walls, flanked by +two small towers on turrets shaped like extinguishers, and otherwise +resembling very ordinary pigeon-houses. + +This chateau, or rather country squire's residence, had belonged to the +Odouart de Buxieres for more than two centuries. Before the Revolution, +Christophe de Buxieres, grandfather of the last proprietor, had owned a +large portion of Vivey, besides several forges in operation on the Aube +and Aubette rivers. He had had three children: one daughter, who had +embraced religion as a vocation; Claude Antoine, the elder son, to whom +he left his entire fortune, and Julien Abdon, the younger, officer in +the regiment of Rohan Soubise, with whom he was not on good terms. +After emigrating and serving in Conde's army, the younger Buxieres +had returned to France during the Restoration, had married, and been +appointed special receiver in a small town in southern France. But since +his return, he had not resumed relations with his elder brother, whom he +accused of having defrauded him of his rights. The older one had married +also, one of the Rochetaillee family; he had had but one son, Claude +Odouart de Buxieres, whose recent decease had brought about the visit of +the Justice of Auberive and his clerk. + +Claude de Buxieres had lived all his life at Vivey. Inheriting from his +father and grandfather flourishing health and a robust constitution, he +had also from them strong love for his native territory, a passion for +the chase, and a horror of the constraint and decorum exacted by worldly +obligations. He was a spoiled child, brought up by a weak-minded mother +and a preceptor without authority, who had succeeded in imparting to him +only the most elementary amount of instruction, and he had, from a very +early age, taken his own pleasure as his sole rule of life. He lived +side by side with peasants and poachers, and had himself become a +regular country yeoman, wearing a blouse, dining at the wine-shop, and +taking more pleasure in speaking the mountain patois than his own native +French. The untimely death of his father, killed by an awkward huntsman +while following the hounds, had emancipated him at the age of twenty +years. From this period he lived his life freely, as he understood it; +always in the open air, without hindrance of any sort, and entirely +unrestrained. + +Nothing was exaggerated in the stories told concerning him. He was a +handsome fellow, jovial and dashing in his ways, and lavish with his +money, so he met with few rebuffs. Married women, maids, widows, any +peasant girl of attractive form or feature, all had had to resist his +advances, and with more than one the resistance had been very slight. It +was no false report which affirmed that he had peopled the district +with his illegitimate progeny. He was not hard to please, either; +strawberry-pickers, shepherd-girls, wood-pilers, day-workers, all were +equally charming in his sight; he sought only youth, health, and a +kindly disposition. + +Marriage would have been the only safeguard for him; but aside from the +fact that his reputation of reckless huntsman and general scapegrace +naturally kept aloof the daughters of the nobles, and even the Langarian +middle classes, he dreaded more than anything else in the world the +monotonous regularity of conjugal life. He did not care to be restricted +always to the same dishes--preferring, as he said, his meat sometimes +roast, sometimes boiled, or even fried, according to his humor and his +appetite. + +Nevertheless, about the time that Claude de Buxieres attained his +thirty-sixth year, it was noticed that he had a more settled air, and +that his habits were becoming more sedentary. The chase was still his +favorite pastime, but he frequented less places of questionable repute, +seldom slept away from home, and seemed to take greater pleasure in +remaining under his own roof. The cause of this change was ascribed +by some to the advance of years creeping over him; others, more +perspicacious, verified a curious coincidence between the entrance of a +new servant in the chateau and the sudden good behavior of Claude. + +This girl, a native of Aprey, named Manette Sejournant, was not, +strictly speaking, a beauty, but she had magnificent blonde hair, gray, +caressing eyes, and a silvery, musical voice. Well built, supple as an +adder, modest and prudish in mien, she knew how to wait upon and cosset +her master, accustoming him by imperceptible degrees to prefer the +cuisine of the chateau to that of the wine-shops. After a while, by dint +of making her merits appreciated, and her presence continually desired, +she became the mistress of Odouart de Buxieres, whom she managed to +retain by proving herself immeasurably superior, both in culinary skill +and in sentiment, to the class of females from whom he had hitherto been +seeking his creature comforts. + +Matters went on in this fashion for a year or so, until Manette went +on a three months' vacation. When she reappeared at the chateau, she +brought with her an infant, six weeks old, which she declared was the +child of a sister, lately deceased, but which bore a strange likeness +to Claude. However, nobody made remarks, especially as M. de Buxieres, +after he had been drinking a little, took no pains to hide his +paternity. He himself held the little fellow at the baptismal font, +and later, consigned him to the care of the Abbe Pernot, the curate of +Vivey, who prepared the little Claudet for his first communion, at the +same time that he instructed him in reading, writing, and the first +four rules of arithmetic. As soon as the lad reached his fifteenth year, +Claude put a gun into his hands, and took him hunting with him. Under +the teaching of M. de Buxieres, Claudet did honor to his master, and +soon became such an expert that he could give points to all the huntsmen +of the canton. None could equal him in tracing a dog; he knew all the +passes, by-paths, and enclosures of the forest; swooped down upon the +game with the keen scent and the velocity of a bird of prey, and never +was known to miss his mark. Thus it was that the country people +surnamed him the 'grand chasserot', the term which we here apply to +the sparrow-hawk. Besides all these advantages, he was handsome, alert, +straight, and well made, dark-haired and olive-skinned, like all the +Buxieres; he had his mother's caressing glance, but also the overhanging +eyelids and somewhat stern expression of his father, from whom he +inherited also a passionate temperament, and a spirit averse to all +kinds of restraint. They were fond of him throughout the country, and +M. de Buxieres, who felt his youth renewed in him, was very proud of +his adroitness and his good looks. He would invite him to his pleasure +parties, and make him sit at his own table, and confided unhesitatingly +all his secrets to him. In short, Claudet, finding himself quite at home +at the chateau, naturally considered himself as one of the family. There +was but one formality wanting to that end: recognizance according to +law. At certain favorable times, Manette Sejournant would gently urge M. +de Buxieres to have the situation legally authorized, to which he would +invariably reply, from a natural dislike to taking legal advisers into +his confidence: + +"Don't worry about anything; I have no direct heir, and Claudet will +have all my fortune; my will and testament will be worth more to him +than a legal acknowledgment." + +He would refer so often and so decidedly to his settled intention of +making Claudet his sole heir, that Manette, who knew very little about +what was required in such cases, considered the matter already secure. +She continued in unsuspecting serenity until Claude de Buxieres, in his +sixty-second year, died suddenly from a stroke of apoplexy. + +The will, which was to insure Claudet's future prospects, and to which +the deceased had so often alluded, did it really exist? Neither Manette +nor the grand chasserot had been able to obtain any certain knowledge +in the matter, the hasty search for it after the decease having been +suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the mayor of Vivey; and by the +proceedings of the justice of the peace. The seals being once imposed, +there was no means, in the absence of a verified will, of ascertaining +on whom the inheritance devolved, until the opening of the inventory; +and thus the Sejournants awaited with feverish anxiety the return of the +justice of the peace and his bailiff. + +M. Destourbet and Stephen Seurrot pushed open a small door to the right +of the main gateway, passed rapidly under the arched canopy of beeches, +the leaves of which, just touched by the first frost, were already +falling from the branches, and, stamping their muddy feet on the outer +steps, advanced into the vestibule. The wide corridor, flagged with +black-and-white pavement, presented a cheerless aspect of bare walls +discolored by damp, and adorned alternately by stags' heads and family +portraits in a crumbling state of decay. The floor was thus divided: on +the right, the dining-room and the kitchen; on the left, drawing-room +and a billiard-hall. A stone staircase, built in one of the turrets, +led to the upper floors. Only one of these rooms, the kitchen, which the +justice and his bailiff entered, was occupied by the household. A cold +light, equally diffused in all directions, and falling from a large +window, facing north across the gardens, allowed every detail of the +apartment to be seen clearly; opposite the door of entrance, the tall +chimney-place, with its deep embrasure, gave ample shelter to the +notary, who installed himself upon a stool and lighted his pipe at +one of the embers, while his principal clerk sat at the long table, +itemizing the objects contained in the inventory. + +In the opposite angle of the chimney-place, a lad of twenty-four years, +no other than Claudet, called by the friendly nickname of the grand +chasserot, kept company with the notary, while he toyed, in an absent +fashion, with the silky ears of a spaniel, whose fluffy little head lay +in his lap. Behind him, Manette Sejournant stood putting away her shawl +and prayerbook in a closet. A mass had been said in the morning at the +church, for the repose of the soul of the late Claude de Buxieres, +and mother and son had donned their Sunday garments to assist at the +ceremony. + +Claudet appeared ill at ease in his black, tightly buttoned suit, and +kept his eyes with their heavy lids steadily bent upon the head of the +animal. To all the notary's questions, he replied only by monosyllables, +passing his fingers every now and then through his bushy brown locks, +and twining them in his forked beard, a sure indication with him of +preoccupation and bad humor. + +Manette had acquired with years an amount of embonpoint which detracted +materially from the supple and undulating beauty which had so captivated +Claude de Buxieres. The imprisonment of a tight corset caused undue +development of the bust at the expense of her neck and throat, which +seemed disproportionately short and thick. Her cheeks had lost their +gracious curves and her double chin was more pronounced. All that +remained of her former attractions were the caressing glance of her eye, +tresses still golden and abundant, especially as seen under the close +cap of black net, white teeth, and a voice that had lost nothing of its +insinuating sweetness. + +As the justice and his bailiff entered, Maitre Arbillot, and a petulant +little man with squirrel-like eyes and a small moustache, arose quickly. + +"Good-morning, gentlemen," he cried. "I was anxiously expecting you--if +you are willing, we will begin our work at once, for at this season +night comes on quickly." + +"At your orders, Maitre Arbillot," replied the justice, laying his hat +down carefully on the window-sill; "we shall draw out the formula for +raising the seals. By the way, has no will yet been found?" + +"None to my knowledge. It is quite clear to me that the deceased made no +testament, none at least before a notary." + +"But," objected M. Destourbet, "he may have executed a holograph +testament." + +"It is certain, gentlemen," interrupted Manette, with her soft, +plaintive voice, "that our dear gentleman did not go without putting his +affairs in order. 'Manette,' said he, not more than two weeks ago; 'I do +not intend you shall be worried, neither you nor Claudet, when I am +no longer here. All shall be arranged to your satisfaction.' Oh! he +certainly must have put down his last wishes on paper. Look well around, +gentlemen; you will find a will in some drawer or other." + +While she applied her handkerchief ostentatiously to her nose and wiped +her eyes, the justice exchanged glances with the notary. + +"Maitre Arbillot, you think doubtless with me, that we ought to begin +operations by examining the furniture of the bedroom?" + +The notary inclined his head, and notified his chief clerk to remove his +papers to the first floor. + +"Show us the way, Madame," said the justice to the housekeeper; and the +quartet of men of the law followed Manette, carrying with them a huge +bunch of keys. + +Claudet had risen from his seat when the justice arrived. As the party +moved onward, he followed hesitatingly, and then halted, uncertain how +to decide between the desire to assist in the search and the fear of +intruding. The notary, noticing his hesitation; called to him: + +"Come, you also, Claudet, are not you one of the guardians of the +seals?" + +And they wended their silent way, up the winding staircase of the +turret. The high, dark silhouette of Manette headed the procession; then +followed the justice, carefully choosing his foothold on the well-worn +stairs, the asthmatic old bailiff, breathing short and hard, the notary, +beating his foot impatiently every time that Seurrot stopped to take +breath, and finally the principal clerk and Claudet. + +Manette, opening noiselessly the door of the deceased's room, entered, +as if it were a church, the somewhat stifling apartment. Then she threw +open the shutters, and the afternoon sun revealed an interior decorated +and furnished in the style of the close of the eighteenth century. An +inlaid secretary, with white marble top and copper fittings, stood near +the bed, of which the coverings had been removed, showing the mattresses +piled up under a down bed covered with blue-and-white check. + +As soon as the door was closed, the clerk settled himself at the table +with his packet of stamped paper, and began to run over, in a low, rapid +voice, the preliminaries of the inventory. In this confused murmuring +some fragments of phrases would occasionally strike the ear: "Chateau +of Vivey--deceased the eighth of October last--at the requisition +of Marie-Julien de Buxieres, comptroller of direct contributions +at Nancy--styling himself heir to Claude Odouart de Buxieres, his +cousin-german by blood--" + +This last phrase elicited from Claudet a sudden movement of surprise. + +"The inventory," explained Maitre Arbillot, "is drawn up at the +requisition of the only heir named, to whom we must make application, if +necessary, for the property left by the deceased." + +There was a moment of silence, interrupted by a plaintive sigh from +Manette Sejournant and afterward by the tearing sound of the sealed +bands across the bureau, the drawers and pigeonholes of which were +promptly ransacked by the justice and his assistant. + +Odouart de Buxieres had not been much of a scribe. A double Liege +almanac, a memorandum-book, in which he had entered the money received +from the sale of his wood and the dates of the payments made by his +farmers; a daybook, in which he had made careful note of the number of +head of game killed each day--that was all the bureau contained. + +"Let us examine another piece of furniture," murmured the justice. + +Manette and Claudet remained unmoved. They apparently knew the reason +why none but insignificant papers had been found in the drawers, for +their features expressed neither surprise nor disappointment. + +Another search through a high chest of drawers with large copper handles +was equally unprofitable. Then they attacked the secretary, and after +the key had been turned twice in the noisy lock, the lid went slowly +down. The countenances of both mother and son, hitherto so unconcerned, +underwent a slight but anxious change. The bailiff continued his +scrupulous search of each drawer under the watchful eye of the justice, +finding nothing but documents of mediocre importance; old titles to +property, bundles of letters, tradesmen's bills, etc. Suddenly, at the +opening of the last drawer, a significant "Ah!" from Stephen Seurrot +drew round him the heads of the justice and the notary, and made Manette +and Claudet, standing at the foot of the bed, start with expectation. On +the dark ground of a rosewood box lay a sheet of white paper, on which +was written: + +"This is my testament." + +With the compression of lip and significant shake of the head of a +physician about to take in hand a hopeless case of illness, the justice +made known to his two neighbors the text of the sheet of paper, on which +Claude Odouart de Buxieres had written, in his coarse, ill-regulated +hand, the following lines: + +"Not knowing my collateral heirs, and caring nothing about them, I give +and bequeath all my goods and chattels--" + +The testator had stopped there, either because he thought it better, +before going any further, to consult some legal authority more +experienced than himself, or because he had been interrupted in his +labor and had deferred completing this testifying of his last will until +some future opportunity. + +M. Destourbet, after once more reading aloud this unfinished sentence, +exclaimed: + +"Monsieur de Buxieres did not finish--it is much to be regretted!" + +"My God! is it possible?" interrupted the housekeeper; "you think, then, +Monsieur justice, that Claudet does not inherit anything?" + +"According to my idea," replied he, "we have here only a scrap of +unimportant paper; the name of the legatee is not indicated, and even +were it indicated, the testament would still be without force, being +neither dated nor signed." + +"But perhaps Monsieur de Buxieres made another?" + +"I think not; I am more inclined to suppose that he did not have time to +complete the arrangements that he wished to make, and the proof lies +in the very existence of this incomplete document in the only piece of +furniture in which he kept his papers." Then, turning toward the notary +and the bailiff: "You are doubtless, gentlemen, of the same opinion as +myself; it will be wise, therefore, to defer raising the remainder of +the seals until the arrival of the legal heir. Maitre Arbillot, Monsieur +Julien de Buxieres must be notified, and asked to be here in Vivey as +soon as possible." + +"I will write this evening," said the notary; "in the meanwhile, the +keeping of the seals will be continued by Claudet Sejournant." + +The justice inclined his head to Manette, who was standing, pale +and motionless, at the foot of the bed; stunned by the unexpected +announcement; the bailiff and the chief clerk, after gathering up their +papers, shook hands sympathizingly with Claudet. + +"I am grieved to the heart, my dear fellow," said the notary, in his +turn, "at what has happened! It is hard to swallow, but you will always +keep a courageous heart, and be able to rise to the top; besides, even +if, legally, you own nothing here, this unfinished testament of Monsieur +de Buxieres will constitute a moral title in your favor, and I trust +that the heir will have enough justice and right feeling to treat you +properly." + +"I want nothing from him!" muttered Claudet, between his teeth; then, +leaving his mother to attend to the rest of the legal fraternity, +he went hastily to his room, next that of the deceased, tore off his +dress-coat, slipped on a hunting-coat, put on his gaiters, donned his +old felt hat, and descended to the kitchen, where Manette was sitting, +huddled up in front of the embers, weeping and bewailing her fate. + +Since she had become housekeeper and mistress of the Buxieres household, +she had adopted a more polished speech and a more purely French mode of +expression, but in this moment of discouragement and despair the rude +dialect of her native country rose to her lips, and in her own patois +she inveighed against the deceased: + +"Ah! the bad man, the mean man! Didn't I tell him, time and again, that +he would leave us in trouble! Where can we seek our bread this late in +the day? We shall have to beg in the streets!" + +"Hush! hush! mother," interrupted Claudet, sternly, placing his hand +on her shoulder, "it does not mend matters to give way like that. Calm +thyself--so long as I have hands on the ends of my arms, we never shall +be beggars. But I must go out--I need air." + +And crossing the gardens rapidly, he soon reached the outskirts of the +brambly thicket. + +This landscape, both rugged and smiling in its wildness, hardly conveyed +the idea of silence, but rather of profound meditation, absolute calm; +the calmness of solitude, the religious meditation induced by spacious +forest depths. The woods seemed asleep, and the low murmurings, +which from time to time escaped from their recesses, seemed like the +unconscious sighs exhaled by a dreamer. The very odor peculiar to trees +in autumn, the penetrating and spicy odor of the dying leaves, had a +delicate and subtle aroma harmonizing with this quietude of fairyland. + +Now and then, through the vaporous golden atmosphere of the late autumn +sunset, through the pensive stillness of the hushed woods, the distant +sound of feminine voices, calling to one another, echoed from the hills, +and beyond the hedges was heard the crackling of branches, snapped by +invisible hands, and the rattle of nuts dropping on the earth. It was +the noise made by the gatherers of beechnuts, for in the years when +the beech produces abundantly, this harvest, under the sanction of the +guardians of the forest, draws together the whole population of women +and children, who collect these triangular nuts, from which an excellent +species of oil is procured. + +Wending his way along the copse, Claudet suddenly perceived, through +an opening in the trees, several large white sheets spread under the +beeches, and covered with brown heaps of the fallen fruit. One or two +familiar voices hailed him as he passed, but he was not disposed to +gossip, for the moment, and turned abruptly into the bushwood, so as to +avoid any encounter. The unexpected event which had just taken place, +and which was to change his present mode of life, as well as his plans +for the future, was of too recent occurrence for him to view it with any +degree of calmness. + +He was like a man who has received a violent blow on the head, and is +for the moment stunned by it. He suffered vaguely, without seeking to +know from what cause; he had not been able as yet to realize the extent +of his misfortune; and every now and then a vague hope came over him +that all would come right. + +So on he went, straight ahead, his eyes on the ground, and his hands in +his pockets, until he emerged upon one of the old forest roads where the +grass had begun to burst through the stony interstices; and there, in +the distance, under the light tracery of weaving branches, a delicate +female silhouette was outlined on the dark background. A young woman, +dressed in a petticoat of gray woolen material, and a jacket of the +same, close-fitting at the waist, her arms bare to the elbows and +supporting on her head a bag of nuts enveloped in a white sheet, +advanced toward him with a quick and rhythmical step. The manner in +which she carried her burden showed the elegance of her form, the +perfect grace of her chest and throat. She was not very tall, but finely +proportioned. As she approached, the slanting rays of the setting sun +shone on her heavy brown hair, twisted into a thick coil at the back of +her head, and revealed the amber paleness of her clear skin, the long +oval of her eyes, the firm outline of her chin and somewhat full lips; +and Claudet, roused from his lethargic reverie by the sound of her rapid +footsteps, raised his eyes, and recognized the daughter of Pere Vincart, +the proprietor of La Thuiliere. + +At the same moment, the young girl, doubtless fatigued with the weight +of her bundle, had laid it down by the roadside while she recovered her +breath. In a few seconds Claudet was by her side. + +"Good-evening, Reine," said he, in a voice singularly softened in tone, +"shall I give you a lift with that?" + +"Good-evening, Claudet," replied she; "truly, now, that is not an offer +to be refused. The weight is greater than I thought." + +"Have you come far thus laden?" + +"No; our people are nutting in the Bois des Ronces; I came on before, +because I don't like to leave father alone for long at a time and, as I +was coming, I wished to bring my share with me." + +"No one can reproach you with shirking work, Reine, nor of being afraid +to take hold of things. To see you all day trotting about the farm, no +one would think you had been to school in the city, like a young lady." + +And Claudet's countenance became irradiated with a glow of innocent and +tender admiration. It was evident that his eyes looked with delight into +the dark limpid orbs of Reine, on her pure and rosy lips, and on her +partly uncovered neck, the whiteness of which two little brown moles +only served to enhance. + +"How can it be helped?" replied she, smiling, "it must be done; when +there is no man in the house to give orders, the women must take a hand +themselves. My father was not very strong when my mother died, and since +he had that attack he has become quite helpless, and I have had to take +his place." + +While she spoke, Claudet took hold of the bundle, and, lifting it as if +it had been a feather, threw it over his shoulder. They walked on, +side by side, in the direction of La Thuliere; the sun had set, and a +penetrating moisture, arising from the damp soil of the adjacent pasture +lands, encircled them in a bluish fog. + +"So he is worse, your father, is he?" said Claudet, after a moment's +silence. + +"He can not move from his armchair, his mental faculties are weakening, +and I am obliged to amuse him like a child. But how is it with yourself, +Claudet?" she asked, turning her frank, cordial gaze upon him. "You +have had your share of trouble since we last met, and great events have +happened. Poor Monsieur de Buxieres was taken away very suddenly!" + +The close relationship that united Claudet with the deceased was a +secret to no one; Reine, as well as all the country people, knew and +admitted the fact, however irregular, as one sanctioned by time and +continuity. Therefore, in speaking to the young man, her voice had that +tone of affectionate interest usual in conversing with a bereaved friend +on a death that concerns him. + +The countenance of the 'grand chasserot', which had cleared for a time +under her influence, became again clouded. + +"Yes;" sighed he, "he was taken too soon!" + +"And now, Claudet, you are sole master at the chateau?" + +"Neither--master--nor even valet!" he returned, with such bitterness +that the young girl stood still with surprise. + +"What do you mean?" she exclaimed, "was it not agreed with Monsieur de +Buxieres that you should inherit all his property?" + +"Such was his intention, but he did not have time to put it in +execution; he died without leaving any will, and, as I am nothing in +the eye of the law, the patrimony will go to a distant relative, a de +Buxieres whom Monsieur Odouart did not even know." + +Reine's dark eyes filled with tears. + +"What a misfortune!" she exclaimed, "and who could have expected such a +thing? Oh! my poor Claudet!" + +She was so moved, and spoke with such sincere compassion, that Claudet +was perhaps misled, and thought he read in her glistening eyes a +tenderer sentiment than pity; he trembled, took her hand, and held it +long in his. + +"Thank you, Reine! Yes," he added, after a pause, "it is a rude shock +to wake up one morning without hearth or home, when one has been in the +habit of living on one's income." + +"What do you intend to do?" inquired Reine, gravely. + +Claudet shrugged his shoulders. + +"To work for my bread--or, if I can find no suitable trade, enlist in a +regiment. I think I should not make a bad soldier. Everything is going +round and round in my head like a millwheel. The first thing to do is +to see about my mother, who is lamenting down there at the house--I must +find her a comfortable place to live." + +The young girl had become very thoughtful. + +"Claudet," replied she, "I know you are very proud, very sensitive, and +could not wish to hurt your feelings. Therefore, I pray you not to take +in ill part that which I am going to say-in short, if you should get +into any trouble, you will, I hope, remember that you have friends at La +Thuiliere, and that you will come to seek us." + +The 'grand chasserot' reddened. + +"I shall never take amiss what you may say to me, Reine!" faltered he; +"for I can not doubt your good heart--I have known it since the time +when we played together in the cure's garden, while waiting for the time +to repeat the catechism. But there is no hurry as yet; the heir will not +arrive for several weeks, and by that time, I trust, we shall have had a +chance to turn round." + +They had reached the boundary of the forest where the fields of La +Thuiliere begin. + +By the last fading light of day they could distinguish the black outline +of the ancient forge, now become a grange, and a light was twinkling in +one of the low windows of the farm. + +"Here you are at home," continued Claudet, laying the bundle of nuts +on the flat stone wall which surrounded the farm buildings; "I wish you +good-night." + +"Will you not come in and get warm?" + +"No; I must go back," replied he. + +"Good-night, then, Claudet; au revoir and good courage!" + +He gazed at her for a moment in the deepening twilight, then, abruptly +pressing her hands: + +"Thank you, Reine," murmured he in a choking voice, "you are a good +girl, and I love you very much!" + +He left the young mistress of the farm precipitately, and plunged again +into the woods. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE HEIR TO VIVEY + +While these events were happening at Vivey, the person whose +name excited the curiosity and the conversational powers of the +villagers--Marie-Julien de Buxieres--ensconced in his unpretentious +apartment in the Rue Stanislaus, Nancy, still pondered over the +astonishing news contained in the Auberive notary's first letter. The +announcement of his inheritance, dropping from the skies, as it were, +had found him quite unprepared, and, at first, somewhat sceptical. He +remembered, it is true, hearing his father once speak of a cousin who +had remained a bachelor and who owned a fine piece of property in some +corner of the Haute Marne; but, as all intercourse had long been broken +off between the two families, M. de Buxieres the elder had mentioned the +subject only in relation to barely possible hopes which had very little +chance of being realized. Julien had never placed any reliance on this +chimerical inheritance, and he received almost with indifference the +official announcement of the death of Claude Odouart de Buxieres. + +By direct line from his late father, he became in fact the only +legitimate heir of the chateau and lands of Vivey; still, there was a +strong probability that Claude de Buxieres had made a will in favor of +some one more within his own circle. The second missive from Arbillot +the notary, announcing that the deceased had died intestate, and +requesting the legal heir to come to Vivey as soon as possible, put +a sudden end to the young man's doubts, which merged into a complex +feeling, less of joy than of stupefaction. + +Up to the present time, Julien de Buxieres had not been spoiled by +Fortune's gifts. His parents, who had died prematurely, had left him +nothing. He lived in a very mediocre style on his slender salary as +comptroller of direct contributions, and, although twenty-seven years +old, was housed like a supernumerary in a small furnished room on the +second floor above the ground. At this time his physique was that of +a young man of medium height, slight, pale, and nervous, sensitive in +disposition, reserved and introspective in habit. His delicate features, +his intelligent forehead surmounted by soft chestnut hair, his pathetic +blue eyes, his curved, dissatisfied mouth, shaded by a slight, dark +moustache, indicated a melancholy, unquiet temperament and precocious +moral fatigue. + +There are some men who never have had any childhood, or rather, whose +childhood never has had its happy time of laughter. Julien was one of +these. That which imparts to childhood its charm and enjoyment is the +warm and tender atmosphere of the home; the constant and continued +caressing of a mother; the gentle and intimate creations of one's native +country where, by degrees, the senses awaken to the marvellous sights +of the outer world; where the alternating seasons in their course first +arouse the student's ambition and cause the heart of the adolescent +youth to thrill with emotion; where every street corner, every tree, +every turn of the soil, has some history to relate. Julien had had no +experiences of this peaceful family life, during which are stored +up such treasures of childhood's recollections. He was the son of a +government official, who had been trotted over all France at the +caprice of the administration, and he had never known, so to speak, any +associations of the land in which he was born, or the hearth on which +he was raised. Chance had located his birth in a small town among the +Pyrenees, and when he was two years old he had been transplanted to one +of the industrial cities of Artois. At the end of two years more +came another removal to one of the midland towns, and thus his tender +childhood had been buffeted about, from east to west, from north to +south, taking root nowhere. All he could remember of these early years +was an unpleasant impression of hasty packing and removal, of long +journeys by diligence, and of uncomfortable resettling. His mother had +died just as he was entering upon his eighth year; his father, absorbed +in official work, and not caring to leave the child to the management +of servants, had placed him at that early age in a college directed +by priests. Julien thus passed his second term of childhood, and his +boyhood was spent behind these stern, gloomy walls, bending resignedly +under a discipline which, though gentle, was narrow and suspicious, +and allowed little scope for personal development. He obtained only +occasional glimpses of nature during the monotonous daily walks across +a flat, meaningless country. At very rare intervals, one of his father's +colleagues would take him visiting; but these stiff and ceremonious +calls only left a wearisome sensation of restraint and dull fatigue. +During the long vacation he used to rejoin his father, whom he almost +always found in a new residence. The poor man had alighted there for +a time, like a bird on a tree; and among these continually shifting +scenes, the lad had felt himself more than ever a stranger among +strangers; so that he experienced always a secret though joyless +satisfaction in returning to the cloisters of the St. Hilaire college +and submitting himself to the yoke of the paternal but inflexible +discipline of the Church. + +He was naturally inclined, by the tenderness of his nature, toward a +devotional life, and accepted with blind confidence the religious +and moral teaching of the reverend fathers. A doctrine which preached +separation from profane things; the attractions of a meditative and +pious life, and mistrust of the world and its perilous pleasures, +harmonized with the shy and melancholy timidity of his nature. Human +beings, especially women, inspired him with secret aversion, which was +increased by consciousness of his awkwardness and remissness whenever he +found himself in the society of women or young girls. + +The beauties of nature did not affect him; the flowers in the +springtime, the glories of the summer sun, the rich coloring of autumn +skies, having no connection in his mind with any joyous recollection, +left him cold and unmoved; he even professed an almost hostile +indifference to such purely material sights as disturbing and dangerous +to the inner life. He lived within himself and could not see beyond. + +His mind, imbued with a mystic idealism, delighted itself in solitary +reading or in meditations in the house of prayer. The only emotion he +ever betrayed was caused by the organ music accompanying the hymnal +plain-song, and by the pomp of religious ceremony. + +At the age of eighteen, he left the St. Hilaire college in order to +prepare his baccalaureate, and his father, becoming alarmed at his +increasing moodiness and mysticism, endeavored to infuse into him the +tastes and habits of a man of the world by introducing him into the +society of his equals in the town where he lived; but the twig was +already bent, and the young man yielded with bad grace to the change of +regime; the amusements they offered were either wearisome or repugnant +to him. He would wander aimlessly through the salons where they were +playing whist, where the ladies played show pieces at the piano, and +where they spoke a language he did not understand. He was quite aware +of his worldly inaptitude, and that he was considered awkward, dull, and +ill-tempered, and the knowledge of this fact paralyzed and frightened +him still more. He could not disguise his feeling of ennui sufficiently +to prevent the provincial circles from being greatly offended; they +declared unanimously that young de Buxieres was a bear, and decided to +leave him alone. The death of his father, which happened just as the +youth was beginning his official cares, put a sudden end to all this +constraint. He took advantage of his season of mourning to resume his +old ways; and returned with a sigh of relief to his solitude, his books, +and his meditations. According to the promise of the Imitation, he found +unspeakable joys in his retirement; he rose at break of day, assisted at +early mass, fulfilled, conscientiously, his administrative duties, took +his hurried meals in a boardinghouse, where he exchanged a few polite +remarks with his fellow inmates, then shut himself up in his room to +read Pascal or Bossuet until eleven o'clock. + +He thus attained his twenty-seventh year, and it was into the calm of +this serious, cloister-like life, that the news fell of the death of +Claude de Buxieres and of the unexpected inheritance that had accrued to +him. + +After entering into correspondence with the notary, M. Arbillot, and +becoming assured of the reality of his rights and of the necessity +of his presence at Vivey, he had obtained leave of absence from his +official duties, and set out for Haute Marne. On the way, he could not +help marvelling at the providential interposition which would enable him +to leave a career for which he felt he had no vocation, and to pursue +his independent life, according to his own tastes, and secured from any +fear of outside cares. According to the account given by the notary, +Claude de Buxieres's fortune might be valued at two hundred thousand +francs, in furniture and other movables, without reckoning the chateau +and the adjacent woods. This was a much larger sum than had ever been +dreamed of by Julien de Buxieres, whose belongings did not amount in all +to three thousand francs. He made up his mind, therefore, that, as soon +as he was installed at Vivey, he would change his leave of absence to an +unlimited furlough of freedom. He contemplated with serene satisfaction +this perspective view of calm and solitary retirement in a chateau lost +to view in the depths of the forest, where he could in perfect security +give himself up to the studious contemplative life which he loved +so much, far from all worldly frivolities and restraint. He already +imagined himself at Vivey, shut up in his carefully selected library; +he delighted in the thought of having in future to deal only with the +country people, whose uncivilized ways would be like his own, and among +whom his timidity would not be remarked. + +He arrived at Langres in the afternoon of a foggy October day, and +inquired immediately at the hotel how he could procure a carriage to +take him that evening to Vivey. They found him a driver, but, to his +surprise, the man refused to take the journey until the following +morning, on account of the dangerous state of the crossroads, where +vehicles might stick fast in the mire if they ventured there after +nightfall. Julien vainly endeavored to effect an arrangement with him, +and the discussion was prolonged in the courtyard of the hotel. Just +as the man was turning away, another, who had overheard the end of the +colloquy, came up to young de Buxieres, and offered to undertake the +journey for twenty francs. + +"I have a good horse," said he to Julien; "I know the roads, and will +guarantee that we reach Vivey before nightfall." + +The bargain was quickly made; and in half an hour, Julien de Buxieres +was rolling over the plain above Langres, in a shaky old cabriolet, the +muddy hood of which bobbed over at every turn of the wheel, while the +horse kept up a lively trot over the stones. + +The clouds were low, and the road lay across bare and stony prairies, +the gray expanse of which became lost in the distant mist. This +depressing landscape would have made a disagreeable impression on a less +unobserving traveller, but, as we have said, Julien looked only +inward, and the phenomena of the exterior world influenced him only +unconsciously. Half closing his eyes, and mechanically affected by the +rhythmical tintinnabulation of the little bells, hanging around the +horse's neck, he had resumed his meditations, and considered how he +should arrange his life in this, to him, unknown country, which would +probably be his own for some time to come. Nevertheless, when, at the +end of the level plain, the road turned off into the wooded region, the +unusual aspect of the forest aroused his curiosity. The tufted woods and +lofty trees, in endless succession under the fading light, impressed him +by their profound solitude and their religious silence. His loneliness +was in sympathy with the forest, which seemed contemporary with the +Sleeping Beauty of the wood, the verdant walls of which were to separate +him forever from the world of cities. Henceforth, he could be himself, +could move freely, dress as he wished, or give way to his dreaming, +without fearing to encounter the ironical looks of idle and wondering +neighbors. For the first time since his departure from his former home, +he experienced a feeling of joy and serenity; the influence of the +surroundings, so much in harmony with his wishes, unlocked his tongue, +and made him communicative. + +He made up his mind to speak to the guide, who was smoking at his side +and whipping his horse. + +"Are we far from Vivey now?" + +"That depends, Monsieur--as the crow flies, the distance is not very +great, and if we could go by the roads, we should be there in one short +hour. Unfortunately, on turning by the Allofroy farm, we shall have to +leave the highroad and take the cross path; and then--my gracious! we +shall plunge into the ditch down there, and into perdition." + +"You told me that you were well acquainted with the roads!" + +"I know them, and I do not know them. When it comes to these +crossroads, one is sure of nothing. They change every year, and each new +superintendent cuts a way out through the woods according to his fancy. +The devil himself could not find his way." + +"Yet you have been to Vivey before?" + +"Oh, yes; five or six years ago; I used often to take parties of +hunters to the chateau. Ah! Monsieur, what a beautiful country it is for +hunting; you can not take twenty steps along a trench without seeing a +stag or a deer." + +"You have doubtless had the opportunity of meeting Monsieur Odouart de +Buxieres?" + +"Yes, indeed, Monsieur, more than once-ah! he is a jolly fellow and a +fine man--" + +"He was," interrupted Julien, gravely, "for he is dead." + +"Ah! excuse me--I did not know it. What! is he really dead? So fine a +man! What we must all come to. Careful, now!" added he, pulling in the +reins, "we are leaving the highroad, and must keep our eyes open." + +The twilight was already deepening, the driver lighted his lantern, and +the vehicle turned into a narrow lane, half mud, half stone, and hedged +in on both sides with wet brushwood, which flapped noisily against the +leathern hood. After fifteen minutes' riding, the paths opened upon a +pasture, dotted here and there with juniper bushes, and thence divided +into three lines, along which ran the deep track of wagons, cutting the +pasturage into small hillocks. After long hesitation, the man cracked +his whip and took the right-hand path. + +Julien began to fear that the fellow had boasted too much when he +declared that he knew the best way. The ruts became deeper and deeper; +the road was descending into a hole; suddenly, the wheels became +embedded up to the hub in thick, sticky mire, and the horse refused +to move. The driver jumped to the ground, swearing furiously; then he +called Julien to help him to lift out the wheel. But the young man, +slender and frail as he was, and not accustomed to using his muscles, +was not able to render much assistance. + +"Thunder and lightning!" cried the driver, "it is impossible to get out +of this--let go the wheel, Monsieur, you have no more strength than a +chicken, and, besides, you don't know how to go about it. What a devil +of a road! But we can't spend the night here!" + +"If we were to call out," suggested Julien, somewhat mortified at the +inefficiency of his assistance, "some one would perhaps come to our +aid." + +They accordingly shouted with desperation; and after five or six +minutes, a voice hailed back. A woodcutter, from one of the neighboring +clearings, had heard the call, and was running toward them. + +"This way!" cried the guide, "we are stuck fast in the mud. Give us a +lift." + +The man came up and walked round the vehicle, shaking his head. + +"You've got on to a blind road," said he, "and you'll have trouble in +getting out of it, seeing as how there's not light to go by. You had +better unharness the horse, and wait for daylight, if you want to get +your carriage out." + +"And where shall we go for a bed?" growled the driver; "there isn't even +a house near in this accursed wild country of yours!" + +"Excuse me-you are not far from La Thuiliere; the farm people will not +refuse you a bed, and to-morrow morning they will help you to get your +carriage out of the mud. Unharness, comrade; I will lead you as far as +the Plancheau-Vacher; and from there you will see the windows of the +farmhouse." + +The driver, still grumbling, decided to take his advice. They +unharnessed the horse; took one of the lanterns of the carriage as +a beacon, and followed slowly the line of pasture-land, under the +woodchopper's guidance. At the end of about ten minutes, the forester +pointed out a light, twinkling at the extremity of a rustic path, +bordered with moss. + +"You have only to go straight ahead," said he, "besides, the barking +of the dogs will guide you. Ask for Mamselle Vincart. Good-night, +gentlemen." + +He turned on his heel, while Julien, bewildered, began to reproach +himself for not having thanked him enough. The conductor went along with +his lantern; young de Buxieres followed him with eyes downcast. Thus +they continued silently until they reached the termination of the mossy +path, where a furious barking saluted their ears. + +"Here we are," growled the driver, "fortunately the dogs are not yet let +loose, or we should pass a bad quarter of an hour!" + +They pushed open a side-wicket and, standing in the courtyard, could see +the house. With the exception of the luminous spot that reddened one of +the windows of the ground floor, the long, low facade was dark, and, as +it were, asleep. On the right, standing alone, outlined against the sky, +was the main building of the ancient forge, now used for granaries and +stables; inside, the frantic barking of the watch-dogs mingled with +the bleating of the frightened sheep, the neighing of horses, and the +clanking of wooden shoes worn by the farm hands. At the same moment, +the door of the house opened, and a servant, attracted by the uproar, +appeared on the threshold, a lantern in her hand. + +"Hallo! you people," she exclaimed sharply to the newcomers, who were +advancing toward her, "what do you want?" + +The driver related, in a few words, the affair of the cabriolet, +and asked whether they would house him at the farm until the next +day--himself and the gentleman he was conducting to Vivey. + +The girl raised the lantern above her head in order to scrutinize the +two strangers; doubtless their appearance and air of respectability +reassured her, for she replied, in a milder voice: + +"Well, that does not depend on me--I am not the mistress here, but +come in, all the same--Mamselle Reine can not be long now, and she will +answer for herself." + +As soon as the driver had fastened his horse to one of the outside posts +of the wicket-gate, the servant brought them into a large, square hall, +in which a lamp, covered with a shade, gave a moderate light. She placed +two chairs before the fire, which she drew together with the poker. + +"Warm yourselves while you are waiting," continued she, "it will not be +long, and you must excuse me--I must go and milk the cows--that is work +which will not wait." + +She reached the courtyard, and shut the gate after her, while Julien +turned to examine the room into which they had been shown, and felt a +certain serenity creep over him at the clean and cheerful aspect of this +homely but comfortable interior. The room served as both kitchen and +dining-room. On the right of the flaring chimney, one of the cast-iron +arrangements called a cooking-stove was gently humming; the saucepans, +resting on the bars, exhaled various appetizing odors. In the centre, +the long, massive table of solid beech was already spread with its +coarse linen cloth, and the service was laid. White muslin curtains +fell in front of the large windows, on the sills of which potted +chrysanthemums spread their white, brown, and red blossoms. + +Round the walls a shining battery of boilers, kettles, basins, and +copper plates were hung in symmetrical order. On the dresser, near the +clock, was a complete service of old Aprey china, in bright and varied +colors, and not far from the chimney, which was ornamented with a +crucifix of yellow copper, was a set of shelves, attached to the +wall, containing three rows of books, in gray linen binding. Julien, +approaching, read, not without surprise, some of the titles: Paul and +Virginia, La Fontaine's Fables, Gessner's Idylls, Don Quixote, and +noticed several odd volumes of the Picturesque Magazine. + +Hanging from the whitened ceiling were clusters of nuts, twisted hemp, +strings of yellow maize, and chaplets of golden pippins tied with straw, +all harmonizing in the dim light, and adding increased fulness to the +picture of thrift and abundance. + +"It's jolly here!" said the driver, smacking his lips, "and the smell +which comes from that oven makes one hungry. I wish Mamselle Reine would +arrive!" + +Just as he said this, a mysterious falsetto voice, which seemed to come +from behind the copper basins, repeated, in an acrid voice: "Reine! +Reine!" + +"What in the world is that?" exclaimed the driver, puzzled. + +Both looked toward the beams; at the same moment there was a rustling +of wings, a light hop, and a black-and-white object flitted by, resting, +finally, on one of the shelves hanging from the joists. + +"Ha, ha!" said the driver, laughing, "it is only a magpie!" + +He had hardly said it, when, like a plaintive echo, another voice, a +human voice this time, childish and wavering, proceeding from a dark +corner, faltered: "Rei-eine--Rei-eine!" + +"Hark!" murmured Julien, "some one answered." + +His companion seized the lamp, and advanced toward the portion of the +room left in shadow. Suddenly he stopped short, and stammered some vague +excuse. + +Julien, who followed him, then perceived, with alarm, in a sort of niche +formed by two screens, entirely covered with illustrations from Epinal, +a strange-looking being stretched in an easy-chair, which was covered +with pillows and almost hidden under various woolen draperies. He was +dressed in a long coat of coarse, pale-blue cloth. He was bareheaded, +and his long, white hair formed a weird frame for a face of bloodless +hue and meagre proportions, from which two vacant eyes stared fixedly. +He sat immovable and his arms hung limply over his knees. + +"Monsieur," said Julien, bowing ceremoniously, "we are quite ashamed at +having disturbed you. Your servant forgot to inform us of your presence, +and we were waiting for Mademoiselle Reine, without thinking that--" + +The old man continued immovable, not seeming to understand; he kept +repeating, in the same voice, like a frightened child: + +"Rei-eine! Rei-eine!" + +The two bewildered travellers gazed at this sepulchral-looking +personage, then at each other interrogatively, and began to feel very +uncomfortable. The magpie, perched upon the hanging shelf, suddenly +flapped his wings, and repeated, in his turn, in falsetto: + +"Reine, queen of the woods!" + +"Here I am, papa, don't get uneasy!" said a clear, musical voice behind +them. + +The door had been suddenly opened, and Reine Vincart had entered. She +wore on her head a white cape or hood, and held in front of her an +enormous bouquet of glistening leaves, which seemed to have been +gathered as specimens of all the wild fruit-trees of the forest: the +brown beam-berries, the laburnums, and wild cherry, with their +red, transparent fruit, the bluish mulberry, the orange-clustered +mountain-ash. All this forest vegetation, mingling its black or purple +tints with the dark, moist leaves, brought out the whiteness of the +young girl's complexion, her limpid eyes, and her brown curls escaping +from her hood. + +Julien de Buxieres and his companion had turned at the sound of Reine's +voice. As soon as she perceived them, she went briskly toward them, +exclaiming: + +"What are you doing here? Don't you see that you are frightening him?" + +Julien, humbled and mortified, murmured an excuse, and got confused +in trying to relate the incident of the carriage. She interrupted him +hurriedly: + +"The carriage, oh, yes--La Guitiote spoke to me about it. Well, your +carriage will be attended to! Go and sit down by the fire, gentlemen; we +will talk about it presently." + +She had taken the light from the driver, and placed it on an adjacent +table with her plants. In the twinkling of an eye, she removed her hood, +unfastened her shawl, and then knelt down in front of the sick man, +after kissing him tenderly on the forehead. From the corner where Julien +had seated himself, he could hear her soothing voice. Its caressing +tones contrasted pleasantly with the harsh accent of a few minutes +before. + +"You were longing for me, papa," said she, "but you see, I could not +leave before all the sacks of potatoes had been laid in the wagon. Now +everything has been brought in, and we can sleep in peace. I thought of +you on the way, and I have brought you a fine bouquet of wild fruits. +We shall enjoy looking them over tomorrow, by daylight. Now, this is the +time that you are to drink your bouillon like a good papa, and then as +soon as we have had our supper Guite and I will put you to bed nice and +warm, and I will sing you a song to send you to sleep." + +She rose, took from the sideboard a bowl which she filled from a +saucepan simmering on the stove, and then, without taking any notice of +her visitors, she returned to the invalid. Slowly and with delicate care +she made him swallow the soup by spoonfuls. Julien, notwithstanding the +feeling of ill-humor caused by the untoward happenings of the evening, +could not help admiring the almost maternal tenderness with which the +young girl proceeded in this slow and difficult operation. When the bowl +was empty she returned to the stove, and at last bethought herself of +her guests. + +"Excuse me, Monsieur, but I had to attend to my father first. If I +understood quite aright, you were going to Vivey." + +"Yes, Mademoiselle, I had hoped to sleep there tonight." + +"You have probably come," continued she, "on business connected with the +chateau. Is not the heir of Monsieur Odouart expected very shortly?" + +"I am that heir," replied Julien, coloring. + +"You are Monsieur de Buxieres?" exclaimed Reine, in astonishment. +Then, embarrassed at having shown her surprise too openly, she checked +herself, colored in her turn, and finally gave a rapid glance at her +interlocutor. She never should have imagined this slender young man, +so melancholy in aspect, to be the new proprietor--he was so unlike the +late Odouart de Buxieres! + +"Pardon me, Monsieur," continued she, "you must have thought my first +welcome somewhat unceremonious, but my first thought was for my father. +He is a great invalid, as you may have noticed, and for the first moment +I feared that he had been startled by strange faces." + +"It is I, Mademoiselle," replied Julien, with embarrassment, "it is I +who ought to ask pardon for having caused all this disturbance. But I do +not intend to trouble you any longer. If you will kindly furnish us with +a guide who will direct us to the road to Vivey, we will depart to-night +and sleep at the chateau." + +"No, indeed," protested Reine, very cordially. "You are my guests, and +I shall not allow you to leave us in that manner. Besides, you would +probably find the gates closed down there, for I do not think they +expected you so soon." + +During this interview, the servant who had received the travellers had +returned with her milk-pail; behind her, the other farm-hands, men and +women, arranged themselves silently round the table. + +"Guitiote," said Reine, "lay two more places at the table. The horse +belonging to these gentlemen has been taken care of, has he not?" + +"Yes, Mamselle, he is in the stable," replied one of the grooms. + +"Good! Bernard, to-morrow you will take Fleuriot with you, and go +in search of their carriage which has been swamped in the +Planche-au-Vacher. That is settled. Now, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you +proceed to table--and your coachman also? Upon my word, I do not know +whether our supper will be to your liking. I can only offer you a plate +of soup, a chine of pork, and cheese made in the country; but you must +be hungry, and when one has a good appetite, one is not hard to please." + +Every one had been seated at the table; the servants at the lower end, +and Reine Vincart, near the fireplace, between M. de Buxieres and the +driver. La Guite helped the cabbage-soup all around; soon nothing was +heard but the clinking of spoons and smacking of lips. Julien, scarcely +recovered from his bewilderment, watched furtively the pretty, robust +young girl presiding at the supper, and keeping, at the same time, a +watchful eye over all the details of service. He thought her strange; +she upset all his ideas. His own imagination and his theories pictured +a woman, and more especially a young girl, as a submissive, modest, +shadowy creature, with downcast look, only raising her eyes to consult +her husband or her mother as to what is allowable and what is forbidden. +Now, Reine did not fulfil any of the requirements of this ideal. +She seemed to be hardly twenty-two years old, and she acted with the +initiative genius, the frankness and the decision of a man, retaining +all the while the tenderness and easy grace of a woman. Although it was +evident that she was accustomed to govern and command, there was +nothing in her look, gesture, or voice which betrayed any assumption of +masculinity. She remained a young girl while in the very act of playing +the virile part of head of the house. But what astonished Julien quite +as much was that she seemed to have received a degree of education +superior to that of people of her condition, and he wondered at the +amount of will-power by which a nature highly cultivated, relatively +speaking, could conform to the unrefined, rough surroundings in which +she was placed. + +While Julien was immersed in these reflections, and continued eating +with an abstracted air, Reine Vincart was rapidly examining the +reserved, almost ungainly, young man, who did not dare address any +conversation to her, and who was equally stiff and constrained with +those sitting near him. She made a mental comparison of him with +Claudet, the bold huntsman, alert, resolute, full of dash and spirit, +and a feeling of charitable compassion arose in her heart at the thought +of the reception which the Sejournant family would give to this new +master, so timid and so little acquainted with the ways and dispositions +of country folk. Julien did not impress her as being able to defend +himself against the ill-will of persons who would consider him an +intruder, and would certainly endeavor to make him pay dearly for the +inheritance of which he had deprived them. + +"You do not take your wine, Monsieur de Buxieres!" said she, noticing +that her guest's glass was still full. + +"I am not much of a wine-drinker," replied he, "and besides, I never +take wine by itself--I should be obliged if you would have some water +brought." + +Reine smiled, and passed him the water-bottle. + +"Indeed?" she said, "in that case, you have not fallen among congenial +spirits, for in these mountains they like good dinners, and have a +special weakness for Burgundy. You follow the chase, at any rate?" + +"No, Mademoiselle, I do not know how to handle a gun!" + +"I suppose it is not your intention to settle in Vivey?" + +"Why not?" replied he; "on the contrary, I intend to inhabit the +chateau, and establish myself there definitely." + +"What!" exclaimed Reine, laughing, "you neither drink nor hunt, and +you intend to live in our woods! Why, my poor Monsieur, you will die of +ennui." + +"I shall have my books for companions; besides, solitude never has had +any terrors for me." + +The young girl shook her head incredulously. + +"I shouldn't wonder," she continued, "if you do not even play at cards." + +"Never; games of chance are repugnant to me." + +"Take notice that I do not blame you," she replied, gayly, "but I must +give you one piece of advice: don't speak in these neighborhoods of your +dislike of hunting, cards, or good wine; our country folk would feel +pity for you, and that would destroy your prestige." + +Julien gazed at her with astonishment. She turned away to give +directions to La Guite about the beds for her guests--then the supper +went on silently. As soon as they had swallowed their last mouthful, the +menservants repaired to their dormitory, situated in the buildings of +the ancient forge. Reine Vincart rose also. + +"This is the time when I put my father to bed--I am obliged to take +leave of you, Monsieur de Buxieres. Guitiote will conduct you to your +room. For you, driver, I have had a bed made in a small room next to the +furnace; you will be nice and warm. Good-night, gentlemen, sleep well!" + +She turned away, and went to rejoin the paralytic sufferer, who, as she +approached, manifested his joy by a succession of inarticulate sounds. + +The room to which Guitiote conducted Julien was on the first floor, and +had a cheerful, hospitable appearance. The walls were whitewashed; +the chairs, table, and bed were of polished oak; a good fire of +logs crackled in the fireplace, and between the opening of the white +window-curtains could be seen a slender silver crescent of moon gliding +among the flitting clouds. The young man went at once to his bed; but +notwithstanding the fatigues of the day, sleep did not come to him. +Through the partition he could hear the clear, sonorous voice of Reine +singing her father to sleep with one of the popular ballads of the +country, and while turning and twisting in the homespun linen sheets, +scented with orrisroot, he could not help thinking of this young girl, +so original in her ways, whose grace, energy, and frankness fascinated +and shocked him at the same time. At last he dozed off; and when the +morning stir awoke him, the sun was up and struggling through the foggy +atmosphere. + +The sky had cleared during the night; there had been a frost, and the +meadows were powdered white. The leaves, just nipped with the frost, +were dropping softly to the ground, and formed little green heaps at the +base of the trees. Julien dressed himself hurriedly, and descended to +the courtyard, where the first thing he saw was the cabriolet, which had +been brought in the early morning and which one of the farm-boys was in +the act of sousing with water in the hope of freeing the hood and wheels +from the thick mud which covered them. When he entered the diningroom, +brightened by the rosy rays of the morning sun, he found Reine Vincart +there before him. She was dressed in a yellow striped woolen skirt, +and a jacket of white flannel carelessly belted at the waist. Her dark +chestnut hair, parted down the middle and twisted into a loose knot +behind, lay in ripples round her smooth, open forehead. + +"Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres," said she, in her cordial tone, +"did you sleep well? Yes? I am glad. You find me busy attending to +household matters. My father is still in bed, and I am taking advantage +of the fact to arrange his little corner. The doctor said he must not +be put near the fire, so I have made a place for him here; he enjoys it +immensely, and I arranged this nook to protect him from draughts." + +And she showed him how she had put the big easy chair, padded with +cushions, in the bright sunlight which streamed through the window, and +shielded by the screens, one on each side. She noticed that Julien was +examining, with some curiosity, the uncouth pictures from Epinal, with +which the screens were covered. + +"This," she explained, "is my own invention. My father is a little weak +in the head, but he understands a good many things, although he can not +talk about them. He used to get weary of sitting still all day in his +chair, so I lined the screens with these pictures in order that he might +have something to amuse him. He is as pleased as a child with the bright +colors, and I explain the subjects to him. I don't tell him much at a +time, for fear of fatiguing him. We have got now to Pyramus and Thisbe, +so that we shall have plenty to occupy us before we reach the end." + +She caught a pitying look from her guest which seemed to say: "The poor +man may not last long enough to reach the end." Doubtless she had +the same fear, for her dark eyes suddenly glistened, she sighed, and +remained for some moments without speaking. + +In the mean time the magpie, which Julien had seen the day before, was +hopping around its mistress, like a familiar spirit; it even had the +audacity to peck at her hair and then fly away, repeating, in its +cracked voice: + +"Reine, queen of the woods!" + +"Why 'queen of the woods?"' asked Julien, coloring. + +"Ah!" replied the young girl, "it is a nickname which the people around +here give me, because I am so fond of the trees. I spend all the time I +can in our woods, as much as I can spare from the work of the farm. + +"Margot has often heard my father call me by that name; she remembers +it, and is always repeating it." + +"Do you like living in this wild country?" + +"Very much. I was born here, and I like it." + +"But you have not always lived here?" + +"No; my mother, who had lived in the city, placed me at school in her +own country, in Dijon. I received there the education of a young lady, +though there is not much to show for it now. I stayed there six years; +then my mother died, my father fell ill, and I came home." + +"And did you not suffer from so sudden a change?" + +"Not at all. You see I am really by nature a country girl. I wish you +might not have more trouble than I had, in getting accustomed to your +new way of living, in the chateau at Vivey. But," she added, going +toward the fire, "I think they are harnessing the horse, and you must be +hungry. Your driver has already primed himself with some toast and white +wine. I will not offer you the same kind of breakfast. I will get you +some coffee and cream." + +He bent his head in acquiescence, and she brought him the coffee +herself, helping him to milk and toasted bread. He drank rapidly the +contents of the cup, nibbled at a slice of toast, and then, turning to +his hostess, said, with a certain degree of embarrassment: + +"There is nothing left for me to do, Mademoiselle, but to express my +most heartfelt thanks for your kind hospitality. It is a good omen for +me to meet with such cordiality on my arrival in an unknown part of +the country. May I ask you one more question?" he continued, looking +anxiously at her; "why do you think it will be so difficult for me to +get accustomed to the life they lead here?" + +"Why?" replied she, shaking her head, "because, to speak frankly, +Monsieur, you do not give me the idea of having much feeling for the +country. You are not familiar with our ways; you will not be able to +speak to the people in their language, and they will not understand +yours--you will be, in their eyes, 'the city Monsieur,' whom they will +mistrust and will try to circumvent. I should like to find that I am +mistaken, but, at present, I have the idea that you will encounter +difficulties down there of which you do not seem to have any +anticipation--" + +She was intercepted by the entrance of the driver, who was becoming +impatient. The horse was in harness, and they were only waiting for M. +de Buxieres. Julien rose, and after awkwardly placing a piece of silver +in the hand of La Guite, took leave of Reine Vincart, who accompanied +him to the threshold. + +"Thanks, once more, Mademoiselle," murmured he, "and au revoir, since we +shall be neighbors." + +He held out his hand timidly and she took it with frank cordiality. +Julien got into the cabriolet beside the driver, who began at once to +belabor vigorously his mulish animal. + +"Good journey and good luck, Monsieur," cried Reine after him, and the +vehicle sped joltingly away. + + + + +CHAPTER III. CONSCIENCE HIGHER THAN THE LAW + +On leaving La Thuiliere, the driver took the straight line toward the +pasturelands of the Planche-au-Vacher. + +According to the directions they had received from the people of the +farm, they then followed a rocky road, which entailed considerable +jolting for the travellers, but which led them without other difficulty +to the bottom of a woody dell, where they were able to ford the stream. +As soon as they had, with difficulty, ascended the opposite hill, +the silvery fog that had surrounded them began to dissipate, and they +distinguished a road close by, which led a winding course through the +forest. + +"Ah! now I see my way!" said the driver, "we have only to go straight +on, and in twenty minutes we shall be at Vivey. This devil of a fog cuts +into one's skin like a bunch of needles. With your permission, Monsieur +de Buxieres, and if it will not annoy you, I will light my pipe to warm +myself." + +Now that he knew he was conducting the proprietor of the chateau, he +repented having treated him so cavalierly the day before; he became +obsequious, and endeavored to gain the good-will of his fare by showing +himself as loquacious as he had before been cross and sulky. But Julien +de Buxieres, too much occupied in observing the details of the country, +or in ruminating over the impressions he had received during the +morning, made but little response to his advances, and soon allowed the +conversation to drop. + +The sun's rays had by this time penetrated the misty atmosphere, and the +white frost had changed to diamond drops, which hung tremblingly on +the leafless branches. A gleam of sunshine showed the red tints of the +beech-trees, and the bright golden hue of the poplars, and the forest +burst upon Julien in all the splendor of its autumnal trappings. +The pleasant remembrance of Reine Vincart's hospitality doubtless +predisposed him to enjoy the charm of this sunshiny morning, for he +became, perhaps for the first time in his life, suddenly alive to +the beauty of this woodland scenery. By degrees, toward the left, +the brushwood became less dense, and several gray buildings appeared +scattered over the glistening prairie. Soon after appeared a park, +surrounded by low, crumbling walls, then a group of smoky roofs, and +finally, surmounting a massive clump of ash-trees, two round towers with +tops shaped like extinguishers. The coachman pointed them out to the +young man with the end of his whip. + +"There is Vivey," said he, "and here is your property, Monsieur de +Buxieres." + +Julien started, and, notwithstanding his alienation from worldly things, +he could not repress a feeling of satisfaction when he reflected that, +by legal right, he was about to become master of the woods, the fields, +and the old homestead of which the many-pointed slate roofs gleamed in +the distance. This satisfaction was mingled with intense curiosity, +but it was also somewhat shadowed by a dim perspective of the technical +details incumbent on his taking possession. No doubt he should be +obliged, in the beginning, to make himself personally recognized, to +show the workmen and servants of the chateau that the new owner was +equal to the situation. Now, Julien was not, by nature, a man of action, +and the delicately expressed fears of Reine Vincart made him uneasy in +his mind. When the carriage, suddenly turning a corner, stopped in front +of the gate of entrance, and he beheld, through the cast-iron railing, +the long avenue of ash-trees, the grass-grown courtyard, the silent +facade, his heart began to beat more rapidly, and his natural timidity +again took possession of him. + +"The gate is closed, and they don't seem to be expecting you," remarked +the driver. + +They dismounted. Noticing that the side door was half open, the coachman +gave a vigorous pull on the chain attached to the bell. At the sound +of the rusty clamor, a furious barking was heard from an adjoining +outhouse, but no one inside the house seemed to take notice of the +ringing. + +"Come, let us get in all the same," said the coachman, giving another +pull, and stealing a furtive look at his companion's disconcerted +countenance. + +He fastened his horse to the iron fence, and both passed through the +side gate to the avenue, the dogs all the while continuing their +uproar. Just as they reached the courtyard, the door opened and Manette +Sejournant appeared on the doorstep. + +"Good-morning, gentlemen," said she, in a slow, drawling voice, "is it +you who are making all this noise?" + +The sight of this tall, burly woman, whose glance betokened both +audacity and cunning, increased still more Julien's embarrassment. He +advanced awkwardly, raised his hat and replied, almost as if to excuse +himself: + +"I beg pardon, Madame--I am the cousin and heir of the late Claude de +Buxieres. I have come to install myself in the chateau, and I had sent +word of my intention to Monsieur Arbillot, the notary--I am surprised he +did not notify you." + +"Ah! it is you, Monsieur Julien de Buxieres!" exclaimed Madame +Sejournant, scrutinizing the newcomer with a mingling of curiosity +and scornful surprise which completed the young man's discomfiture. +"Monsieur Arbillot was here yesterday--he waited for you all day, and as +you did not come, he went away at nightfall." + +"I presume you were in my cousin's service?" said Julien, amiably, being +desirous from the beginning to evince charitable consideration with +regard to his relative's domestic affairs. + +"Yes, Monsieur," replied Manette, with dignified sadness; "I attended +poor Monsieur de Buxieres twenty-six years, and can truly say I served +him with devotion! But now I am only staying here in charge of the +seals--I and my son Claudet. We have decided to leave as soon as the +notary does not want us any more." + +"I regret to hear it, Madame," replied Julien, who was beginning to feel +uncomfortable. "There must be other servants around--I should be obliged +if you would have our carriage brought into the yard. And then, if +you will kindly show us the way, we will go into the house, for I am +desirous to feel myself at home--and my driver would not object to some +refreshment." + +"I will send the cowboy to open the gate," replied the housekeeper. "If +you will walk this way, gentlemen, I will take you into the only room +that can be used just now, on account of the seals on the property." + +Passing in front of them, she directed her steps toward the kitchen, and +made way for them to pass into the smoky room, where a small servant was +making coffee over a clear charcoal fire. As the travellers entered, the +manly form of Claudet Sejournant was outlined against the bright light +of the window at his back. + +"My son," said Manette, with a meaning side look, especially for his +benefit, "here is Monsieur de Buxieres, come to take possession of his +inheritance." + +The grand chasserot attempted a silent salutation, and then the young +men took a rapid survey of each other. + +Julien de Buxieres was startled by the unexpected presence of so +handsome a young fellow, robust, intelligent, and full of energy, whose +large brown eyes gazed at him with a kind of surprised and pitying +compassion which was very hard for Julien to bear. He turned uneasily +away, making a lame excuse of ordering some wine for his coachman; +and while Manette, with an air of martyrdom, brought a glass and +a half-empty bottle, Claudet continued his surprised and inquiring +examination of the legal heir of Claude de Buxieres. + +The pale, slight youth, buttoned up in a close-fitting, long frock-coat, +which gave him the look of a priest, looked so unlike any of the +Buxieres of the elder branch that it seemed quite excusable to hesitate +about the relationship. Claudet maliciously took advantage of the fact, +and began to interrogate his would-be deposer by pretending to doubt his +identity. + +"Are you certainly Monsieur Julien de Buxieres?" asked he, surveying him +suspiciously from head to foot. + +"Do you take me for an impostor?" exclaimed the young man. + +"I do not say that," returned Claudet, crossly, "but after all, you do +not carry your name written on your face, and, by Jove! as guardian of +the seals, I have some responsibility--I want information, that is all!" + +Angry at having to submit to these inquiries in the presence of the +coachman who had brought him from Langres, Julien completely lost +control of his temper. + +"Do you require me to show my papers?" he inquired, in a haughty, +ironical tone of voice. + +Manette, foreseeing a disturbance, hastened to interpose, in her +hypocritical, honeyed voice: + +"Leave off, Claudet, let Monsieur alone. He would not be here, would he, +if he hadn't a right? As to asking him to prove his right, that is not +our business--it belongs to the justice and the notary. You had better, +my son, go over to Auberive, and ask the gentlemen to come to-morrow to +raise the seals." + +At this moment, the cowboy, who had been sent to open the gate, entered +the kitchen. + +"The carriage is in the courtyard," said he, "and Monsieur's boxes are +in the hall. Where shall I put them, Madame Sejoumant?" + +Julien's eyes wandered from Manette to the young boy, with an expression +of intense annoyance and fatigue. + +"Why, truly," said Manette, "as a matter of fact, there is only the +room of our deceased master, where the seals have been released. Would +Monsieur object to taking up his quarters there?" + +"I am willing," muttered Julien; "have my luggage carried up there, and +give orders for it to be made ready immediately." + +The housekeeper gave a sign, and the boy and the servant disappeared. + +"Madame," resumed Julien, turning toward Manette, "if I understand you +right, I can no longer reckon upon your services to take care of my +household. Could you send me some one to supply your place?" + +"Oh! as to that matter," replied the housekeeper, still in her wheedling +voice, "a day or two more or less! I am not so very particular, and +I don't mind attending to the house as long as I remain. At what hour +would you wish to dine, Monsieur?" + +"At the hour most convenient for you," responded Julien, quickly, +anxious to conciliate her; "you will serve my meals in my room." + +As the driver had now finished his bottle, they left the room together. + +As soon as the door was closed, Manette and her son exchanged sarcastic +looks. + +"He a Buxieres!" growled Claudet. "He looks like a student priest in +vacation." + +"He is an 'ecrigneule'," returned Manette, shrugging her shoulders. + +'Ecrigneule' is a word of the Langrois dialect, signifying a puny, +sickly, effeminate being. In the mouth of Madame Sejournant, this +picturesque expression acquired a significant amount of scornful energy. + +"And to think," sighed Claudet, twisting his hands angrily in his bushy +hair, "that such a slip of a fellow is going to be master here!" + +"Master?" repeated Manette, shaking her head, "we'll see about that! +He does not know anything at all, and has not what is necessary for +ordering about. In spite of his fighting-cock airs, he hasn't two +farthings' worth of spunk--it would be easy enough to lead him by the +nose. Do you see, Claudet, if we were to manage properly, instead of +throwing the handle after the blade, we should be able before two weeks +are, over to have rain or sunshine here, just as we pleased. We must +only have a little more policy." + +"What do you mean by policy, mother?" + +"I mean--letting things drag quietly on--not breaking all the windows +at the first stroke. The lad is as dazed as a young bird that has fallen +from its nest. What we have to do is to help him to get control of +himself, and accustom him not to do without us. As soon as we have made +ourselves necessary to him, he will be at our feet." + +"Would you wish me to become the servant of the man who has cheated me +out of my inheritance?" protested Claudet, indignantly. + +"His servant--no, indeed! but his companion--why not? And it would be +so easy if you would only make up your mind to it, Claude. I tell you +again, he is not ill-natured-he looks like a man who is up to his neck +in devotion. When he once feels we are necessary to his comfort, and +that some reliable person, like the curate, for example, were to whisper +to him that you are the son of Claudet de Buxieres, he would have +scruples, and at last, half on his own account, and half for the sake of +religion, he would begin to treat you like a relative." + +"No;" said Claudet, firmly, "these tricky ways do not suit me. Monsieur +Arbillot proposed yesterday that I should do what you advise. He +even offered to inform this gentleman of my relationship to Claude de +Buxieres. I refused, and forbade the notary to open his mouth on the +subject. What! should I play the part of a craven hound before this +younger son whom my father detested, and beg for a portion of the +inheritance? Thank you! I prefer to take myself out of the way at once!" + +"You prefer to have your mother beg her bread at strangers' doors!" +replied Manette, bitterly, shedding tears of rage. + +"I have already told you, mother, that when one has a good pair of arms, +and the inclination to use them, one has no need to beg one's bread. +Enough said! I am going to Auberive to notify the justice and the +notary." + +While Claudet was striding across the woods, the boy carried the luggage +of the newly arrived traveller into the chamber on the first floor, and +Zelie, the small servant, put the sheets on the bed, dusted the room, +and lighted the fire. In a few minutes, Julien was alone in his new +domicile, and began to open his boxes and valises. The chimney, which +had not been used since the preceding winter, smoked unpleasantly, and +the damp logs only blackened instead of burning. The boxes lay +wide open, and the room of the deceased Claude de Buxieres had the +uncomfortable aspect of a place long uninhabited. Julien had seated +himself in one of the large armchairs, covered in Utrecht velvet, +and endeavored to rekindle the dying fire. He felt at loose ends and +discouraged, and had no longer the courage to arrange his clothes in +the open wardrobes, which stood open, emitting a strong odor of decaying +mold. + +The slight breath of joyous and renewed life which had animated him on +leaving the Vincart farm, had suddenly evaporated. His anticipations +collapsed in the face of these bristling realities, among which he felt +his isolation more deeply than ever before. He recalled the cordiality +of Reine's reception, and how she had spoken of the difficulties he +should have to encounter. How little he had thought that her forebodings +would come true the very same day! The recollection of the cheerful and +hospitable interior of La Thuiliere contrasted painfully with his cold, +bare Vivey mansion, tenanted solely by hostile domestics. Who were these +people--this Manette Sejournant with her treacherous smile, and this +fellow Claudet, who had, at the very first, subjected him to such +offensive questioning? Why did they seem so ill-disposed toward him? +He felt as if he were completely enveloped in an atmosphere of +contradiction and ill-will. He foresaw what an amount of quiet but +steady opposition he should have to encounter from these subordinates, +and he became alarmed at the prospect of having to display so much +energy in order to establish his authority in the chateau. He, who had +pictured to himself a calm and delightful solitude, wherein he could +give himself up entirely to his studious and contemplative tastes. What +a contrast to the reality! + +Rousing himself at last, he proceeded mechanically to arrange his +belongings in the room, formerly inhabited by his cousin de Buxieres. He +had hardly finished when Zelie made her appearance with some plates and +a tablecloth, and began to lay the covers. Seeing the fire had gone out, +the little servant uttered an exclamation of dismay. + +"Oh!" cried she, "so the wood didn't flare!" + +He gazed at her as if she were talking Hebrew, and it was at least a +minute before he understood that by "flare" she meant kindle. + +"Well, well!" she continued, "I'll go and fetch some splinters." + +She returned in a few moments, with a basket filled with the large +splinters thrown off by the woodchoppers in straightening the logs: she +piled these up on the andirons, and then, applying her mouth vigorously +to a long hollow tin tube, open at both ends, which she carried with +her, soon succeeded in starting a steady flame. + +"Look there!" said she, in a tone implying a certain degree of contempt +for the "city Monsieur" who did not even know how to keep up a fire, +"isn't that clever? Now I must lay the cloth." + +While she went about her task, arranging the plates, the water-bottle, +and glasses symmetrically around the table, Julien tried to engage her +in conversation. But the little maiden, either because she had been +cautioned beforehand, or because she did not very well comprehend M. +de Buxieres's somewhat literary style of French, would answer only in +monosyllables, or else speak only in patois, so that Julien had to +give up the idea of getting any information out of her. Certainly, +Mademoiselle Vincart was right in saying that he did not know the +language of these people. + +He ate without appetite the breakfast on which Manette had employed +all her culinary art, barely tasted the roast partridge, and to Zelie's +great astonishment, mingled the old Burgundy wine with a large quantity +of water. + +"You will inform Madame Sejournant," said he to the girl, as he folded +his napkin, "that I am not a great eater, and that one dish will suffice +me in future." + +He left her to clear away, and went out to look at the domain which he +was to call his own. It did not take him very long. The twenty or thirty +white houses, which constituted the village and lay sleeping in the +wooded hollow like eggs in a nest, formed a curious circular line around +the chateau. In a few minutes he had gone the whole length of it, and +the few people he met gave him only a passing glance, in which curiosity +seemed to have more share than any hospitable feeling. He entered the +narrow church under the patronage of Our Lady; the gray light which +entered through the moldy shutters showed a few scattered benches of +oak, and the painted wooden altar. He knelt down and endeavored to +collect his thoughts, but the rude surroundings of this rustic sanctuary +did not tend to comfort his troubled spirit, and he became conscious +of a sudden withering of all religious fervor. He turned and left the +place, taking a path that led through the forest. It did not interest +him more than the village; the woods spoke no language which his heart +could understand; he could not distinguish an ash from an oak, and all +the different plants were included by him under one general term of +"weeds"; but he needed bodily fatigue and violent physical agitation to +dissipate the overpowering feeling of discouragement that weighed down +his spirits. He walked for several hours without seeing anything, nearly +got lost, and did not reach home till after dark. Once more the little +servant appeared with his meal, which he ate in an abstracted manner, +without even asking whether he were eating veal or mutton; then he went +immediately to bed, and fell into an uneasy sleep. And thus ended his +first day. + +The next morning, about nine o'clock, he was informed that the justice +of the peace, the notary, and the clerk, were waiting for him below. He +hastened down and found the three functionaries busy conferring in a low +voice with Manette and Claudet. The conversation ceased suddenly upon +his arrival, and during the embarrassing silence that followed, all eyes +were directed toward Julien, who saluted the company and delivered to +the justice the documents proving his identity, begging him to proceed +without delay to the legal breaking of the seals. They accordingly +began operations, and went through all the house without interruption, +accompanied by Claudet, who stood stiff and sullen behind the justice, +taking advantage of every little opportunity to testify his dislike and +ill-feeling toward the legal heir of Claude de Buxieres. Toward eleven +o'clock, the proceedings came to an end, the papers were signed, +and Julien was regularly invested with his rights. But the tiresome +formalities were not yet over: he had to invite the three officials +to breakfast. This event, however, had been foreseen by Manette. Since +early morning she had been busy preparing a bountiful repast, and had +even called Julien de Buxieres aside in order to instruct him in the +hospitable duties which his position and the customs of society imposed +upon him. + +As they entered the dining-room, young de Buxieres noticed that covers +were laid for five people; he began to wonder who the fifth guest could +be, when an accidental remark of the clerk showed him that the unknown +was no other than Claudet. The fact was that Manette could not bear the +idea that her son, who had always sat at table with the late Claude +de Buxieres, should be consigned to the kitchen in presence of these +distinguished visitors from Auberive, and had deliberately laid a place +for him at the master's table, hoping that the latter would not dare +put any public affront upon Claudet. She was not mistaken in her idea. +Julien, anxious to show a conciliatory spirit, and making an effort +to quell his own repugnance, approached the 'grand chasserot', who was +standing at one side by himself, and invited him to take his seat at the +table. + +"Thank you," replied Claudet, coldly, "I have breakfasted." So saying, +he turned his back on M. de Buxieres, who returned to the hall, vexed +and disconcerted. + +The repast was abundant, and seemed of interminable length to Julien. +The three guests, whose appetites had been sharpened by their morning +exercise, did honor to Madame Sejournant's cooking; they took their wine +without water, and began gradually to thaw under the influence of +their host's good Burgundy; evincing their increased liveliness by the +exchange of heavy country witticisms, or relating noisy and interminable +stories of their hunting adventures. Their conversation was very trying +to Julien's nerves. Nevertheless, he endeavored to fulfil his duties as +master of the house, throwing in a word now and then, so as to appear +interested in their gossip, but he ate hardly a mouthful. His features +had a pinched expression, and every now and then he caught himself +trying to smother a yawn. His companions at the table could not +understand a young man of twenty-eight years who drank nothing but +water, scorned all enjoyment in eating, and only laughed forcedly under +compulsion. At last, disturbed by the continued taciturnity of their +host, they rose from the table sooner than their wont, and prepared to +take leave. Before their departure, Arbillot the notary, passed his arm +familiarly through that of Julien and led him into an adjoining room, +which served as billiard-hall and library. + +"Monsieur de Buxieres," said he, pointing to a pile of law papers heaped +upon the green cloth of the table; "see what I have prepared for you; +you will find there all the titles and papers relating to the +real estate, pictures, current notes, and various matters of your +inheritance. You had better keep them under lock and key, and study +them at your leisure. You will find them very interesting. I need hardly +say," he added, "that I am at your service for any necessary advice +or explanation. But, in respect to any minor details, you can apply to +Claudet Sejournant, who is very intelligent in such matters, and a good +man of business. And, by the way, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you allow +me to commend the young man especially to your kindly consideration." + +But Julien interrupted him with an imperious gesture, and replied, +frowning angrily: + +"If you please, Maitre Arbillot, we will not enter upon that subject. +I have already tried my best to show a kindly feeling toward Monsieur +Claudet, but I have been only here twenty-four hours, and he has already +found opportunities for affronting me twice. I beg you not to speak of +him again." + +The notary, who was just lighting his pipe, stopped suddenly. Moved by a +feeling of good-fellowship for the 'grand chasserot', who had, however, +enjoined him to silence, he had it on the tip of his tongue to inform +Julien of the facts concerning the parentage of Claudet de Buxieres; +but, however much he wished to render Claudet a service, he was still +more desirous of respecting the feelings of his client; so, between the +hostility of one party and the backwardness of the other, he chose the +wise part of inaction. + +"That is sufficient, Monsieur de Buxieres," replied he, "I will not +press the matter." + +Thereupon he saluted his client, and went to rejoin the justice and the +clerk, and the three comrades wended their way to Auberive through the +woods, discussing the incidents of the breakfast, and the peculiarities +of the new proprietor. + +"This de Buxieres," said M. Destourbet, "does not at all resemble his +deceased cousin Claude!" + +"I can quite understand why the two families kept apart from each +other," observed the notary, jocosely. + +"Poor 'chasserot'!" whined Seurrot the clerk, whom the wine had rendered +tender-hearted; "he will not have a penny. I pity him with all my +heart!" + +As soon as the notary had departed, Julien came to the determination +of transforming into a study the hall where he had been conferring +with Maitre Arbillot, which was dignified with the title of "library," +although it contained at the most but a few hundred odd volumes. The +hall was spacious, and lighted by two large windows opening on the +garden; the floor was of oak, and there was a great fireplace where the +largest logs used in a country in which the wood costs nothing could +find ample room to blaze and crackle. It took the young man several days +to make the necessary changes, and during that time he enjoyed a respite +from the petty annoyances worked by the steady hostility of Manette +Sejournant and her son. To the great indignation of the inhabitants of +the chateau, he packed off the massive billiard-table, on which Claude +de Buxieres had so often played in company with his chosen friends, to +the garret; after which the village carpenter was instructed to make the +bookshelves ready for the reception of Julien's own books, which were +soon to arrive by express. When he had got through with these labors, he +turned his attention to the documents placed in his hands by the notary, +endeavoring to find out by himself the nature of his revenues. He +thought this would be a very easy matter, but he soon found that it was +encumbered with inextricable difficulties. + +A large part of the products of the domain consisted of lumber ready for +sale. Claude de Buxieres had been in the habit of superintending, either +personally or through his intermediate agents, one half of the annual +amount of lumber felled for market, the sale of which was arranged with +the neighboring forge owners by mutual agreement; the other half was +disposed of by notarial act. This latter arrangement was clear and +comprehensible; the price of sale and the amounts falling due were +both clearly indicated in the deed. But it was quite different with the +bargains made by the owner himself, which were often credited by notes +payable at sight, mostly worded in confused terms, unintelligible to any +but the original writer. Julien became completely bewildered among these +various documents, the explanations in which were harder to understand +than conundrums. Although greatly averse to following the notary's +advice as to seeking Claudet's assistance, he found himself compelled to +do so, but was met by such laconic and surly answers that he concluded +it would be more dignified on his part to dispense with the services of +one who was so badly disposed toward him. He therefore resolved to have +recourse to the debtors themselves, whose names he found, after much +difficulty, in the books. These consisted mostly of peasants of the +neighborhood, who came to the chateau at his summons; but as soon as +they came into Julien's presence, they discovered, with that cautious +perception which is an instinct with rustic minds, that before them +stood a man completely ignorant of the customs of the country, and very +poorly informed on Claude de Buxieres's affairs. They made no scruple of +mystifying this "city gentleman," by means of ambiguous statements and +cunning reticence. The young man could get no enlightenment from them; +all he clearly understood was, that they were making fun of him, +and that he was not able to cope with these country bumpkins, whose +shrewdness would have done honor to the most experienced lawyer. + +After a few days he became discouraged and disgusted. He could see +nothing but trouble ahead; he seemed surrounded by either open enemies +or people inclined to take advantage of him. It was plain that all the +population of the village looked upon him as an intruder, a troublesome +master, a stranger whom they would like to intimidate and send about his +business. Manette Sejournant, who was always talking about going, still +remained in the chateau, and was evidently exerting her influence to +keep her son also with her. The fawning duplicity of this woman was +unbearable to Julien; he had not the energy necessary either to subdue +her, or to send her away, and she appeared every morning before him +with a string of hypocritical grievances, and opposing his orders with +steady, irritating inertia. It seemed as if she were endeavoring to +render his life at Vivey hateful to him, so that he would be compelled +finally to beat a retreat. + +One morning in November he had reached such a state of moral fatigue +and depression that, as he sat listlessly before the library fire, the +question arose in his mind whether it would not be better to rent the +chateau, place the property in the hands of a manager, and take +himself and his belongings back to Nancy, to his little room in the Rue +Stanislaus, where, at any rate, he could read, meditate, or make plans +for the future without being every moment tormented by miserable, petty +annoyances. His temper was becoming soured, his nerves were unstrung, +and his mind was so disturbed that he fancied he had none but enemies +around him. A cloudy melancholy seemed to invade his brain; he was +seized with a sudden fear that he was about to have an attack of +persecution-phobia, and began to feel his pulse and interrogate his +sensations to see whether he could detect any of the premonitory +symptoms. + +While he was immersing himself in this unwholesome atmosphere of +hypochondria, the sound of a door opening and shutting made him start; +he turned quickly around, saw a young woman approaching and smiling at +him, and at last recognized Reine Vincart. + +She wore the crimped linen cap and the monk's hood in use among the +peasants of the richer class. Her wavy, brown hair, simply parted in +front, fell in rebellious curls from under the border of her cap, of +which the only decoration was a bow of black ribbon; the end floating +gracefully over her shoulders. The sharp November air had imparted a +delicate rose tint to her pale complexion, and additional vivacity to +her luminous, dark eyes. + +"Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres," said she, in her clear, pleasantly +modulated voice; "I think you may remember me? It is not so long since +we saw each other at the farm." + +"Mademoiselle Vincart!" exclaimed Julien. "Why, certainly I remember +you!" + +He drew a chair toward the fire, and offered it to her. This charming +apparition of his cordial hostess at La Thuiliere evoked the one +pleasant remembrance in his mind since his arrival in Vivey. It shot, +like a ray of sunlight, across the heavy fog of despair which had +enveloped the new master of the chateau. It was, therefore, with real +sincerity that he repeated: + +"I both know you and am delighted to see you. I ought to have called +upon you before now, to thank you for your kind hospitality, but I have +had so much to do, and," his face clouding over, "so many annoyances!" + +"Really?" said she, softly, gazing pityingly at him; "you must not take +offence, but, it is easy to see you have been worried! Your features are +drawn and you have an anxious look. Is it that the air of Vivey does not +agree with you?" + +"It is not the air," replied Julien, in an irritated tone, "it is the +people who do not agree with me. And, indeed," sighed he, "I do not +think I agree any better with them. But I need not annoy other persons +merely because I am annoyed myself! Mademoiselle Vincart, what can I do +to be of service to you? Have you anything to ask me?" + +"Not at all!" exclaimed Reine, with a frank smile; "I not only have +nothing to ask from you, but I have brought something for you--six +hundred francs for wood we had bought from the late Monsieur de +Buxieres, during the sale of the Ronces forest." She drew from under her +cloak a little bag of gray linen, containing gold, five-franc pieces and +bank-notes. "Will you be good enough to verify the amount?" continued +she, emptying the bag upon the table; "I think it is correct. You must +have somewhere a memorandum of the transaction in writing." + +Julien began to look through the papers, but he got bewildered with the +number of rough notes jotted down on various slips of paper, until at +last, in an impatient fit of vexation, he flung the whole bundle away, +scattering the loose sheets all over the floor. + +"Who can find anything in such a chaos?" he exclaimed. "I can't see my +way through it, and when I try to get information from the people here, +they seem to have an understanding among themselves to leave me under +a wrong impression, or even to make my uncertainties still greater! Ah! +Mademoiselle Reine, you were right! I do not understand the ways of your +country folk. Every now and then I am tempted to leave everything just +as it stands, and get away from this village, where the people mistrust +me and treat me like an enemy!" + +Reine gazed at him with a look of compassionate surprise. Stooping +quietly down, she picked up the scattered papers, and while putting them +in order on the table, she happened to see the one relating to her own +business. + +"Here, Monsieur de Buxieres," said she, "here is the very note you were +looking for. You seem to be somewhat impatient. Our country folk are not +so bad as you think; only they do not yield easily to new influences. +The beginning is always difficult for them. I know something about it +myself. When I returned from Dijon to take charge of the affairs at La +Thuiliere, I had no more experience than you, Monsieur, and I had great +difficulty in accomplishing anything. Where should we be now, if I had +suffered myself to be discouraged, like you, at the very outset?" + +Julien raised his eyes toward the speaker, coloring with embarrassment +to hear himself lectured by this young peasant girl, whose ideas, +however, had much more virility than his own. + +"You reason like a man, Mademoiselle Vincart," remarked he, admiringly, +"pray, how old are you?" + +"Twenty-two years; and you, Monsieur de Buxieres?" + +"I shall soon be twenty-eight." + +"There is not much difference between us; still, you are the older, and +what I have done, you can do also." + +"Oh!" sighed he, "you have a love of action. I have a love of repose--I +do not like to act." + +"So much the worse!" replied Reine, very decidedly. "A man ought to show +more energy. Come now, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you allow me to speak +frankly to you? If you wish people to come to you, you must first get +out of yourself and go to seek them; if you expect your neighbor to show +confidence and good-will toward you, you must be open and good-natured +toward him." + +"That plan has not yet succeeded with two persons around here," replied +Julien, shaking his head. + +"Which persons?" + +"The Sejournants, mother and son. I tried to be pleasant with Claudet, +and received from both only rebuffs and insolence." + +"Oh! as to Claudet," resumed she, impulsively, "he is excusable. You can +not expect he will be very gracious in his reception of the person who +has supplanted him--" + +"Supplanted?--I do not understand." + +"What!" exclaimed Reine, "have they not told you anything, then? That +is wrong. Well, at the risk of meddling in what does not concern me, I +think it is better to put you in possession of the facts: Your deceased +cousin never was married, but he had a child all the same--Claudet is +his son, and he intended that he should be his heir also. Every one +around the country knows that, for Monsieur de Buxieres made no secret +of it." + +"Claudet, the son of Claude de Buxieres?" ejaculated Julien, with +amazement. + +"Yes; and if the deceased had had the time to make his will, you would +not be here now. But," added the young girl, coloring, "don't tell +Claudet I have spoken to you about it. I have been talking here too +long. Monsieur de Buxieres, will you have the goodness to reckon up your +money and give me a receipt?" + +She had risen, and Julien gazed wonderingly at the pretty country girl +who had shown herself so sensible, so resolute, and so sincere. He bent +his head, collected the money on the table, scribbled hastily a receipt +and handed it to Reine. + +"Thank you, Mademoiselle," said he, "you are the first person who has +been frank with me, and I am grateful to you for it." + +"Au revoir, Monsieur de Buxieres." + +She had already gained the door while he made an awkward attempt to +follow her. She turned toward him with a smile on her lips and in her +eyes. + +"Come, take courage!" she added, and then vanished. + +Julien went back dreamily, and sat down again before the hearth. The +revelation made by Reine Vincart had completely astounded him. Such was +his happy inexperience of life, that he had not for a moment suspected +the real position of Manette and her son at the chateau. And it was this +young girl who had opened his eyes to the fact! He experienced a certain +degree of humiliation in having had so little perception. Now that +Reine's explanation enabled him to view the matter from a different +standpoint, he found Claudet's attitude toward him both intelligible +and excusable. In fact, the lad was acting in accordance with a very +legitimate feeling of mingled pride and anger. After all, he really was +Claude de Buxieres's son--a natural son, certainly, but one who had been +implicitly acknowledged both in private and in public by his father. If +the latter had had time to draw up the incomplete will which had +been found, he would, to all appearances, have made Claudet his heir. +Therefore, the fortune of which Julien had become possessed, he owed to +some unexpected occurrence, a mere chance. Public opinion throughout the +entire village tacitly recognized and accepted the 'grand chasserot' as +son of the deceased, and if this recognition had been made legally, he +would have been rightful owner of half the property. + +"Now that I have been made acquainted with this position of affairs, +what is my duty?" asked Julien of himself. Devout in feeling and in +practice, he was also very scrupulous in all matters of conscience, and +the reply was not long in coming: that both religion and uprightness +commanded him to indemnify Claudet for the wrong caused to him by the +carelessness of Claude de Buxieres. Reine had simply told him the facts +without attempting to give him any advice, but it was evident that, +according to her loyal and energetic way of thinking, there was +injustice to be repaired. Julien was conscious that by acting to that +effect he would certainly gain the esteem and approbation of his amiable +hostess of La Thuiliere, and he felt a secret satisfaction in the idea. +He rose suddenly, and, leaving the library, went to the kitchen, where +Manette Sejournant was busy preparing the breakfast. + +"Where is your son?" said he. "I wish to speak with him." + +Manette looked inquiringly at him. + +"My son," she replied, "is in the garden, fixing up a box to take away +his little belongings in--he doesn't want to stay any longer at other +peoples' expense. And, by the way, Monsieur de Buxieres, have the +goodness to provide yourself with a servant to take my place; we shall +not finish the week here." + +Without making any reply, Julien went out by the door, leading to the +garden, and discovered Claudet really occupied in putting together the +sides of a packing-case. Although the latter saw the heir of the de +Buxieres family approaching, he continued driving in the nails without +appearing to notice his presence. + +"Monsieur Claudet," said Julien, "can you spare me a few minutes? I +should like to talk to you." + +Claudet raised his head, hesitated for a moment, then, throwing away his +hammer and putting on his loose jacket, muttered: + +"I am at your service." + +They left the outhouse together, and entered an avenue of leafy +lime-trees, which skirted the banks of the stream. + +"Monsieur," said Julien, stopping in the middle of the walk, "excuse me +if I venture on a delicate subject--but I must do so--now that I know +all." + +"Beg pardon--what do you know?" demanded Claudet, reddening. + +"I know that you are the son of my cousin de Buxieres," replied the +young man with considerable emotion. + +The 'grand chasserot' knitted his brows. + +"Ah!" said he, bitterly, "my mother's tongue has been too long, or else +that blind magpie of a notary has been gossiping, notwithstanding my +instructions." + +"No; neither your mother nor Maitre Arbillot has been speaking to me. +What I know I have learned from a stranger, and I know also that you +would be master here if Claude de Buxieres had taken the precaution to +write out his will. His negligence on that point has been a wrong to +you, which it is my duty to repair." + +"What's that!" exclaimed Claudet. Then he muttered between his teeth: +"You owe me nothing. The law is on your side." + +"I am not in the habit of consulting the law when it is a question of +duty. Besides, Monsieur de Buxieres treated you openly as his son; if he +had done what he ought, made a legal acknowledgment, you would have the +right, even in default of a will, to one half of his patrimony. This +half I come to offer to you, and beg of you to accept it." + +Claudet was astonished, and opened his great, fierce brown eyes with +amazement. The proposal seemed so incredible that he thought he must be +dreaming, and mistrusted what he heard. + +"What! You offer me half the inheritance?" faltered he. + +"Yes; and I am ready to give you a certified deed of relinquishment as +soon as you wish--" + +Claudet interrupted him with a violent shrug of the shoulders. + +"I make but one condition," pursued Julien. + +"What is it?" asked Claudet, still on the defensive. + +"That you will continue to live here, with me, as in your father's +time." + +Claudet was nearly overcome by this last suggestion, but a lingering +feeling of doubt and a kind of innate pride prevented him from giving +way, and arrested the expression of gratitude upon his lips. + +"What you propose is very generous, Monsieur," said he, "but you have +not thought much about it, and later you might regret it. If I were to +stay here, I should be a restraint upon you--" + +"On the contrary, you would be rendering me a service, for I feel myself +incapable of managing the property," replied Julien, earnestly. Then, +becoming more confidential as his conscience was relieved of its burden, +he continued, pleasantly: "You see I am not vain about admitting the +fact. Come, cousin, don't be more proud than I am. Accept freely what I +offer with hearty goodwill!" + +As he concluded these words, he felt his hand seized, and affectionately +pressed in a strong, robust grip. + +"You are a true de Buxieres!" exclaimed Claudet, choking with emotion. +"I accept--thanks--but, what have I to give you in exchange?--nothing +but my friendship; but that will be as firm as my grip, and will last +all my life." + + + + +BOOK 2. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE DAWN OF LOVE + +Winter had come, and with it all the inclement accompaniments usual in +this bleak and bitter mountainous country: icy rains, which, mingled +with sleet, washed away whirlpools of withered leaves that the swollen +streams tossed noisily into the ravines; sharp, cutting winds from the +north, bleak frosts hardening the earth and vitrifying the cascades; +abundant falls of snow, lasting sometimes an entire week. The roads had +become impassable. A thick, white crust covered alike the pasture-lands, +the stony levels, and the wooded slopes, where the branches creaked +under the weight of their snowy burdens. A profound silence encircled +the village, which seemed buried under the successive layers of +snowdrifts. Only here and there, occasionally, did a thin line of blue +smoke, rising from one of the white roofs, give evidence of any latent +life among the inhabitants. The Chateau de Buxieres stood in the midst +of a vast carpet of snow on which the sabots of the villagers had +outlined a narrow path, leading from the outer steps to the iron gate. +Inside, fires blazed on all the hearths, which, however, did not modify +the frigid atmosphere of the rudely-built upper rooms. + +Julien de Buxieres was freezing, both physically and morally, in his +abode. His generous conduct toward Claudet had, in truth, gained him the +affection of the 'grand chasserot', made Manette as gentle as a lamb, +and caused a revulsion of feeling in his favor throughout the village; +but, although his material surroundings had become more congenial, he +still felt around him the chill of intellectual solitude. The days also +seemed longer since Claudet had taken upon himself the management of +all details. Julien found that re-reading his favorite books was not +sufficient occupation for the weary hours that dragged slowly along +between the rising and the setting of the sun. The gossipings of +Manette, the hunting stories of Claudet had no interest for young de +Buxieres, and the acquaintances he endeavored to make outside left only +a depressing feeling of ennui and disenchantment. + +His first visit had been made to the cure of Vivey, where he hoped to +meet with some intellectual resources, and a tone of conversation more +in harmony with his tastes. In this expectation, also, he had been +disappointed. The Abbe Pernot was an amiable quinquagenarian, and a 'bon +vivant', whose mind inclined more naturally toward the duties of daily +life than toward meditation or contemplative studies. The ideal did +not worry him in the least; and when he had said his mass, read his +breviary, confessed the devout sinners and visited the sick, he gave the +rest of his time to profane but respectable amusements. He was of robust +temperament, with a tendency to corpulency, which he fought against by +taking considerable exercise; his face was round and good-natured, his +calm gray eyes reflected the tranquillity and uprightness of his soul, +and his genial nature was shown in his full smiling mouth, his thick, +wavy, gray hair, and his quick and cordial gestures. + +When Julien was ushered into the presbytery, he found the cure installed +in a small room, which he used for working in, and which was littered +up with articles bearing a very distant connection to his pious calling: +nets for catching larks, hoops and other nets for fishing, stuffed +birds, and a collection of coleopterx. At the other end of the room +stood a dusty bookcase, containing about a hundred volumes, which seemed +to have been seldom consulted. The Abbe, sitting on a low chair in the +chimney-corner, his cassock raised to his knees, was busy melting glue +in an old earthen pot. + +"Aha, good-day! Monsieur de Buxieres," said he in his rich, jovial +voice, "you have caught me in an occupation not very canonical; but +what of it? As Saint James says: 'The bow can not be always bent.' I am +preparing some lime-twigs, which I shall place in the Bois des Ronces +as soon as the snow is melted. I am not only a fisher of souls, but I +endeavor also to catch birds in my net, not so much for the purpose of +varying my diet, as of enriching my collection!" + +"You have a great deal of spare time on your hands, then?" inquired +Julien, with some surprise. + +"Well, yes--yes--quite a good deal. The parish is not very extensive, +as you have doubtless noticed; my parishioners are in the best possible +health, thank God! and they live to be very old. I have barely two or +three marriages in a year, and as many burials, so that, you see, one +must fill up one's time somehow to escape the sin of idleness. Every +man must have a hobby. Mine is ornithology; and yours, Monsieur de +Buxieres?" + +Julien was tempted to reply: "Mine, for the moment, is ennui." He was +just in the mood to unburden himself to the cure as to the mental thirst +that was drying up his faculties, but a certain instinct warned him +that the Abbe was not a man to comprehend the subtle complexities of his +psychological condition, so he contented himself with replying, briefly: + +"I read a great deal. I have, over there in the chateau, a pretty fair +collection of historical and religious works, and they are at your +service, Monsieur le Cure!" + +"A thousand thanks," replied the Abbe Pernot, making a slight grimace; +"I am not much of a reader, and my little stock is sufficient for my +needs. You remember what is said in the Imitation: 'Si scires totam +Bibliam exterius et omnium philosophorum dicta, quid totum prodesset +sine caritate Dei et gratia?' Besides, it gives me a headache to read +too steadily. I require exercise in the open air. Do you hunt or fish, +Monsieur de Buxieres?" + +"Neither the one nor the other." + +"So much the worse for you. You will find the time hang very heavily on +your hands in this country, where there are so few sources of amusement. +But never fear! You can not be always reading, and when the fine weather +comes you will yield to the temptation; all the more likely because you +have Claudet Sejournant with you. A jolly fellow he is; there is not one +like him for killing a snipe or sticking a trout! Our trout here on the +Aubette, Monsieur de Buxieres, are excellent--of the salmon kind, and +very meaty." + +Then came an interval of silence. The Abbe began to suspect that this +conversation was not one of profound interest to his visitor, and he +resumed: + +"Speaking of Claudet, Monsieur, allow me to offer you my +congratulations. You have acted in a most Christian-like and equitable +manner, in making amends for the inconceivable negligence of the +deceased Claude de Buxieres. Then, on the other hand, Claudet +deserves what you have done for him. He is a good fellow, a little too +quick-tempered and violent perhaps, but he has a heart of gold. Ah! +it would have been no use for the deceased to deny it--the blood of de +Buxieres runs in his veins!" + +"If public rumor is to be believed," said Julien timidly, rising to go, +"my deceased cousin Claude was very much addicted to profane pleasures." + +"Yes, yes, indeed!" sighed the Abbe, "he was a devil incarnate--but +what a magnificent man! What a wonderful huntsman! Notwithstanding his +backslidings, there was a great deal of good in him, and I am fain to +believe that God has taken him under His protecting mercy." + +Julien took his leave, and returned to the chateau, very much +discouraged. "This priest," thought he to himself, "is a man of +expediency. He allows himself certain indulgences which are to be +regretted, and his mind is becoming clogged by continual association +with carnal-minded men. His thoughts are too much given to earthly +things, and I have no more faith in him than in the rest of them." + +So he shut himself up again in his solitude, with one more illusion +destroyed. He asked himself, and his heart became heavy at the thought, +whether, in course of time, he also would undergo this stultification, +this moral depression, which ends by lowering us to the level of the +low-minded people among whom we live. + +Among all the persons he had met since his arrival at Vivey, only +one had impressed him as being sympathetic and attractive: Reine +Vincart--and even her energy was directed toward matters that Julien +looked upon as secondary. And besides, Reine was a woman, and he was +afraid of women. He believed with Ecclesiastes the preacher, that "they +are more bitter than death... and whoso pleaseth God shall escape from +them." He had therefore no other refuge but in his books or his own +sullen reflections, and, consequently, his old enemy, hypochondria, +again made him its prey. + +Toward the beginning of January, the snow in the valley had somewhat +melted, and a light frost made access to the woods possible. As the +hunting season seldom extended beyond the first days of February, the +huntsmen were all eager to take advantage of the few remaining weeks to +enjoy their favorite pastime. Every day the forest resounded with the +shouts of beaters-up and the barking of the hounds. From Auberive, +Praslay and Grancey, rendezvous were made in the woods of Charbonniere +or Maigrefontaine; nothing was thought of but the exploits of certain +marksmen, the number of pieces bagged, and the joyous outdoor breakfasts +which preceded each occasion. One evening, as Julien, more moody than +usual, stood yawning wearily and leaning on the corner of the stove, +Claudet noticed him, and was touched with pity for this young fellow, +who had so little idea how to employ his time, his youth, or his money. +He felt impelled, as a conscientious duty, to draw him out of his +unwholesome state of mind, and initiate him into the pleasures of +country life. + +"You do not enjoy yourself with us, Monsieur Julien," said he, kindly; +"I can't bear to see you so downhearted. You are ruining yourself with +poring all day long over your books, and the worst of it is, they do not +take the frowns out of your face. Take my word for it, you must change +your way of living, or you will be ill. Come, now, if you will trust in +me, I will undertake to cure your ennui before a week is over." + +"And what is your remedy, Claudet?" demanded Julien, with a forced +smile. + +"A very simple one: just let your books go, since they do not succeed +in interesting you, and live the life that every one else leads. The de +Buxieres, your ancestors, followed the same plan, and had no fault to +find with it. You are in a wolf country--well, you must howl with the +wolves!" + +"My dear fellow," replied Julien, shaking his head, "one can not remake +one's self. The wolves themselves would discover that I howled out of +tune, and would send me back to my books." + +"Nonsense! try, at any rate. You can not imagine what pleasure there is +in coursing through the woods, and suddenly, at a sharp turn, catching +sight of a deer in the distance, then galloping to the spot where he +must pass, and holding him with the end of your gun! You have no idea +what an appetite one gets with such exercise, nor how jolly it is +to breakfast afterward, all together, seated round some favorite old +beech-tree. Enjoy your youth while you have it. Time enough to stay in +your chimney-corner and spit in the ashes when rheumatism has got hold +of you. Perhaps you will say you never have followed the hounds, and do +not know how to handle a gun?" + +"That is the exact truth." + +"Possibly, but appetite comes with eating, and when once you have tasted +of the pleasures of the chase, you will want to imitate your companions. +Now, see here: we have organized a party at Charbonniere to-morrow, +for the gentlemen of Auberive; there will be some people you +know--Destourbet, justice of the Peace, the clerk Seurrot, Maitre +Arbillot and the tax-collector, Boucheseiche. Hutinet went over the +ground yesterday, and has appointed the meeting for ten o'clock at the +Belle-Etoile. Come with us; there will be good eating and merriment, and +also some fine shooting, I pledge you my word!" + +Julien refused at first, but Claudet insisted, and showed him the +necessity of getting more intimately acquainted with the notables of +Auberive--people with whom he would be continually coming in contact as +representing the administration of justice and various affairs in the +canton. He urged so well that young de Buxieres ended by giving his +consent. Manette received immediate instructions to prepare eatables for +Hutinet, the keeper, to take at early dawn to the Belle-Etoile, and it +was decided that the company should start at precisely eight o'clock. + +The next morning, at the hour indicated, the 'grand chasserot' +was already in the courtyard with his two hounds, Charbonneau and +Montagnard, who were leaping and barking sonorously around him. Julien, +reminded of his promise by the unusual early uproar, dressed himself +with a bad grace, and went down to join Claudet, who was bristling with +impatience. They started. There had been a sharp frost during the night; +some hail had fallen, and the roads were thinly coated with a white +dust, called by the country people, in their picturesque language, "a +sugarfrost" of snow. A thick fog hung over the forest, so that they had +to guess their way; but Claudet knew every turn and every sidepath, +and thus he and his companion arrived by the most direct line at the +rendezvous. They soon began to hear the barking of the dogs, to which +Montagnard and Charbonneau replied with emulative alacrity, and +finally, through the mist, they distinguished the group of huntsmen from +Auberive. + +The Belle-Etoile was a circular spot, surrounded by ancient ash-trees, +and formed the central point for six diverging alleys which stretched +out indefinitely into the forest. The monks of Auberive, at the epoch +when they were the lords and owners of the land, had made this place +a rendezvous for huntsmen, and had provided a table and some stone +benches, which, thirty years ago, were still in existence. The +enclosure, which had been chosen for the breakfast on the present +occasion, was irradiated by a huge log-fire; a very respectable display +of bottles, bread, and various eatables covered the stone table, and the +dogs, attached by couples to posts, pulled at their leashes and barked +in chorus, while their masters, grouped around the fire, warmed their +benumbed fingers over the flames, and tapped their heels while waiting +for the last-comers. + +At sight of Julien and Claudet, there was a joyous hurrah of welcome. +Justice Destourbet exchanged a ceremonious hand-shake with the new +proprietor of the chateau. The scant costume and tight gaiters of the +huntsman's attire, displayed more than ever the height and slimness of +the country magistrate. By his side, the registrar Seurrot, his legs +encased in blue linen spatterdashes, his back bent, his hands crossed +comfortably over his "corporation," sat roasting himself at the flame, +while grumbling when the wind blew the smoke in his eyes. Arbillot, the +notary, as agile and restless as a lizard, kept going from one to the +other with an air of mysterious importance. He came up to Claudet, drew +him aside, and showed him a little figure in a case. + +"Look here!" whispered he, "we shall have some fun; as I passed by the +Abbe Pernot's this morning, I stole one of his stuffed squirrels." + +He stooped down, and with an air of great mystery poured into his ear +the rest of the communication, at the close of which his small black +eyes twinkled maliciously, and he passed the end of his tongue over his +frozen moustache. + +"Come with me," continued he; "it will be a good joke on the collector." + +He drew Claudet and Hutinet toward one of the trenches, where the fog +hid them from sight. + +During this colloquy, Boucheseiche the collector, against whom they were +thus plotting, had seized upon Julien de Buxieres, and was putting +him through a course of hunting lore. Justin Boucheseiche was a man of +remarkable ugliness; big, bony, freckled, with red hair, hairy hands, +and a loud, rough voice. + +He wore a perfectly new hunting costume, cap and gaiters of leather, a +havana-colored waistcoat, and had a complete assortment of pockets of +all sizes for the cartridges. He pretended to be a great authority on +all matters relating to the chase, although he was, in fact, the worst +shot in the whole canton; and when he had the good luck to meet with +a newcomer, he launched forth on the recital of his imaginary prowess, +without any pity for the hearer. So that, having once got hold of +Julien, he kept by his side when they sat down to breakfast. + +All these country huntsmen were blessed with healthy appetites. They +ate heartily, and drank in the same fashion, especially the collector +Boucheseiche, who justified his name by pouring out numerous bumpers of +white wine. During the first quarter of an hour nothing could be heard +but the noise of jaws masticating, glasses and forks clinking; but when +the savory pastries, the cold game and the hams had disappeared, and +had been replaced by goblets of hot Burgundy and boiling coffee, then +tongues became loosened. Julien, to his infinite disgust, was forced +again to be present at a conversation similar to the one at the time of +the raising of the seals, the coarseness of which had so astonished and +shocked him. After the anecdotes of the chase were exhausted, the guests +began to relate their experiences among the fair sex, losing nothing of +the point from the effect of the numerous empty bottles around. All +the scandalous cases in the courts of justice, all the coarse jokes +and adventures of the district, were related over again. Each tried +to surpass his neighbor. To hear these men of position boast of their +gallantries with all classes, one would have thought that the entire +canton underwent periodical changes and became one vast Saturnalia, +where rustic satyrs courted their favorite nymphs. But nothing came of +it, after all; once the feast was digested, and they had returned to the +conjugal abode, all these terrible gay Lotharios became once more +chaste and worthy fathers of families. Nevertheless, Julien, who was +unaccustomed to such bibulous festivals and such unbridled license of +language, took it all literally, and reproached himself more than ever +with having yielded to Claudet's entreaties. + +At last the table was deserted, and the marking of the limits of the +hunt began. + +As they were following the course of the trenches, the notary stopped +suddenly at the foot of an ash-tree, and took the arm of the collector, +who was gently humming out of tune. + +"Hush! Collector," he whispered, "do you see that fellow up there, on +the fork of the tree? He seems to be jeering at us." + +At the same time he pointed out a squirrel, sitting perched upon a +branch, about halfway up the tree. The animal's tail stood up behind +like a plume, his ears were upright, and he had his front paws in his +mouth, as if cracking a nut. + +"A squirrel!" cried the impetuous Boucheseiche, immediately falling into +the snare; "let no one touch him, gentlemen--I will settle his account +for him." + +The rest of the hunters had drawn back in a circle, and were exchanging +sly glances. The collector loaded his gun, shouldered it, covered the +squirrel, and then let go. + +"Hit!" exclaimed he, triumphantly, as soon as the smoke had dispersed. + +In fact, the animal had slid down the branch, head first, but, somehow, +he did not fall to the ground. + +"He has caught hold of something," said the notary, facetiously. + +"Ah! you will hold on, you rascal, will you?" shouted Boucheseiche, +beside himself with excitement, and the next moment he sent a second +shot, which sent the hair flying in all directions. + +The creature remained in the same position. Then there was a general +roar. + +"He is quite obstinate!" remarked the clerk, slyly. + +Boucheseiche, astonished, looked attentively at the tree, then at the +laughing crowd, and could not understand the situation. + +"If I were in your place, Collector," said Claudet, in an insinuating +manner, "I should climb up there, to see--" + +But Justin Boucheseiche was not a climber. He called a youngster, who +followed the hunt as beater-up. + +"I will give you ten sous," said he; "to mount that tree and bring me my +squirrel!" + +The young imp did not need to be told twice. In the twinkling of an eye +he threw his arms around the tree, and reached the fork. When there, he +uttered an exclamation. + +"Well?" cried the collector; impatiently, "throw him down!" + +"I can't, Monsieur," replied the boy, "the squirrel is fastened by a +wire." Then the laughter burst forth more boisterously than before. + +"A wire, you young rascal! Are you making fun of me?" shouted +Boucheseiche, "come down this moment!" + +"Here he is, Monsieur," replied the lad, throwing himself down with the +squirrel which he tossed at the collector's feet. + +When Boucheseiche verified the fact that the squirrel was a stuffed +specimen, he gave a resounding oath. + +"In the name of---! who is the miscreant that has perpetrated this +joke?" + +No one could reply for laughing. Then ironical cheers burst forth from +all sides. + +"Brave Boucheseiche! That's a kind of game one doesn't often get hold +of!" + +"We never shall see any more of that kind!" + +"Let us carry Boucheseiche in triumph!" + +And so they went on, marching around the tree. Arbillot seized a slip of +ivy and crowned Boucheseiche, while all the others clapped their hands +and capered in front of the collector, who, at last, being a good fellow +at heart, joined in the laugh at his own expense. + +Julien de Buxieres alone could not share the general hilarity. The +uproar caused by this simple joke did not even chase the frown from +his brow. He was provoked at not being able to bring himself within +the diapason of this somewhat vulgar gayety: he was aware that his +melancholy countenance, his black clothes, his want of sympathy jarred +unpleasantly on the other jovial guests. He did not intend any longer +to play the part of a killjoy. Without saying anything to Claudet, +therefore, he waited until the huntsmen had scattered in the brushwood, +and then, diving into a trench, in an opposite direction, he gave them +all the slip, and turned in the direction of Planche-au-Vacher. + +As he walked slowly, treading under foot the dry frosty leaves, he +reflected how the monotonous crackling of this foliage, once so full +of life, now withered and rendered brittle by the frost, seemed to +represent his own deterioration of feeling. It was a sad and suitable +accompaniment of his own gloomy thoughts. + +He was deeply mortified at the sorry figure he had presented at the +breakfast-table. He acknowledged sorrowfully to himself that, at +twenty-eight years of age, he was less young and less really alive than +all these country squires, although all, except Claudet, had passed +their fortieth year. Having missed his season of childhood, was he +also doomed to have no youth? Others found delight in the most ordinary +amusements, why, to him, did life seem so insipid and colorless? + +Why was he so unfortunately constituted that all human joys lost their +sweetness as soon as he opened his heart to them? Nothing made any +powerful impression on him; everything that happened seemed to be a +perpetual reiteration, a song sung for the hundredth time, a story a +hundred times related. + +He was like a new vase, cracked before it had served its use, and he +felt thoroughly ashamed of the weakness and infirmity of his inner self. +Thus pondering, he traversed much ground, hardly knowing where he +was going. The fog, which now filled the air and which almost hid the +trenches with its thin bluish veil, made it impossible to discover his +bearings. At last he reached the border of some pastureland, which he +crossed, and then he perceived, not many steps away, some buildings with +tiled roofs, which had something familiar to him in their aspect. After +he had gone a few feet farther he recognized the court and facade of +La Thuiliere; and, as he looked over the outer wall, a sight altogether +novel and unexpected presented itself. + +Standing in the centre of the courtyard, her outline showing in dark +relief against the light "sugar-frosting," stood Reine Vincart, her back +turned to Julien. She held up a corner of her apron with one hand, and +with the other took out handfuls of grain, which she scattered among +the birds fluttering around her. At each moment the little band was +augmented by a new arrival. All these little creatures were of species +which do not emigrate, but pass the winter in the shelter of the wooded +dells. There were blackbirds with yellow bills, who advanced boldly +over the snow up to the very feet of the distributing fairy; robin +redbreasts, nearly as tame, hopping gayly over the stones, bobbing their +heads and puffing out their red breasts; and tomtits, prudently watching +awhile from the tops of neighboring trees, then suddenly taking flight, +and with quick, sharp cries, seizing the grain on the wing. It was +charming to see all these little hungry creatures career around Reine's +head, with a joyous fluttering of wings. When the supply was exhausted, +the young girl shook her apron, turned around, and recognized Julien. + +"Were you there, Monsieur de Buxieres?" she exclaimed; "come inside the +courtyard! Don't be afraid; they have finished their meal. Those are +my boarders," she added, pointing to the birds, which, one by one, were +taking their flight across the fields. "Ever since the first fall of +snow, I have been distributing grain to them once a day. I think they +must tell one another under the trees there, for every day their number +increases. But I don't complain of that. Just think, these are not birds +of passage; they do not leave us at the first cold blast, to find a +warmer climate; the least we can do is to recompense them by feeding +them when the weather is too severe! Several know me already, and are +very tame. There is a blackbird in particular, and a blue tomtit, that +are both extremely saucy!" + +These remarks were of a nature to please Julien. They went straight to +the heart of the young mystic; they recalled to his mind St. Francis of +Assisi, preaching to the fish and conversing with the birds, and he +felt an increase of sympathy for this singular young girl. He would have +liked to find a pretext for remaining longer with her, but his natural +timidity in the presence of women paralyzed his tongue, and, already, +fearing he should be thought intruding, he had raised his hat to take +leave, when Reine addressed him: + +"I do not ask you to come into the house, because I am obliged to go +to the sale of the Ronces woods, in order to speak to the men who are +cultivating the little lot that we have bought. I wager, Monsieur de +Buxieres, that you are not yet acquainted with our woods?" + +"That is true," he replied, smiling. + +"Very well, if you will accompany me, I will show you the canton they +are about to develop. It will not be time lost, for it will be a good +thing for the people who are working for you to know that you are +interested in their labors." + +Julien replied that he should be happy to be under her guidance. + +"In that case," said Reine, "wait for me here. I shall be back in a +moment." + +She reappeared a few minutes later, wearing a white hood with a cape, +and a knitted woolen shawl over her shoulders. + +"This way!" said she, showing a path that led across the pasture-lands. + +They walked along silently at first. The sky was clear, the wind had +freshened. Suddenly, as if by enchantment, the fog, which had hung over +the forest, became converted into needles of ice. Each tree was powdered +over with frozen snow, and on the hillsides overshadowing the valley the +massive tufts of forest were veiled in a bluish-white vapor. + +Never had Julien de Buxieres been so long in tete-a-tete with a young +woman. The extreme solitude, the surrounding silence, rendered this dual +promenade more intimate and also more embarrassing to a young man +who was alarmed at the very thought of a female countenance. His +ecclesiastical education had imbued Julien with very rigorous ideas as +to the careful and reserved behavior which should be maintained between +the sexes, and his intercourse with the world had been too infrequent +for the idea to have been modified in any appreciable degree. It was +natural, therefore, that this walk across the fields in the company +of Reine should assume an exaggerated importance in his eyes. He felt +himself troubled and yet happy in the chance afforded him to become more +closely acquainted with this young girl, toward whom a secret sympathy +drew him more and more. But he did not know how to begin conversation, +and the more he cudgelled his brains to find a way of opening the +attack, the more he found himself at sea. Once more Reine came to his +assistance. + +"Well, Monsieur de Buxieres," said she, "do matters go more to your +liking now? You have acted most generously toward Claudet, and he ought +to be pleased." + +"Has he spoken to you, then?" + +"No; not himself, but good news, like bad, flies fast, and all the +villagers are singing your praises." + +"I only did a very simple and just thing," replied Julien. + +"Precisely, but those are the very things that are the hardest to do. +And according as they are done well or ill, so is the person that does +them judged by others." + +"You have thought favorably of me then, Mademoiselle Vincart," he +ventured, with a timid smile. + +"Yes; but my opinion is of little importance. You must be pleased with +yourself--that is more essential. I am sure that it must be pleasanter +now for you to live at Vivey?" + +"Hm!--more bearable, certainly." + +The conversation languished again. As they approached the confines +of the farm they heard distant barking, and then the voices of human +beings. Finally two gunshots broke on the air. + +"Ha, ha!" exclaimed Reine, listening, "the Auberive Society is following +the hounds, and Claudet must be one of the party. How is it you were not +with them?" + +"Claudet took me there, and I was at the breakfast--but, Mademoiselle, +I confess that that kind of amusement is not very tempting to me. At the +first opportunity I made my escape, and left the party to themselves." + +"Well, now, to be frank with you, you were wrong. Those gentlemen will +feel aggrieved, for they are very sensitive. You see, when one has to +live with people, one must yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh +their amusements." + +"You are saying exactly what Claudet said last night." + +"Claudet was right." + +"What am I to do? The chase has no meaning for me. I can not feel any +interest in the butchery of miserable animals that are afterward sent +back to their quarters." + +"I can understand that you do not care for the chase for its own sake; +but the ride in the open air, in the open forest? Our forests are so +beautiful--look there, now! does not that sight appeal to you?" + +From the height they had now gained, they could see all over the valley, +illuminated at intervals by the pale rays of the winter sun. Wherever +its light touched the brushwood, the frosty leaves quivered like +diamonds, while a milky cloud enveloped the parts left in shadow. Now +and then, a slight breeze stirred the branches, causing a shower of +sparkling atoms to rise in the air, like miniature rainbows. The entire +forest seemed clothed in the pure, fairy-like robes of a virgin bride. + +"Yes, that is beautiful," admitted Julien, hesitatingly; "I do not think +I ever saw anything similar: at any rate, it is you who have caused me +to notice it for the first time. But," continued he, "as the sun rises +higher, all this phantasmagoria will melt and vanish. The beauty of +created things lasts only a moment, and serves as a warning for us not +to set our hearts on things that perish." + +Reine gazed at him with astonishment. + +"Do you really think so?" exclaimed she: "that is very sad, and I do not +know enough to give an opinion. All I know is, that if God has created +such beautiful things it is in order that we may enjoy them. And that is +the reason why I worship these woods with all my heart. Ah! if you could +only see them in the month of June, when the foliage is at its fulness. +Flowers everywhere--yellow, blue, crimson! Music also everywhere--the +song of birds, the murmuring of waters, and the balmy scents in the air. +Then there are the lime-trees, the wild cherry, and the hedges red with +strawberries--it is intoxicating. And, whatever you may say, Monsieur de +Buxieres, I assure you that the beauty of the forest is not a thing to +be despised. Every season it is renewed: in autumn, when the wild fruits +and tinted leaves contribute their wealth of color; in winter, with its +vast carpets of snow, from which the tall ash springs to such a stately +height-look, now! up there!" + +They were in the depths of the forest. Before them were colonnades of +slim, graceful trees, rising in one unbroken line toward the skies, +their slender branches forming a dark network overhead, and their lofty +proportions lessening in the distance, until lost in the solemn gloom +beyond. A religious silence prevailed, broken only by the occasional +chirp of the wren, or the soft pattering of some smaller fourfooted +race. + +"How beautiful!" exclaimed Reine, with animation; "one might imagine +one's self in a cathedral! Oh! how I love the forest; a feeling of awe +and devotion comes over me, and makes me want to kneel down and pray!" + +Julien looked at her with an uneasy kind of admiration. She was walking +slowly now, grave and thoughtful, as if in church. Her white hood had +fallen on her shoulders, and her hair, slightly stirred by the wind, +floated like a dark aureole around her pale face. Her luminous eyes +gleamed between the double fringes of her eyelids, and her mobile +nostrils quivered with suppressed emotion. As she passed along, the +brambles from the wayside, intermixed with ivy, and other hardy plants, +caught on the hem of her dress and formed a verdant train, giving +her the appearance of the high-priestess of some mysterious temple of +Nature. At this moment, she identified herself so perfectly with her +nickname, "queen of the woods," that Julien, already powerfully affected +by her peculiar and striking style of beauty, began to experience a +superstitious dread of her influence. His Catholic scruples, or the +remembrance of certain pious lectures administered in his childhood, +rendered him distrustful, and he reproached himself for the interest +he took in the conversation of this seductive creature. He recalled +the legends of temptations to which the Evil One used to subject the +anchorites of old, by causing to appear before them the attractive but +illusive forms of the heathen deities. He wondered whether he were not +becoming the sport of the same baleful influence; if, like the Lamias +and Dryads of antiquity, this queen of the woods were not some spirit of +the elements, incarnated in human form and sent to him for the purpose +of dragging his soul down to perdition. + +In this frame of mind he followed in her footsteps, cautiously, and at a +distance, when she suddenly turned, as if waiting for him to rejoin her. +He then perceived that they had reached the end of the copse, and before +them lay an open space, on which the cut lumber lay in cords, forming +dark heaps on the frosty ground. Here and there were allotments of +chosen trees and poles, among which a thin spiral of smoke indicated the +encampment of the cutters. Reine made straight for them, and immediately +presented the new owner of the chateau to the workmen. They made their +awkward obeisances, scrutinizing him in the mistrustful manner customary +with the peasants of mountainous regions when they meet strangers. +The master workman then turned to Reine, replying to her remarks in a +respectful but familiar tone: + +"Make yourself easy, mamselle, we shall do our best and rush things in +order to get through with the work. Besides, if you will come this way +with me, you will see that there is no idling; we are just now going to +fell an oak, and before a quarter of an hour is over it will be lying on +the ground, cut off as neatly as if with a razor." + +They drew near the spot where the first strokes of the axe were already +resounding. The giant tree did not seem affected by them, but remained +haughty and immovable. Then the blows redoubled until the trunk began to +tremble from the base to the summit, like a living thing. The steel +had made the bark, the sapwood, and even the core of the tree, fly +in shivers; but the oak had resumed its impassive attitude, and bore +stoically the assaults of the workmen. Looking upward, as it reared +its proud and stately head, one would have affirmed that it never could +fall. Suddenly the woodsmen fell back; there was a moment of solemn and +terrible suspense; then the enormous trunk heaved and plunged down among +the brushwood with an alarming crash of breaking branches. A sound as of +lamentation rumbled through the icy forest, and then all was still. + +The men, with unconscious emotion, stood contemplating the monarch oak +lying prostrate on the ground. Reine had turned pale; her dark eyes +glistened with tears. + +"Let us go," murmured she to Julien; "this death of a tree affects me as +if it were that of a Christian." + +They took leave of the woodsmen, and reentered the forest. Reine kept +silence and her companion was at a loss to resume the conversation; so +they journeyed along together quietly until they reached a border line, +whence they could perceive the smoke from the roofs of Vivey. + +"You have only to go straight down the hill to reach your home," said +she, briefly; "au revoir, Monsieur de Buxieres." + +Thus they quitted each other, and, looking back, he saw that +she slackened her speed and went dreamily on in the direction of +Planche-au-Vacher. + + + + +CHAPTER V. LOVE'S INDISCRETION + +In the mountainous region of Langres, spring can hardly be said to +appear before the end of May. Until that time the cold weather holds its +own; the white frosts, and the sharp, sleety April showers, as well +as the sudden windstorms due to the malign influence of the ice-gods, +arrest vegetation, and only a few of the more hardy plants venture to +put forth their trembling shoots until later. But, as June approaches +and the earth becomes warmed through by the sun, a sudden metamorphosis +is effected. Sometimes a single night is sufficient for the floral +spring to burst forth in all its plenitude. The hedges are alive with +lilies and woodruffs; the blue columbines shake their foolscap-like +blossoms along the green side-paths; the milky spikes of the Virgin +plant rise slender and tall among the bizarre and many-colored orchids. +Mile after mile, the forest unwinds its fairy show of changing scenes. +Sometimes one comes upon a spot of perfect verdure; at other times one +wanders in almost complete darkness under the thick interlacing boughs +of the ashtrees, through which occasional gleams of light fall on the +dark soil or on the spreading ferns. Now the wanderer emerges upon +an open space so full of sunshine that the strawberries are already +ripening; near them are stacked the tender young trees, ready for +spacing, and the billets of wood piled up and half covered with thistle +and burdock leaves; and a little farther away, half hidden by tall +weeds, teeming with insects, rises the peaked top of the woodsman's hut. +Here one walks beside deep, grassy trenches, which appear to continue +without end, along the forest level; farther, the wild mint and the +centaurea perfume the shady nooks, the oaks and lime-trees arch their +spreading branches, and the honeysuckle twines itself round the knotty +shoots of the hornbeam, whence the thrush gives forth her joyous, +sonorous notes. + +Not only in the forest, but also in the park belonging to the chateau, +and in the village orchards, spring had donned a holiday costume. +Through the open windows, between the massive bunches of lilacs, +hawthorn, and laburnum blossoms, Julien de Buxieres caught glimpses of +rolling meadows and softly tinted vistas. The gentle twittering of the +birds and the mysterious call of the cuckoo, mingled with the perfume +of flowers, stole into his study, and produced a sense of enjoyment as +novel to him as it was delightful. Having until the present time lived a +sedentary life in cities, he had had no opportunity of experiencing this +impression of nature in her awakening and luxuriant aspect; never had +he felt so completely under the seductive influence of the goddess Maia +than at this season when the abundant sap exudes in a white foam from +the trunk of the willow; when between the plant world and ourselves a +magnetic current seems to exist, which seeks to wed their fraternizing +emanations with our own personality. He was oppressed by the vividness +of the verdure, intoxicated with the odor of vegetation, agitated by the +confused music of the birds, and in this May fever of excitement, his +thoughts wandered with secret delight to Reine Vincart, to this queen +of the woods, who was the personification of all the witchery of the +forest. Since their January promenade in the glades of Charbonniere, he +had seen her at a distance, sometimes on Sundays in the little church at +Vivey, sometimes like a fugitive apparition at the turn of a road. They +had also exchanged formal salutations, but had not spoken to each other. +More than once, after the night had fallen, Julien had stopped in front +of the courtyard of La Thuiliere, and watched the lamps being lighted +inside. But he had not ventured to knock at the door of the house; a +foolish timidity had prevented him; so he had returned to the chateau, +dissatisfied and reproaching himself for allowing his awkward shyness to +interpose, as it were, a wall of ice between himself and the only person +whose acquaintance seemed to him desirable. + +At other times he would become alarmed at the large place a woman +occupied in his thoughts, and he congratulated himself on having +resisted the dangerous temptation of seeing Mademoiselle Vincart again. +He acknowledged that this singular girl had for him an attraction +against which he ought to be on his guard. Reine might be said to live +alone at La Thuiliere, for her father could hardly be regarded seriously +as a protector. Julien's visits might have compromised her, and the +young man's severe principles of rectitude forbade him to cause scandal +which he could not repair. He was not thinking of marriage, and even had +his thoughts inclined that way, the proprieties and usages of society +which he had always in some degree respected, would not allow him to +wed a peasant girl. It was evident, therefore, that both prudence and +uprightness would enjoin him to carry on any future relations with +Mademoiselle Vincart with the greatest possible reserve. + +Nevertheless, and in spite of these sage reflections, the enchanting +image of Reine haunted him more than was at all reasonable. Often, +during his hours of watchfulness, he would see her threading the avenues +of the forest, her dark hair half floating in the breeze, and wearing +her white hood and her skirt bordered with ivy. Since the spring had +returned, she had become associated in his mind with all the magical +effects of nature's renewal. He discovered the liquid light of her dark +eyes in the rippling darkness of the streams; the lilies recalled the +faintly tinted paleness of her cheeks; the silene roses, scattered +throughout the hedges, called forth the remembrance of the young +maiden's rosy lips, and the vernal odor of the leaves appeared to him +like an emanation of her graceful and wholesome nature. + +This state of feeling began to act like an obsession, a sort of +witchcraft, which alarmed him. What was she really, this strange +creature? A peasant indeed, apparently; but there was also something +more refined and cultivated about her, due, doubtless, to her having +received her education in a city school. She both felt and expressed +herself differently from ordinary country girls, although retaining the +frankness and untutored charm of rustic natures. She exercised an uneasy +fascination over Julien, and at times he returned to the superstitious +impression made upon him by Reine's behavior and discourse in the +forest. He again questioned with himself whether this female form, +in its untamed beauty, did not enfold some spirit of temptation, some +insidious fairy, similar to the Melusine, who appeared to Count Raymond +in the forest of Poitiers. + +Most of the time he would himself laugh at this extravagant supposition, +but, while endeavoring to make light of his own cowardice, the idea +still haunted and tormented him. Sometimes, in the effort to rid himself +of the persistence of his own imagination, he would try to exorcise the +demon who had got hold of him, and this exorcism consisted in despoiling +the image of his temptress of the veil of virginal purity with which his +admiration had first invested her. Who could assure him, after all, that +this girl, with her independent ways, living alone at her farm, +running through the woods at all hours, was as irreproachable as he +had imagined? In the village, certainly, she was respected by all; but +people were very tolerant--very easy, in fact--on the question of morals +in this district, where the gallantries of Claude de Buxieres were +thought quite natural, where the illegitimacy of Claudet offended +no one's sense of the proprieties, and where the after-dinner +conversations, among the class considered respectable, were such as +Julien had listened to with repugnance. Nevertheless, even in his most +suspicious moods, Julien had never dared broach the subject to Claudet. + +Every time that the name of Reine Vincart had come to his lips, a +feeling of bashfulness, in addition to his ordinary timidity, had +prevented him from interrogating Claudet concerning the character of +this mysterious queen of the woods. Like all novices in love-affairs +Julien dreaded that his feelings should be divined, at the mere mention +of the young girl's name. He preferred to remain isolated, concentrating +in himself his desires, his trouble and his doubts. + +Yet, whatever efforts he made, and however firmly he adhered to his +resolution of silence, the hypochondria from which he suffered could +not escape the notice of the 'grand chasserot'. He was not clear-sighted +enough to discern the causes, but he could observe the effects. It +provoked him to find that all his efforts to enliven his cousin had +proved futile. He had cudgelled his brains to comprehend whence came +these fits of terrible melancholy, and, judging Julien by himself, came +to the conclusion that his ennui proceeded from an excess of strictness +and good behavior. + +"Monsieur de Buxieres," said he, one evening when they were walking +silently, side by side, in the avenues of the park, which resounded with +the song of the nightingales, "there is one thing that troubles me, and +that is that you do not confide in me." + +"What makes you think so, Claudet?" demanded Julien, with surprise. + +"Paybleu! the way you act. You are, if I may say so, too secretive. +When you wanted to make amends for Claude de Buxieres's negligence, +and proposed that I should live here with you, I accepted without any +ceremony. I hoped that in giving me a place at your fire and your table, +you would also give me one in your affections, and that you would allow +me to share your sorrows, like a true brother comrade--" + +"I assure you, my dear fellow, that you are mistaken. If I had any +serious trouble on my mind, you should be the first to know it." + +"Oh! that's all very well to say; but you are unhappy all the same--one +can see it in your mien, and shall I tell you the reason? It is that you +are too sedate, Monsieur de Buxieres; you have need of a sweetheart to +brighten up your days." + +"Ho, ho!" replied Julien, coloring, "do you wish to have me married, +Claudet?" + +"Ah! that's another affair. No; but still I should like to see you take +some interest in a woman--some gay young person who would rouse you up +and make you have a good time. There is no lack of such in the district, +and you would only have the trouble of choosing." + +M. de Buxieres's color deepened, and he was visibly annoyed. + +"That is a singular proposition," exclaimed he, after awhile; "do you +take me for a libertine?" + +"Don't get on your high horse, Monsieur de Buxieres! There would be no +one hurt. The girls I allude to are not so difficult to approach." + +"That has nothing to do with it, Claudet; I do not enjoy that kind of +amusement." + +"It is the kind that young men of our age indulge in, all the same. +Perhaps you think there would be difficulties in the way. They would not +be insurmountable, I can assure you; those matters go smoothly enough +here. You slip your arm round her waist, give her a good, sounding +salute, and the acquaintance is begun. You have only to improve it!" + +"Enough of this," interrupted Julien, harshly, "we never can agree on +such topics!" + +"As you please, Monsieur de Buxieres; since you do not like the subject, +we will not bring it up again. If I mentioned it at all, it was that I +saw you were not interested in either hunting or fishing, and thought +you might prefer some other kind of game. I do wish I knew what to +propose that would give you a little pleasure," continued Claudet, who +was profoundly mortified at the ill-success of his overtures. "Now! +I have it. Will you come with me to-morrow, to the Ronces woods? The +charcoal-dealers who are constructing their furnaces for the sale, will +complete their dwellings this evening and expect to celebrate in the +morning. They call it watering the bouquet, and it is the occasion of a +little festival, to which we, as well at the presiding officials of the +cutting, are invited. Naturally, the guests pay their share in bottles +of wine. You can hardly be excused from showing yourself among these +good people. It is one of the customs of the country. I have promised +to be there, and it is certain that Reine Vincart, who has bought the +Ronces property, will not fail to be present at the ceremony." + +Julien had already the words on his lips for declining Claudet's offer, +when the name of Reine Vincart produced an immediate change in his +resolution. It just crossed his mind that perhaps Claudet had thrown +out her name as a bait and an argument in favor of his theories on the +facility of love-affairs in the country. However that might be, the +allusion to the probable presence of Mademoiselle Vincart at the coming +fete, rendered young Buxieres more tractable, and he made no further +difficulties about accompanying his cousin. + +The next morning, after partaking hastily of breakfast, they started +on their way toward the cutting. The charcoal-dealers had located +themselves on the border of the forest, not far from the spot where, +in the month of January, Reine and Julien had visited the wood cutters. +Under the sheltering branches of a great ash tree, the newly erected +but raised its peaked roof covered with clods of turf, and two furnaces, +just completed, occupied the ground lately prepared. One of them, ready +for use, was covered with the black earth called 'frazil', which is +extracted from the site of old charcoal works; the other, in course of +construction, showed the successive layers of logs ranged in circles +inside, ready for the fire. The workmen moved around, going and coming; +first, the head-man or patron, a man of middle age, of hairy chest, +embrowned visage, and small beady eyes under bushy eyebrows; his wife, +a little, shrivelled, elderly woman; their daughter, a thin awkward +girl of seventeen, with fluffy hair and a cunning, hard expression; +and finally, their three boys, robust young fellows, serving their +apprenticeship at the trade. This party was reenforced by one or +two more single men, and some of the daughters of the woodchoppers, +attracted by the prospect of a day of dancing and joyous feasting. + +These persons were sauntering in and out under the trees, waiting +for the dinner, which was to be furnished mainly by the guests, the +contribution of the charcoal-men being limited to a huge pot of potatoes +which the patroness was cooking over the fire, kindled in front of the +hut. + +The arrival of Julien and Claudet, attended by the small cowboy, puffing +and blowing under a load of provisions, was hailed with exclamations +of gladness and welcome. While one of the assistants was carefully +unrolling the big loaves of white bread, the enormous meat pastry, and +the bottles encased in straw, Reine Vincart appeared suddenly on the +scene, accompanied by one of the farm-hands, who was also tottering +under the weight of a huge basket, from the corners of which peeped the +ends of bottles, and the brown knuckle of a smoked ham. At sight of the +young proprietress of La Thuiliere, the hurrahs burst forth again, with +redoubled and more sustained energy. As she stood there smiling, under +the greenish shadow cast by the ashtrees, Reine appeared to Julien +even more seductive than among the frosty surroundings of the previous +occasion. Her simple and rustic spring costume was marvellously +becoming: a short blue-and-yellow striped skirt, a tight jacket of +light-colored material, fitted closely to the waist, a flat linen collar +tied with a narrow blue ribbon, and a bouquet of woodruff at her bosom. +She wore stout leather boots, and a large straw hat, which she threw +carelessly down on entering the hut. Among so many faces of a different +type, all somewhat disfigured by hardships of exposure, this lovely face +with its olive complexion, lustrous black eyes, and smiling red lips, +framed in dark, soft, wavy hair resting on her plump shoulders, seemed +to spread a sunshiny glow over the scene. It was a veritable portrayal +of the "queen of the woods," appearing triumphant among her rustic +subjects. As an emblem of her royal prerogative, she held in her hand an +enormous bouquet of flowers she had gathered on her way: honeysuckles, +columbine, all sorts of grasses with shivering spikelets, black alder +blossoms with their white centres, and a profusion of scarlet poppies. +Each of these exhaled its own salubrious springlike perfume, and a light +cloud of pollen, which covered the eyelashes and hair of the young girl +with a delicate white powder. + +"Here, Pere Theotime," said she, handing her collection over to the +master charcoal-dealer, "I gathered these for you to ornament the roof +of your dwelling." + +She then drew near to Claudet; gave him her hand in comrade fashion, and +saluted Julien: + +"Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres, I am very glad to see you here. Was +it Claudet who brought you, or did you come of your own accord?" + +While Julien, dazed and bewildered, was seeking a reply, she passed +quickly to the next group, going from one to another, and watching with +interest the placing of the bouquet on the summit of the hut. One of the +men brought a ladder and fastened the flowers to a spike. When they +were securely attached and began to nod in the air, he waved his hat and +shouted: "Hou, houp!" This was the signal for going to table. + +The food had been spread on the tablecloth under the shade of the +ash-trees, and all the guests sat around on sacks of charcoal; for Reine +and Julien alone they had reserved two stools, made by the master, and +thus they found themselves seated side by side. Soon a profound, almost +religious, silence indicated that the attack was about to begin; after +which, and when the first fury of their appetites had been appeased, the +tongues began to be loosened: jokes and anecdotes, seasoned with +loud bursts of laughter, were bandied to and fro under the spreading +branches, and presently the wine lent its aid to raise the spirits of +the company to an exuberant pitch. But there was a certain degree +of restraint observed by these country folk. Was it owing to Reine's +presence? Julien noticed that the remarks of the working-people were in +a very much better tone than those of the Auberive gentry, with whom he +had breakfasted; the gayety of these children of the woods, although of +a common kind, was always kept within decent limits, and he never once +had occasion to feel ashamed. He felt more at ease among them than +among the notables of the borough, and he did not regret having accepted +Claudet's invitation. + +"I am glad I came," murmured he in Reine's ear, "and I never have eaten +with so much enjoyment!" + +"Ah! I am glad of it," replied the young girl, gayly, "perhaps now you +will begin to like our woods." + +When nothing was left on the table but bones and empty bottles, Pere +Theotime took a bottle of sealed wine, drew the cork, and filled the +glasses. + +"Now," said he, "before christening our bouquet, we will drink to +Monsieur de Buxieres, who has brought us his good wine, and to our sweet +lady, Mademoiselle Vincart." + +The glasses clinked, and the toasts were drunk with fervor. + +"Mamselle Reine," resumed Pere Theotime, with a certain amount of +solemnity, "you can see, the hut is built; it will be occupied to-night, +and I trust good work will be done. You can perceive from here our first +furnace, all decorated and ready to be set alight. But, in order that +good luck shall attend us, you yourself must set light to the fire. I +ask you, therefore, to ascend to the top of the chimney and throw in the +first embers; may I ask this of your good-nature?" + +"Why, certainly!" replied Reine, "come, Monsieur de Buxieres, you must +see how we light a charcoal furnace." + +All the guests jumped from their seats; one of the men took the ladder +and leaned it against the sloping side of the furnace. Meanwhile, Pere +Theotime was bringing an earthen vase full of burning embers. Reine +skipped lightly up the steps, and when she reached the top, stood erect +near the orifice of the furnace. + +Her graceful outline came out in strong relief against the clear sky; +one by one, she took the embers handed her by the charcoal-dealer, and +threw them into the opening in the middle of the furnace. Soon there was +a crackling inside, followed by a dull rumbling; the chips and rubbish +collected at the bottom had caught fire, and the air-holes left at +the base of the structure facilitated the passage of the current, and +hastened the kindling of the wood. + +"Bravo; we've got it!" exclaimed Pere Theotime. + +"Bravo!" repeated the young people, as much exhilarated with the open +air as with the two or three glasses of white wine they had drunk. Lads +and lasses joined hands and leaped impetuously around the furnace. + +"A song, Reine! Sing us a song!" cried the young girls. + +She stood at the foot of the ladder, and, without further solicitation, +intoned, in her clear and sympathetic voice, a popular song, with a +rhythmical refrain: + + My father bid me + Go sell my wheat. + To the market we drove + "Good-morrow, my sweet! + How much, can you say, + Will its value prove?" + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove. + + "A hundred francs + Will its value prove." + "When you sell your wheat, + Do you sell your love?" + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove! + + "My heart, Monsieur, + Will never rove, + I have promised it + To my own true love." + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove. + + "For me he braves + The wind and the rain; + For me he weaves + A silver chain." + + On my 'broidered glove. + Lies the rose again. + +Repeating the refrain in chorus, boys and girls danced and leaped in the +sunlight. Julien leaned against the trunk of a tree, listening to the +sonorous voice of Reine, and could not take his eyes off the singer. +When she had ended her song, Reine turned in another direction; but the +dancers had got into the spirit of it and could not stand still; one +of the men came forward, and started another popular air, which all the +rest repeated in unison: + + Up in the woods + Sleeps the fairy to-day: + The king, her lover, + Has strolled that way! + Will those who are young + Be married or nay? + Yea, yea! + +Carried away by the rhythm, and the pleasure of treading the soft grass +under their feet, the dancers quickened their pace. The chain of young +folks disconnected for a moment, was reformed, and twisted in and out +among the trees; sometimes in light, sometimes in shadow, until they +disappeared, singing, into the very heart of the forest. With the +exception of Pere Theotime and his wife, who had gone to superintend the +furnace, all the guests, including Claudet, had joined the gay throng. +Reine and Julien, the only ones remaining behind, stood in the shade +near the borderline of the forest. It was high noon, and the sun's rays, +shooting perpendicularly down, made the shade desirable. Reine proposed +to her companion to enter the hut and rest, while waiting for the return +of the dancers. Julien accepted readily; but not without being surprised +that the young girl should be the first to suggest a tete-a-tete in the +obscurity of a remote hut. Although more than ever fascinated by +the unusual beauty of Mademoiselle Vincart, he was astonished, and +occasionally shocked, by the audacity and openness of her action toward +him. Once more the spirit of doubt took possession of him, and he +questioned whether this freedom of manners was to be attributed to +innocence or effrontery. After the pleasant friendliness of the midday +repast, and the enlivening effect of the dance round the furnace, he was +both glad and troubled to find himself alone with Reine. He longed to +let her know what tender admiration she excited in his mind; but he did +not know how to set about it, nor in what style to address a girl of so +strange and unusual a disposition. So he contented himself with fixing +an enamored gaze upon her, while she stood leaning against one of the +inner posts, and twisted mechanically between her fingers a branch of +wild honeysuckle. Annoyed at his taciturnity, she at last broke the +silence: + +"You are not saying anything, Monsieur de Buxieres; do you regret having +come to this fete?" + +"Regret it, Mademoiselle?" returned he; "it is a long time since I have +had so pleasant a day, and I thank you, for it is to you I owe it." + +"To me? You are joking. It is the good-humor of the people, the spring +sunshine, and the pure air of the forest that you must thank. I have no +part in it." + +"You are everything in it, on the contrary," said he, tenderly. "Before +I knew you, I had met with country people, seen the sun and trees, and +so on, and nothing made any impression on me. But, just now, when you +were singing over there, I felt gladdened and inspired; I felt the +beauty of the woods, I sympathized with these good people, and these +grand trees, all these things among which you live so happily. It is you +who have worked this miracle. Ah! you are well named. You are truly the +fairy of the feast, the queen of the woods!" + +Astonished at the enthusiasm of her companion, Reine looked at him +sidewise, half closing her eyes, and perceived that he was altogether +transformed. He appeared to have suddenly thawed. He was no longer the +awkward, sickly youth, whose every movement was paralyzed by timidity, +and whose words froze on his tongue; his slender frame had become +supple, his blue eyes enlarged and illuminated; his delicate features +expressed refinement, tenderness, and passion. The young girl was moved +and won by so much emotion, the first that Julien had ever manifested +toward her. Far from being offended at this species of declaration, she +replied, gayly: + +"As to the queen of the woods working miracles, I know none so powerful +as these flowers." + +She unfastened the bouquet of white starry woodruff from her corsage, +and handed them over to him in their envelope of green leaves. + +"Do you know them?" said she; "see how sweet they smell! And the odor +increases as they wither." + +Julien had carried the bouquet to his lips, and was inhaling slowly the +delicate perfume. + +"Our woodsmen," she continued, "make with this plant a broth which cures +from ill effects of either cold or heat as if by enchantment; they also +infuse it into white wine, and convert it into a beverage which they +call May wine, and which is very intoxicating." + +Julien was no longer listening to these details. He kept his eyes +steadily fixed on Mademoiselle Vincart, and continued to inhale +rapturously the bouquet, and to experience a kind of intoxication. + +"Let me keep these flowers," he implored, in a choking voice. + +"Certainly," replied she, gayly; "keep them, if it will give you +pleasure." + +"Thank you," he murmured, hiding them in his bosom. + +Reine was surprised at his attaching such exaggerated importance to so +slight a favor, and a sudden flush overspread her cheeks. She almost +repented having given him the flowers when she saw what a tender +reception he had given them, so she replied, suggestively: + +"Do not thank me; the gift is not significant. Thousands of similar +flowers grow in the forest, and one has only to stoop and gather them." + +He dared not reply that this bouquet, having been worn by her, was worth +much more to him than any other, but he thought it, and the thought +aroused in his mind a series of new ideas. As Reine had so readily +granted this first favor, was she not tacitly encouraging him to ask +for others? Was he dealing with a simple, innocent girl, or a village +coquette, accustomed to be courted? And on this last supposition should +he not pass for a simpleton in the eyes of this experienced girl, if +he kept himself at too great a distance. He remembered the advice of +Claudet concerning the method of conducting love-affairs smoothly with +certain women of the country. Whether she was a coquette or not, Reine +had bewitched him. The charm had worked more powerfully still since he +had been alone with her in this obscure hut, where the cooing of the +wild pigeons faintly reached their ears, and the penetrating odors of +the forest pervaded their nostrils. Julien's gaze rested lovingly on +Reine's wavy locks, falling heavily over her neck, on her half-covered +eyes with their luminous pupils full of golden specks of light, on her +red lips, on the two little brown moles spotting her somewhat decollete +neck. He thought her adorable, and was dying to tell her so; but when +he endeavored to formulate his declaration, the words stuck fast in his +throat, his veins swelled, his throat became dry, his head swam. In +this disorder of his faculties he brought to mind the recommendation of +Claudet: "One arm round the waist, two sounding kisses, and the thing is +done." He rose abruptly, and went up to the young girl: + +"Since you have given me these flowers," he began, in a husky voice, +"will you also, in sign of friendship, give me your hand, as you gave it +to Claudet?" + +After a moment's hesitation, she held out her hand; but, hardly had he +touched it when he completely lost control of himself, and slipping the +arm which remained free around Reine's waist, he drew her toward him +and lightly touched with his lips her neck, the beauty of which had so +magnetized him. + +The young girl was stronger than he; in the twinkling of an eye she tore +herself from his audacious clasp, threw him violently backward, and with +one bound reached the door of the hut. She stood there a moment, pale, +indignant, her eyes blazing, and then exclaimed, in a hollow voice: + +"If you come a step nearer, I will call the charcoalmen!" + +But Julien had no desire to renew the attack; already sobered, cowed, +and repentant, he had retreated to the most obscure corner of the +dwelling. + +"Are you mad?" she continued, with vehemence, "or has the wine got into +your head? It is rather early for you to be adopting the ways of your +deceased cousin! I give you notice that they will not succeed with me!" +And, at the same moment, tears of humiliation filled her eyes. "I did +not expect this of you, Monsieur de Buxieres!" + +"Forgive me!" faltered Julien, whose heart smote him at the sight of +her tears; "I have behaved like a miserable sinner and a brute! It was a +moment of madness--forget it and forgive me!" + +"Nobody ever treated me with disrespect before," returned the young +girl, in a suffocated voice; "I was wrong to allow you any familiarity, +that is all. It shall not happen to me again!" + +Julien remained mute, overpowered with shame and remorse. Suddenly, +in the stillness around, rose the voices of the dancers returning and +singing the refrain of the rondelay: + + I had a rose-- + On my heart it lay + Will those who are young + Be married, or nay? + Yea, yea! + +"There are our people," said Reine, softly, "I am going to them; +adieu--do not follow me!" She left the but and hastened toward the +furnace, while Julien, stunned with the rapidity with which this +unfortunate scene had been enacted, sat down on one of the benches, +a prey to confused feelings of shame and angry mortification. No, +certainly, he did not intend to follow her! He had no desire to show +himself in public with this young girl whom he had so stupidly insulted, +and in whose face he never should be able to look again. Decidedly, he +did not understand women, since he could not even tell a virtuous girl +from a frivolous coquette! Why had he not been able to see that the +good-natured, simple familiarity of Reine Vincart had nothing in common +with the enticing allurements of those who, to use Claudet's words, had +"thrown their caps over the wall." How was it that he had not read, in +those eyes, pure as the fountain's source, the candor and uprightness of +a maiden heart which had nothing to conceal. This cruel evidence of his +inability to conduct himself properly in the affairs of life exasperated +and humiliated him, and at the same time that he felt his self-love most +deeply wounded, he was conscious of being more hopelessly enamored +of Reine Vincart. Never had she appeared so beautiful as during the +indignant movement which had separated her from him. Her look of mingled +anger and sadness, the expression of her firm, set lips, the quivering +nostrils, the heaving of her bosom, he recalled it all, and the image of +her proud beauty redoubled his grief and despair. + +He remained a long time concealed in the shadow of the hut. Finally, +when he heard the voices dying away in different directions, and was +satisfied that the charcoal-men were attending to their furnace work, he +made up his mind to come out. But, as he did not wish to meet any one, +instead of crossing through the cutting he plunged into the wood, taking +no heed in what direction he went, and being desirous of walking alone +as long as possible, without meeting a single human visage. + +As he wandered aimlessly through the deepening shadows of the forest, +crossed here and there by golden bars of light from the slanting rays +of the setting sun, he pondered over the probable results of his +unfortunate behavior. Reine would certainly keep silence on the affront +she had received, but would she be indulgent enough to forget or +forgive the insult? The most evident result of the affair would be that +henceforth all friendly relations between them must cease. She certainly +would maintain a severe attitude toward the person who had so grossly +insulted her, but would she be altogether pitiless in her anger? +All through his dismal feelings of self-reproach, a faint hope of +reconciliation kept him from utter despair. As he reviewed the details +of the shameful occurrence, he remembered that the expression of her +countenance had been one more of sorrow than of anger. The tone of +melancholy reproach in which she had uttered the words: "I did not +expect this from you, Monsieur de Buxieres!" seemed to convey the hope +that he might, one day, be forgiven. At the same time, the poignancy of +his regret showed him how much hold the young girl had taken upon his +affections, and how cheerless and insipid his life would be if he were +obliged to continue on unfriendly terms with the woodland queen. + +He had come to this conclusion in his melancholy reflections, when he +reached the outskirts of the forest. + +He stood above the calm, narrow valley of Vivey; on the right, over the +tall ash-trees, peeped the pointed turrets of the chateau; on the left, +and a little farther behind, was visible a whitish line, contrasting +with the surrounding verdure, the winding path to La Thuiliere, through +the meadow-land of Planche-au-Vacher. Suddenly, the sound of voices +reached his ears, and, looking more closely, he perceived Reine and +Claudet walking side by side down the narrow path. The evening air +softened the resonance of the voices, so that the words themselves were +not audible, but the intonation of the alternate speakers, and their +confidential and friendly gestures, evinced a very animated, if not +tender, exchange of sentiments. At times the conversation was enlivened +by Claudet's bursts of laughter, or an amicable gesture from Reine. At +one moment, Julien saw the young girl lay her hand familiarly on the +shoulder of the 'grand chssserot', and immediately a pang of intense +jealousy shot through his heart. At last the young pair arrived at the +banks of a stream, which traversed the path and had become swollen by +the recent heavy rains. Claudet took Reine by the waist and lifted her +in his vigorous arms, while he picked his way across the stream; then +they resumed their way toward the bottom of the pass, and the tall +brushwood hid their retreating forms from Julien's eager gaze, although +it was long before the vibrations of their sonorous voices ceased +echoing in his ears. + +"Ah!" thought he, quite overcome by this new development, "she stands +less on ceremony with him than with me! How close they kept to each +other in that lonely path! With what animation they conversed! with +what abandon she allowed herself to be carried in his arms! All that +indicates an intimacy of long standing, and explains a good many +things!" + +He recalled Reine's visit to the chateau, and how cleverly she had +managed to inform him of the parentage existing between Claudet and the +deceased Claude de Buxieres; how she had by her conversation raised +a feeling of pity in his mind for Claudet; and a desire to repair the +negligence of the deceased. + +"How could I be so blind!" thought Julien, with secret scorn of himself; +"I did not see anything, I comprehended none of their artifices! They +love each other, that is sure, and I have been playing throughout the +part of a dupe. I do not blame him. He was in love, and allowed himself +to be persuaded. But she! whom I thought so open, so true, so loyal! Ah! +she is no better than others of her class, and she was coquetting with +me in order to insure her lover a position! Well! one more illusion is +destroyed. Ecclesiastes was right. 'Inveni amarivrem morte mulierem', +'woman is more bitter than death'!" + +Twilight had come, and it was already dark in the forest. Slowly and +reluctantly, Julien descended the slope leading to the chateau, and the +gloom of the woods entered his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. LOVE BY PROXY + +Jealousy is a maleficent deity of the harpy tribe; she embitters +everything she touches. + +Ever since the evening that Julien had witnessed the crossing of the +brook by Reine and Claudet, a secret poison had run through his veins, +and embittered every moment of his life. Neither the glowing sun of +June, nor the glorious development of the woods had any charm for him. +In vain did the fields display their golden treasures of ripening corn; +in vain did the pale barley and the silvery oats wave their luxuriant +growth against the dark background of the woods; all these fairylike +effects of summer suggested only prosaic and misanthropic reflections +in Julien's mind. He thought of the tricks, the envy and hatred that the +possession of these little squares of ground brought forth among their +rapacious owners. The prolific exuberance of forest vegetation was an +exemplification of the fierce and destructive activity of the blind +forces of Nature. All the earth was a hateful theatre for the continual +enactment of bloody and monotonous dramas; the worm consuming the plant; +the bird mangling the insect, the deer fighting among themselves, and +man, in his turn, pursuing all kinds of game. He identified nature with +woman, both possessing in his eyes an equally deceiving appearance, the +same beguiling beauty, and the same spirit of ambuscade and perfidy. +The people around him inspired him only with mistrust and suspicion. In +every peasant he met he recognized an enemy, prepared to cheat him with +wheedling words and hypocritical lamentations. Although during the few +months he had experienced the delightful influence of Reine Vincart, +he had been drawn out of his former prejudices, and had imagined he was +rising above the littleness of every-day worries; he now fell back +into hard reality; his feet were again embedded in the muddy ground of +village politics, and consequently village life was a burden to him. + +He never went out, fearing to meet Reine Vincart. He fancied that the +sight of her might aggravate the malady from which he suffered and for +which he eagerly sought a remedy. + +But, notwithstanding the cloistered retirement to which he had condemned +himself, his wound remained open. Instead of solitude having a healing +effect, it seemed to make his sufferings greater. When, in the evening, +as he sat moodily at his window, he would hear Claudet whistle to his +dog, and hurry off in the direction of La Thuiliere, he would say to +himself: "He is going to keep an appointment with Reine." Then a feeling +of blind rage would overpower him; he felt tempted to leave his room and +follow his rival secretly--a moment afterward he would be ashamed of his +meanness. Was it not enough that he had once, although involuntarily, +played the degrading part of a spy! What satisfaction could he derive +from such a course? Would he be much benefited when he returned home +with rage in his heart and senses, after watching a love-scene between +the young pair? This consideration kept him in his seat, but his +imagination ran riot instead; it went galloping at the heels of Claudet, +and accompanied him down the winding paths, moistened by the evening +dew. As the moon rose above the trees, illuminating the foliage with her +mild bluish rays, he pictured to himself the meeting of the two lovers +on the flowery turf bathed in the silvery light. His brain seemed on +fire. He saw Reine in white advancing like a moonbeam, and Claudet +passing his arm around the yielding waist of the maiden. He tried to +substitute himself in idea, and to imagine the delight of the first +words of welcome, and the ecstasy of the prolonged embrace. A shiver ran +through his whole body; a sharp pain transfixed his heart; his throat +closed convulsively; half fainting, he leaned against the window-frame, +his eyes closed, his ears stopped, to shut out all sights or sounds, +longing only for oblivion and complete torpor of body and mind. + +He did not realize his longing. The enchanting image of the woodland +queen, as he had beheld her in the dusky light of the charcoal-man's +hut, was ever before him. He put his hands over his eyes. She was there +still, with her deep, dark eyes and her enticing cherry lips. Even the +odor of the honeysuckle arising from the garden assisted the reality of +the vision, by recalling the sprig of the same flower which Reine was +twisting round her fingers at their last interview. This sweet breath +of flowers in the night seemed like an emanation from the young girl +herself, and was as fleeting and intangible as the remembrance of +vanished happiness. Again and again did his morbid nature return to past +events, and make his present position more unbearable. + +"Why," thought he, "did I ever entertain so wild a hope? This +wood-nymph, with her robust yet graceful figure, her clear-headedness, +her energy and will-power, could she ever have loved a being so weak +and unstable as myself? No, indeed; she needs a lover full of life and +vigor; a huntsman, with a strong arm, able to protect her. What figure +should I cut by the side of so hearty and well-balanced a fellow?" + +In these fits of jealousy, he was not so angry with Claudet for being +loved by Reine as for having so carefully concealed his feelings. And +yet, while inwardly blaming him for this want of frankness, he did not +realize that he himself was open to a similar accusation, by hiding from +Claudet what was troubling him so grievously. + +Since the evening of the inauguration festival, he had become sullen +and taciturn. Like all timid persons, he took refuge in a moody silence, +which could not but irritate his cousin. They met every day at the same +table; to all appearance their intimacy was as great as ever, but, in +reality, there was no mutual exchange of feeling. Julien's continued +ill-humor was a source of anxiety to Claudet, who turned his brain +almost inside out in endeavoring to discover its cause. He knew he had +done nothing to provoke any coolness; on the contrary, he had set his +wits to work to show his gratitude by all sorts of kindly offices. + +By dint of thinking the matter over, Claudet came to the conclusion +that perhaps Julien was beginning to repent of his generosity, and that +possibly this coolness was a roundabout way of manifesting his change of +feeling. This seemed to be the only plausible solution of his cousin's +behavior. "He is probably tired," thought he, "of keeping us here at the +chateau, my mother and myself." + +Claudet's pride and self-respect revolted at this idea. He did not +intend to be an incumbrance on any one, and became offended in his turn +at the mute reproach which he imagined he could read in his cousin's +troubled countenance. This misconception, confirmed by the obstinate +silence of both parties, and aggravated by its own continuance, at last +produced a crisis. + +It happened one night, after they had taken supper together, and +Julien's ill-humor had been more evident than usual. Provoked at his +persistent taciturnity, and more than ever convinced that it was his +presence that young de Buxieres objected to, Claudet resolved to force +an explanation. Instead, therefore, of quitting the dining-room after +dessert, and whistling to his dog to accompany him in his habitual +promenade, the 'grand chasserot' remained seated, poured out a small +glass of brandy, and slowly filled his pipe. Surprised to see that +he was remaining at home, Julien rose and began to pace the floor, +wondering what could be the reason of this unexpected change. As +suspicious people are usually prone to attribute complicated motives for +the most simple actions, he imagined that Claudet, becoming aware of +the jealous feeling he had excited, had given up his promenade solely +to mislead and avert suspicion. This idea irritated him still more, and +halting suddenly in his walk, he went up to Claudet and said, brusquely: + +"You are not going out, then?" + +"No;" replied Claudet, "if you will permit me, I will stay and keep you +company. Shall I annoy you?" + +"Not in the least; only, as you are accustomed to walk every evening, +I should not wish you to inconvenience yourself on my account. I am not +afraid of being alone, and I am not selfish enough to deprive you of +society more agreeable than mine." + +"What do you mean by that?" cried Claudet, pricking up his ears. + +"Nothing," muttered Julien, between his set teeth, "except that your +fancied obligation of keeping me company ought not to prevent you +missing a pleasant engagement, or keeping a rendezvous." + +"A rendezvous," replied his interlocutor, with a forced laugh, "so you +think, when I go out after supper, I go to seek amusement. A rendezvous! +And with whom, if you please?" + +"With your mistress, of course," replied Julien, sarcastically, "from +what you said to me, there is no scarcity here of girls inclined to be +good-natured, and you have only the trouble of choosing among them. I +supposed you were courting some woodman's young daughter, or some pretty +farmer girl, like--like Reine Vincart." + +"Refine Vincart!" repeated Claudet, sternly, "what business have you +to mix up her name with those creatures to whom you refer? Mademoiselle +Vincart," added he, "has nothing in common with that class, and you have +no right, Monsieur de Buxieres, to use her name so lightly!" + +The allusion to Reine Vincart had agitated Claudet to such a degree that +he did not notice that Julien, as he pronounced her name, was as much +moved as himself. + +The vehemence with which Claudet resented the insinuation increased +young de Buxieres's irritation. + +"Ha, ha!" said he, laughing scornfully, "Reine Vincart is an exceedingly +pretty girl!" + +"She is not only pretty, she is good and virtuous, and deserves to be +respected." + +"How you uphold her! One can see that you are interested in her." + +"I uphold her because you are unjust toward her. But I wish you to +understand that she has no need of any one standing up for her--her good +name is sufficient to protect her. Ask any one in the village--there is +but one voice on that question." + +"Come," said Julien, huskily, "confess that you are in love with her." + +"Well! suppose I am," said Claudet, angrily, "yes, I love her! There, +are you satisfied now?" + +Although de Buxieres knew what he had to expect, he was not the less +affected by so open an avowal thrust at him, as it were. He stood for a +moment, silent; then, with a fresh burst of rage: + +"You love her, do you? Why did you not tell me before? Why were you not +more frank with me?" + +As he spoke, gesticulating furiously, in front of the open window, the +deep red glow of the setting sun, piercing through the boughs of the +ash-trees, threw its bright reflections on his blazing eyeballs and +convulsed features. His interlocutor, leaning against the opposite +corner of the window-frame, noticed, with some anxiety, the extreme +agitation of his behavior, and wondered what could be the cause of such +emotion. + +"I? Not frank with you! Ah, that is a good joke, Monsieur de Buxieres! +Naturally, I should not go proclaiming on the housetops that I have a +tender feeling for Mademoiselle Vincart, but, all the same, I should +have told you had you asked me sooner. I am not reserved; but, you must +excuse my saying it, you are walled in like a subterranean passage. One +can not get at the color of your thoughts. I never for a moment +imagined that you were interested in Reine, and you never have made me +sufficiently at home to entertain the idea of confiding in you on that +subject." + +Julien remained silent. He had reseated himself at the table, where, +leaning his head in his hands, he pondered over what Claudet had said. +He placed his hand so as to screen his eyes, and bit his lips as if a +painful struggle was going on within him. The splendors of the setting +sun had merged into the dusky twilight, and the last piping notes of the +birds sounded faintly among the sombre trees. A fresh breeze had sprung +up, and filled the darkening room with the odor of honeysuckle. + +Under the soothing influence of the falling night, Julien slowly raised +his head, and addressing Claudet in a low and measured voice like a +father confessor interrogating a penitent, said: + +"Does Reine know that you love her?" + +"I think she must suspect it," replied Claudet, "although I never have +ventured to declare myself squarely. But girls are very quick, Reine +especially. They soon begin to suspect there is some love at bottom, +when a young man begins to hang around them too frequently." + +"You see her often, then?" + +"Not as often as I should like. But, you know, when one lives in the +same district, one has opportunities of meeting--at the beech harvest, +in the woods, at the church door. And when you meet, you talk but +little, making the most of your time. Still, you must not suppose, as +I think you did, that we have rendezvous in the evening. Reine respects +herself too much to go about at night with a young man as escort, and +besides, she has other fish to fry. She has a great deal to do at the +farm, since her father has become an invalid." + +"Well, do you think she loves you?" said Julien, with a movement of +nervous irritation. + +"I can not tell," replied Claudet shrugging his shoulders, "she has +confidence in me, and shows me some marks of friendship, but I never +have ventured to ask her whether she feels anything more than friendship +for me. Look here, now. I have good reasons for keeping back; she +is rich and I am poor. You can understand that I would not, for any +consideration, allow her to think that I am courting her for her +money--" + +"Still, you desire to marry her, and you hope that she will not say +no--you acknowledge that!" cried Julien, vociferously. + +Claudet, struck with the violence and bitterness of tone of his +companion, came up to him. + +"How angrily you say that, Monsieur de Buxieres!" exclaimed he in his +turn; "upon my word, one might suppose the affair is very displeasing to +you. Will you let me tell you frankly an idea that has already entered +my head several times these last two or three days, and which has come +again now, while I have been listening to you? It is that perhaps you, +yourself, are also in love with Reine?" + +"I!" protested Julien. He felt humiliated at Claudet's perspicacity; but +he had too much pride and selfrespect to let his preferred rival know of +his unfortunate passion. He waited a moment to swallow something in his +throat that seemed to be choking him, and then, trying in vain to steady +his voice, he added: + +"You know that I have an aversion for women; and for that matter, I +think they return it with interest. But, at all events, I am not foolish +enough to expose myself to their rebuffs. Rest assured, I shall not +follow at your heels!" + +Claudet shook his head incredulously. + +"You doubt it," continued de Buxieres; "well, I will prove it to you. +You can not declare your wishes because Reine is rich and you are poor? +I will take charge of the whole matter." + +"I--I do not understand you," faltered Claudet, bewildered at the +strange turn the conversation was taking. + +"You will understand-soon," asserted Julien, with a gesture of both +decision and resignation. + +The truth was, he had made one of those resolutions which seem illogical +and foolish at first sight, but are natural to minds at once timid and +exalted. The suffering caused by Claudet's revelations had become so +acute that he was alarmed. He recognized with dismay the disastrous +effects of this hopeless love, and determined to employ a heroic remedy +to arrest its further ravages. This was nothing less than killing +his love, by immediately getting Claudet married to Reine Vincart. +Sacrifices like this are easier to souls that have been subjected since +their infancy to Christian discipline, and accustomed to consider the +renunciation of mundane joys as a means of securing eternal salvation. +As soon as this idea had developed in Julien's brain, he seized upon it +with the precipitation of a drowning man, who distractedly lays hold of +the first object that seems to offer him a means of safety, whether it +be a dead branch or a reed. + +"Listen," he resumed; "at the very first explanation that we had +together, I told you I did not intend to deprive you of your right to a +portion of your natural father's inheritance. Until now, you have taken +my word for it, and we have lived at the chateau like two brothers. But +now that a miserable question of money alone prevents you from marrying +the woman you love, it is important that you should be legally provided +for. We will go to-morrow to Monsieur Arbillot, and ask him to draw up +the deed, making over to you from me one half of the fortune of Claude +de Buxieres. You will then be, by law, and in the eyes of all, one of +the desirable matches of the canton, and you can demand the hand of +Mademoiselle Vincart, without any fear of being thought presumptuous or +mercenary." + +Claudet, to whom this conclusion was wholly unexpected, was +thunderstruck. His emotion was so great that it prevented him from +speaking. In the obscurity of the room his deep-set eyes seemed larger, +and shone with the tears he could not repress. + +"Monsieur Julien," said he, falteringly, "I can not find words to thank +you. I am like an idiot. And to think that only a little while ago I +suspected you of being tired of me, and regretting your benefits toward +me! What an animal I am! I measure others by myself. Well! can you +forgive me? If I do not express myself well, I feel deeply, and all I +can say is that you have made me very happy!" He sighed heavily. "The +question is now," continued he, "whether Reine will have me! You may not +believe me, Monsieur de Buxieres, but though I may seem very bold and +resolute, I feel like a wet hen when I get near her. I have a dreadful +panic that she will send me away as I came. I don't know whether I can +ever find courage to ask her." + +"Why should she refuse you?" said Julien, sadly, "she knows that you +love her. Do you suppose she loves any one else?" + +"That I don't know. Although Reine is very frank, she does not let every +one know what is passing in her mind, and with these young girls, I +tell you, one is never sure of anything. That is just what I fear may be +possible." + +"If you fear the ordeal," said de Buxieres, with a visible effort, +"would you like me to present the matter for you?" + +"I should be very glad. It would be doing me a great service. It would +be adding one more kindness to those I have already received, and some +day I hope to make it all up to you." + +The next morning, according to agreement, Julien accompanied Claudet to +Auberive, where Maitre Arbillot drew up the deed of gift, and had it at +once signed and recorded. Afterward the young men adjourned to breakfast +at the inn. The meal was brief and silent. Neither seemed to have any +appetite. As soon as they had drunk their coffee, they turned back on +the Vivey road; but, when they had got as far as the great limetree, +standing at the entrance to the forest, Julien touched Claudet lightly +on the shoulder. + +"Here," said he, "we must part company. You will return to Vivey, and I +shall go across the fields to La Thuiliere. I shall return as soon as +I have had an interview with Mademoiselle Vincart. Wait for me at the +chateau." + +"The time will seem dreadfully long to me," sighed Claudet; "I shall not +know how to dispose of my body until you return." + +"Your affair will be all settled within two or three hours from now. +Stay near the window of my room, and you will catch first sight of me +coming along in the distance. If I wave my hat, it will be a sign that I +bring a favorable answer." + +Claudet pressed his hand; they separated, and Julien descended the newly +mown meadow, along which he walked under the shade of trees scattered +along the border line of the forest. + +The heat of the midday sun was tempered by a breeze from the east, +which threw across the fields and woods the shadows of the white fleecy +clouds. The young man, pale and agitated, strode with feverish haste +over the short-cropped grass, while the little brooklet at his side +seemed to murmur a flute-like, soothing accompaniment to the tumultuous +beatings of his heart. He was both elated and depressed at the prospect +of submitting his already torn and lacerated feelings to so severe +a trial. The thought of beholding Reine again, and of sounding her +feelings, gave him a certain amount of cruel enjoyment. He would speak +to her of love--love for another, certainly--but he would throw into +the declaration he was making, in behalf of another, some of his own +tenderness; he would have the supreme and torturing satisfaction of +watching her countenance, of anticipating her blushes, of gathering +the faltering avowal from her lips. He would once more drink of the +intoxication of her beauty, and then he would go and shut himself up at +Vivey, after burying at La Thuiliere all his dreams and profane desires. +But, even while the courage of this immolation of his youthful love +was strong within him, he could not prevent a dim feeling of hope from +crossing his mind. Claudet was not certain that he was beloved; and +possibly Reine's answer would be a refusal. Then he should have a free +field. + +By a very human, but very illogical impulse, Julien de Buxieres had +hardly concluded the arrangement with Claudet which was to strike +the fatal blow to his own happiness when he began to forestall the +possibilities which the future might have in store for him. The odor of +the wild mint and meadow-sweet, dotting the banks of the stream, again +awoke vague, happy anticipations. Longing to reach Reine Vincart's +presence, he hastened his steps, then stopped suddenly, seized with an +overpowering panic. He had not seen her since the painful episode in the +hut, and it must have left with her a very sorry impression. What could +he do, if she refused to receive him or listen to him? + +While revolting these conflicting thoughts in his mind, he came to +the fields leading directly to La Thuiliere, and just beyond, across a +waving mass of oats and rye, the shining tops of the farm-buildings came +in sight. A few minutes later, he pushed aside a gate and entered the +yard. + +The shutters were closed, the outer gate was closed inside, and the +house seemed deserted. Julien began to think that the young girl he +was seeking had gone into the fields with the farm-hands, and stood +uncertain and disappointed in the middle of the courtyard. At this +sudden intrusion into their domain, a brood of chickens, who had been +clucking sedately around, and picking up nourishment at the same time, +scattered screaming in every direction, heads down, feet sprawling, +until by unanimous consent they made a beeline for a half-open door, +leading to the orchard. Through this manoeuvre, the young man's +attention was brought to the fact that through this opening he could +reach the rear facade of the building. He therefore entered a grassy +lane, winding round a group of stones draped with ivy; and leaving +the orchard on his left, he pushed on toward the garden itself--a real +country garden with square beds bordered by mossy clumps alternating +with currant-bushes, rows of raspberry-trees, lettuce and cabbage beds, +beans and runners climbing up their slender supports, and, here and +there, bunches of red carnations and peasant roses. + +Suddenly, at the end of a long avenue, he discovered Reine Vincart, +seated on the steps before an arched door, communicating with the +kitchen. A plum-tree, loaded with its violet fruit, spread its light +shadow over the young girl's head, as she sat shelling fresh-gathered +peas and piling the faint green heaps of color around her. The sound of +approaching steps on the grassy soil caused her to raise her head, but +she did not stir. In his intense emotion, Julien thought the alley never +would come to an end. He would fain have cleared it with a single bound, +so as to be at once in the presence of Mademoiselle Vincart, whose +immovable attitude rendered his approach still more difficult. +Nevertheless, he had to get over the ground somehow at a reasonable +pace, under penalty of making himself ridiculous, and he therefore +found plenty of time to examine Reine, who continued her work with +imperturbable gravity, throwing the peas as she shelled them into an +ash-wood pail at her feet. + +She was bareheaded, and wore a striped skirt and a white jacket fitted +to her waist. The checkered shadows cast by the tree made spots of light +and darkness over her face and her uncovered neck, the top button of her +camisole being unfastened on account of the heat. De Buxieres had been +perfectly well recognized by her, but an emotion, at least equal to +that experienced by the young man, had transfixed her to the spot, and +a subtle feminine instinct had urged her to continue her employment, +in order to hide the sudden trembling of her fingers. During the last +month, ever since the adventure in the hut, she had thought often of +Julien; and the remembrance of the audacious kiss which the young de +Buxieres had so impetuously stolen from her neck, invariably brought the +flush of shame to her brow. But, although she was very indignant at +the fiery nature of his caress, as implying a want of respect little in +harmony with Julien's habitual reserve, she was astonished at herself +for not being still more angry. At first, the affront put upon her had +roused a feeling of indignation, but now, when she thought of it, she +felt only a gentle embarrassment, and a soft beating of the heart. +She began to reflect that to have thus broken loose from all restraint +before her, this timid youth must have been carried away by an +irresistible burst of passion, and any woman, however high-minded she +may be, will forgive such violent homage rendered to the sovereign power +of her beauty. Besides his feeding of her vanity, another independent +and more powerful motive predisposed her to indulgence: she felt a +tender and secret attraction toward Monsieur de Buxieres. This healthy +and energetic girl had been fascinated by the delicate charm of a nature +so unlike her own in its sensitiveness and disposition to self-blame. +Julien's melancholy blue eyes had, unknown to himself, exerted +a magnetic influence on Reine's dark, liquid orbs, and, without +endeavoring to analyze the sympathy that drew her toward a nature +refined and tender even to weakness, without asking herself where this +unreflecting instinct might lead her, she was conscious of a growing +sentiment toward him, which was not very much unlike love itself. + +Julien de Buxieres's mood was not sufficiently calm to observe anything, +or he would immediately have perceived the impression that his sudden +appearance had produced upon Reine Vincart. As soon as he found himself +within a few steps of the young girl, he saluted her awkwardly, and she +returned his bow with marked coldness. Extremely disconcerted at this +reception, he endeavored to excuse himself for having invaded her +dwelling in so unceremonious a manner. + +"I am all the more troubled," added he, humbly, "that after what has +happened, my visit must appear to you indiscreet, if not improper." + +Reine, who had more quickly recovered her self-possession, pretended +not to understand the unwise allusion that had escaped the lips of her +visitor. She rose, pushed away with her foot the stalks and pods, which +encumbered the passage, and replied, very shortly: + +"You are excused, Monsieur. There is no need of an introduction to enter +La Thuiliere. Besides, I suppose that the motive which has brought you +here can only be a proper one." + +While thus speaking, she shook her skirt down, and without any +affectation buttoned up her camisole. + +"Certainly, Mademoiselle," faltered Julien, "it is a most serious and +respectable motive that causes me to wish for an interview, and--if--I +do not disturb you--" + +"Not in the least, Monsieur; but, if you wish to speak with me, it is +unnecessary for you to remain standing. Allow me to fetch you a chair." + +She went into the house, leaving the young man overwhelmed with the +coolness of his reception; a few minutes later she reappeared, bringing +a chair, which she placed under the tree. "Sit here, you will be in the +shade." + +She seated herself on the same step as before, leaning her back against +the wall, and her head on her hand. + +"I am ready to listen to you," she said. + +Julien, much less under his own control than she, discovered that +his mission was more difficult than he had imagined it would be; he +experienced a singular amount of embarrassment in unfolding his subject; +and was obliged to have recourse to prolonged inquiries concerning the +health of Monsieur Vincart. + +"He is still in the same condition," said Reine, "neither better nor +worse, and, with the illness which afflicts him, the best I can hope +for is that he may remain in that condition. But," continued she, with +a slight inflection of irony; "doubtless it is not for the purpose of +inquiring after my father's health that you have come all the way from +Vivey?" + +"That is true, Mademoiselle," replied he, coloring. "What I have to +speak to you about is a very delicate matter. You will excuse me, +therefore, if I am somewhat embarrassed. I beg of you, Mademoiselle, to +listen to me with indulgence." + +"What can he be coming to?" thought Reine, wondering why he made so many +preambles before beginning. And, at the same time, her heart began to +beat violently. + +Julien took the course taken by all timid people after meditating for +a long while on the best way to prepare the young girl for the +communication he had taken upon himself to make--he lost his head and +inquired abruptly: + +"Mademoiselle Reine, do you not intend to marry?" + +Reine started, and gazed at him with a frightened air. + +"I!" exclaimed she, "Oh, I have time enough and I am not in a hurry." +Then, dropping her eyes: "Why do you ask that?" + +"Because I know of some one who loves you and who would be glad to marry +you." + +She became very pale, took up one of the empty pods, twisted it +nervously around her finger without speaking. + +"Some one belonging to our neighborhood?" she faltered, after a few +moments' silence. + +"Yes; some one whom you know, and who is not a recent arrival here. Some +one who possesses, I believe, sterling qualities sufficient to make a +good husband, and means enough to do credit to the woman who will wed +him. Doubtless you have already guessed to whom I refer?" + +She sat motionless, her lips tightly closed, her features rigid, but +the nervous twitching of her fingers as she bent the green stem back and +forth, betrayed her inward agitation. + +"No; I can not tell," she replied at last, in an almost inaudible voice. + +"Truly?" he exclaimed, with an expression of astonishment, in which was +a certain amount of secret satisfaction; "you can not tell whom I mean? +You have never thought of the person of whom I am speaking in that +light?" + +"No; who is that person?" + +She had raised her eyes toward his, and they shone with a deep, +mysterious light. + +"It is Claudet Sejournant," replied Julien, very gently; and in an +altered tone. + +The glow that had illumined the dark orbs of the young girl faded away, +her eyelids dropped, and her countenance became as rigid as before; but +Julien did not notice anything. The words he had just uttered had cost +him too much agony, and he dared not look at his companion, lest he +should behold her joyful surprise, and thereby aggravate his suffering. + +"Ah!" said Reine, coldly, "in that case, why did not Claudet come +himself and state his own case?" + +"His courage failed him at the last moment--and so--" + +"And so," continued she, with sarcastic bitterness of tone, "you took +upon yourself to speak for him?" + +"Yes; I promised him I would plead his cause. I was sure, moreover, that +I should not have much difficulty in gaining the suit. Claudet has loved +you for a long time. He is good-hearted, and a fine fellow to look at. +And as to worldly advantages, his position is now equal to your own. +I have made over to him, by legal contract, the half of his father's +estate. What answer am I to take back?" + +He spoke with difficulty in broken sentences, without turning his eyes +toward Mademoiselle Vincart. The silence that followed his last question +seemed to him unbearable, and the contrasting chirping of the noisy +grasshoppers, and the buzzing of the flies in the quiet sunny garden, +resounded unpleasantly in his ears. + +Reine remained speechless. She was disconcerted and well-nigh +overpowered by the unexpected announcement, and her brain seemed unable +to bear the crowd of tumultuous and conflicting emotions which presented +themselves. Certainly, she had already suspected that Claudet had a +secret liking for her, but she never had thought of encouraging the +feeling. The avowal of his hopes neither surprised nor hurt her; that +which pained her was the intervention of Julien, who had taken in +hand the cause of his relative. Was it possible that this same M. de +Buxieres, who had made so audacious a display of his tender feeling in +the hut, could now come forward as Claudet's advocate, as if it were +the most natural thing in the world for him to do? In that case, his +astonishing behavior at the fete, which had caused her so much pain, +and which she had endeavored to excuse in her own mind as the untutored +outbreak of his pentup love, that fiery caress, was only the insulting +manifestation of a brutal caprice? The transgressor thought so little +of her, she was of such small importance in his eyes, that he had no +hesitation in proposing that she marry Claudet? She beheld herself +scorned, humiliated, insulted by the only man in whom she ever had felt +interested. In the excess of her indignation she felt herself becoming +hardhearted and violent; a profound discouragement, a stony indifference +to all things, impelled her to extreme measures, and, not being able at +the moment to find any one on whom she could put them in operation, she +was almost tempted to lay violent hands on herself. + +"What shall I say to Claudet?" repeated Julien, endeavoring to conceal +the suffering which was devouring his heart by an assumption of outward +frigidity. + +She turned slowly round, fixed her searching eyes, which had become as +dark as waters reflecting a stormy sky, upon his face, and demanded, in +icy tones: + +"What do you advise me to say?" + +Now, if Julien had been less of a novice, he would have understood that +a girl who loves never addresses such a question; but the feminine heart +was a book in which he was a very poor speller. He imagined that Reine +was only asking him as a matter of form, and that it was from a feeling +of maidenly reserve that she adopted this passive method of escaping +from openly declaring her wishes. She no doubt desired his friendly +aid in the matter, and he felt as if he ought to grant her that +satisfaction. + +"I have the conviction," stammered he, "that Claudet will make a good +husband, and you will do well to accept him." + +Reine bit her lip, and her paleness increased so as to set off still +more the fervid lustre of her eyes. The two little brown moles stood out +more visibly on her white neck, and added to her attractions. + +"So be it!" exclaimed she, "tell Claudet that I consent, and that he +will be welcome at La Thuiliere." + +"I will tell him immediately." He bent gravely and sadly before +Reine, who remained standing and motionless against the door. "Adieu, +Mademoiselle!" + +He turned away abruptly; plunged into the first avenue he came to, lost +his way twice and finally reached the courtyard, and thence escaped at +breakneck speed across the fields. + +Reine maintained her statue-like pose as long as the young man's +footsteps resounded on the stony paths; but when they died gradually +away in the distance, when nothing could be heard save the monotonous +trill of the grasshoppers basking in the sun, she threw herself down on +the green heap of rubbish; she covered her face with her hands and gave +way to a passionate outburst of tears and sobs. + +In the meanwhile, Julien de Buxieres, angry with himself, irritated +by the speedy success of his mission, was losing his way among the +pasturages, and getting entangled in the thickets. All the details of +the interview presented themselves before his mind with remorseless +clearness. He seemed more lonely, more unfortunate, more disgusted with +himself and with all else than he ever had been before. Ashamed of +the wretched part he had just been enacting, he felt almost childish +repugnance to returning to Vivey, and tried to pick out the paths that +would take him there by the longest way. But he was not sufficiently +accustomed to laying out a route for himself, and when he thought he had +a league farther to go, and had just leaped over an intervening hedge, +the pointed roofs of the chateau appeared before him at a distance of +not more than a hundred feet, and at one of the windows on the +first floor he could distinguish Claudet, leaning for ward, as if to +interrogate him. + +He remembered then the promise he had made the young huntsman; and +faithful to his word, although with rage and bitterness in his heart, he +raised his hat, and with effort, waved it three times above his head. +At this signal, the forerunner of good news, Claudet replied by a +triumphant shout, and disappeared from the window. A moment later, +Julien heard the noise of furious galloping down the enclosures of +the park. It was the lover, hastening to learn the particulars of the +interview. + + + + +BOOK 3. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE STRANGE, DARK SECRET + +Julien had once entertained the hope that Claudet's marriage with Reine +would act as a kind of heroic remedy for the cure of his unfortunate +passion, he very soon perceived that he had been wofully mistaken. +As soon as he had informed the grand chasserot of the success of his +undertaking, he became aware that his own burden was considerably +heavier. Certainly it had been easier for him to bear uncertainty than +the boisterous rapture evinced by his fortunate rival. His jealousy rose +against it, and that was all. Now that he had torn from Reine the avowal +of her love for Claudet, he was more than ever oppressed by his hopeless +passion, and plunged into a condition of complete moral and physical +disintegration. It mingled with his blood, his nerves, his thoughts, +and possessed him altogether, dwelling within him like an adored and +tyrannical mistress. Reine appeared constantly before him as he +had contemplated her on the outside steps of the farmhouse, in her +never-to-be-forgotten negligee of the short skirt and the half-open +bodice. He again beheld the silken treasure of her tresses, gliding +playfully around her shoulders, the clear, honest look of her limpid +eyes, the expressive smile of her enchanting lips, and with a sudden +revulsion of feeling he reflected that perhaps before a month was over, +all these charms would belong to Claudet. Then, almost at the same +moment, like a swallow, which, with one rapid turn of its wing, changes +its course, his thoughts went in the opposite direction, and he began +to imagine what would have happened if, instead of replying in the +affirmative, Reine had objected to marrying Claudet. He could picture +himself kneeling before her as before the Madonna, and in a low voice +confessing his love. He would have taken her hands so respectfully, +and pleaded so eloquently, that she would have allowed herself to be +convinced. The little, hands would have remained prisoners in his own; +he would have lifted her tenderly, devotedly, in his arms, and under the +influence of this feverish dream, he fancied he could feel the beating +heart of the young girl against his own bosom. Suddenly he would wake up +out of his illusions, and bite his lips with rage on finding himself in +the dull reality of his own dwelling. + +One day he heard footsteps on the gravel; a sonorous and jovial voice +met his ear. It was Claudet, starting for La Thuiliere. Julien bent +forward to see him, and ground his teeth as he watched his joyous +departure. The sharp sting of jealousy entered his soul, and he rebelled +against the evident injustice of Fate. How had he deserved that life +should present so dismal and forbidding an aspect to him? He had had +none of the joys of infancy; his youth had been spent wearily under the +peevish discipline of a cloister; he had entered on his young manhood +with all the awkwardness and timidity of a night-bird that is made +to fly in the day. Up to the age of twenty-seven years, he had known +neither love nor friendship; his time had been given entirely to earning +his daily bread, and to the cultivation of religious exercises, which +consoled him in some measure for his apparently useless way of living. +Latterly, it is true, Fortune had seemed to smile upon him, by giving +him a little more money and liberty, but this smile was a mere mockery, +and a snare more hurtful than the pettinesses and privations of his past +life. The fickle goddess, continuing her part of mystifier, had opened +to his enraptured sight a magic window through which she had shown him +a charming vision of possible happiness; but while he was still gazing, +she had closed it abruptly in his face, laughing scornfully at his +discomfiture. What sense was there in this perversion of justice, this +perpetual mockery of Fate? At times the influence of his early education +would resume its sway, and he would ask himself whether all this +apparent contradiction were not a secret admonition from on high, +warning him that he had not been created to enjoy the fleeting pleasures +of this world, and ought, therefore, to turn his attention toward things +eternal, and renounce the perishable delights of the flesh? + +"If so," thought he, irreverently, "the warning comes rather late, and +it would have answered the purpose better had I been allowed to continue +in the narrow way of obscure poverty!" Now that the enervating influence +of a more prosperous atmosphere had weakened his courage, and cooled +the ardor of his piety, his faith began to totter like an old wall. His +religious beliefs seemed to have been wrecked by the same storm which +had destroyed his passionate hopes of love, and left him stranded and +forlorn without either haven or pilot, blown hither and thither solely +by the violence of his passion. + +By degrees he took an aversion to his home, and would spend entire days +in the woods. Their secluded haunts, already colored by the breath of +autumn, became more attractive to him as other refuge failed him. They +were his consolation; his doubts, weakness, and amorous regrets, found +sympathy and indulgence under their silent shelter. He felt less lonely, +less humiliated, less prosaic among these great forest depths, these +lofty ash-trees, raising their verdant branches to heaven. He found he +could more easily evoke the seductive image of Reine Vincart in these +calm solitudes, where the recollections of the previous springtime +mingled with the phantoms of his heated imagination and clothed +themselves with almost living forms. He seemed to see the young girl +rising from the mists of the distant valleys. The least fluttering of +the leaves heralded her fancied approach. At times the hallucination was +so complete that he could see, in the interlacing of the branches, +the undulations of her supple form, and the graceful outlines of her +profile. Then he would be seized by an insane desire to reach the +fugitive and speak to her once more, and would go tearing along the +brushwood for that purpose. Now and then, in the half light formed by +the hanging boughs, he would see rays of golden light, coming +straight down to the ground, and resting there lightly like diaphanous +apparitions. Sometimes the rustling of birds taking flight, would sound +in his ears like the timid frou-frou of a skirt, and Julien, fascinated +by the mysterious charm of these indefinite objects, and following the +impulse of their mystical suggestions, would fling himself impetuously +into the jungle, repeating to him self the words of the "Canticle of +Canticles": "I hear the voice of my beloved; behold! she cometh leaping +upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills." He would continue to press +forward in pursuit of the intangible apparition, until he sank with +exhaustion near some stream or fountain. Under the influence of the +fever, which was consuming his brain, he would imagine the trickling +water to be the song of a feminine voice. He would wind his arms around +the young saplings, he would tear the berries from the bushes, pressing +them against his thirsty lips, and imagining their odoriferous sweetness +to be a fond caress from the loved one. + +He would return from these expeditions exhausted but not appeased. +Sometimes he would come across Claudet, also returning home from paying +his court to Reine Vincart; and the unhappy Julien would scrutinize his +rival's countenance, seeking eagerly for some trace of the impressions +he had received during the loving interview. His curiosity was nearly +always baffled; for Claudet seemed to have left all his gayety and +conversational powers at La Thuiliere. During their tete-a-tete meals, +he hardly spoke at all, maintaining a reserved attitude and a taciturn +countenance. Julien, provoked at this unexpected sobriety, privately +accused his cousin of dissimulation, and of trying to conceal his +happiness. His jealousy so blinded him that he considered the silence +of Claudet as pure hypocrisy not recognizing that it was assumed for the +purpose of concealing some unpleasantness rather than satisfaction. + +The fact was that Claudet, although rejoicing at the turn matters had +taken, was verifying the poet's saying: "Never is perfect happiness +our lot." When Julien brought him the good news, and he had flown so +joyfully to La Thuiliere, he had certainly been cordially received by +Reine, but, nevertheless, he had noticed with surprise an absent and +dreamy look in her eyes, which did not agree with his idea of a first +interview of lovers. When he wished to express his affection in +the vivacious and significant manner ordinarily employed among the +peasantry, that is to say, by vigorous embracing and resounding kisses, +he met with unexpected resistance. + +"Keep quiet!" was the order, "and let us talk rationally!" + +He obeyed, although not agreeing in her view of the reserve to be +maintained between lovers; but, he made up his mind to return to the +charge and triumph over her bashful scruples. In fact, he began again +the very next day, and his impetuous ardor encountered the same refusal +in the same firm, though affectionate manner. He ventured to complain, +telling Reine that she did not love him as she ought. + +"If I did not feel friendly toward you," replied the young girl, +laconically, "should I have allowed you to talk to me of marriage?" + +Then, seeing that he looked vexed and worried, and realizing that she +was perhaps treating him too roughly, she continued, more gently: + +"Remember, Claudet, that I am living all alone at the farm. That obliges +me to have more reserve than a girl whose mother is with her. So you +must not be offended if I do not behave exactly as others might, and +rest assured that it will not prevent me from being a good wife to you, +when we are married." + +"Well, now," thought Claudet, as he was returning despondently to Vivey: +"I can't help thinking that a little caress now and then wouldn't hurt +any one!" + +Under these conditions it is not to be supposed he was in a mood to +relate any of the details of such meagre lovemaking. His self-love was +wounded by Reine's coldness. Having always been "cock-of-the-walk," +he could not understand why he had such poor success with the only +one about whom he was in earnest. He kept quiet, therefore, hiding his +anxiety under the mask of careless indifference. Moreover, a certain +primitive instinct of prudence made him circumspect. In his innermost +soul, he still entertained doubts of Julien's sincerity. Sometimes +he doubted whether his cousin's conduct had not been dictated by +the bitterness of rejected love, rather than a generous impulse of +affection, and he did not care to reveal Reine's repulse to one whom +he vaguely suspected of being a former lover. His simple, ardent nature +could not put up with opposition, and he thought only of hastening the +day when Reine would belong to him altogether. But, when he broached +this subject, he had the mortification to find that she was less +impatient than himself. + +"There is no hurry," she replied, "our affairs are not in order, our +harvests are not housed, and it would be better to wait till the dull +season." + +In his first moments of joy and effervescence, Claudet had evinced the +desire to announce immediately the betrothal throughout the village. +This Reine had opposed; she thought they should avoid awakening public +curiosity so long beforehand, and she extracted from Claudet a promise +to say nothing until the date of the marriage should be settled. He had +unwillingly consented, and thus, during the last month, the matter had +been dragging on indefinitely: + +With Julien de Buxieres, this interminable delay, these incessant +comings and goings from the chateau to the farm, as well as the +mysterious conduct of the bridegroom-elect, became a subject of serious +irritation, amounting almost to obsession. He would have wished the +affair hurried up, and the sacrifice consummated without hindrance. +He believed that when once the newly-married pair had taken up their +quarters at La Thuiliere, the very certainty that Reine belonged in +future to another would suffice to effect a radical cure in him, and +chase away the deceptive phantoms by which he was pursued. + +One evening, as Claudet was returning home, more out of humor and silent +than usual, Julien asked him, abruptly: + +"Well! how are you getting along? When is the wedding?" + +"Nothing is decided yet," replied Claudet, "we have time enough!" + +"You think so?" exclaimed de Buxieres, sarcastically; "you have +considerable patience for a lover!" + +The remark and the tone provoked Claudet. + +"The delay is not of my making," returned he. + +"Ah!" replied the other, quickly, "then it comes from Mademoiselle +Vincart?" And a sudden gleam came into his eyes, as if Claudet's +assertion had kindled a spark of hope in his breast. The latter noticed +the momentary brightness in his cousin's usually stormy countenance, and +hastened to reply: + +"Nay, nay; we both think it better to postpone the wedding until the +harvest is in." + +"You are wrong. A wedding should not be postponed. Besides, this +prolonged love-making, these daily visits to the farm--all that is not +very proper. It is compromising for Mademoiselle Vincart!" + +Julien shot out these remarks with a degree of fierceness and violence +that astonished Claudet. + +"You think, then," said he, "that we ought to rush matters, and have the +wedding before winter?" + +"Undoubtedly!" + +The next day, at La Thuiliere, the grand chasserot, as he stood in the +orchard, watching Reine spread linen on the grass, entered bravely on +the subject. + +"Reine," said he, coaxingly, "I think we shall have to decide upon a day +for our wedding." + +She set down the watering-pot with which she was wetting the linen, and +looked anxiously at her betrothed. + +"I thought we had agreed to wait until the later season. Why do you wish +to change that arrangement?" + +"That is true; I promised not to hurry you, Reine, but it is beyond me +to wait--you must not be vexed with me if I find the time long. Besides, +they know nothing, around the village, of our intentions, and my coming +here every day might cause gossip and make it unpleasant for you. At +any rate, that is the opinion of Monsieur de Buxieres, with whom I was +conferring only yesterday evening." + +At the name of Julien, Reine frowned and bit her lip. + +"Aha!" said she, "it is he who has been advising you?" + +"Yes; he says the sooner we are married, the better it will be." + +"Why does he interfere in what does not concern him?" said she, angrily, +turning her head away. She stood a moment in thought, absently pushing +forward the roll of linen with her foot. Then, shrugging her shoulders +and raising her head, she said slowly, while still avoiding Claudet's +eyes: + +"Perhaps you are right--both of you. Well, let it be so! I authorize you +to go to Monsieur le Cure and arrange the day with him." + +"Oh, thanks, Reine!" exclaimed Claudet, rapturously; "you make me very +happy!" + +He pressed her hands in his, but though absorbed in his own joyful +feelings, he could not help remarking that the young girl was trembling +in his grasp. He even fancied that there was a suspicious, tearful +glitter in her brilliant eyes. + +He left her, however, and repaired at once to the cure's house, which +stood near the chateau, a little behind the church. + +The servant showed him into a small garden separated by a low wall +from the cemetery. He found the Abbe Pernot seated on a stone bench, +sheltered by a trellised vine. He was occupied in cutting up pieces of +hazel-nuts to make traps for small birds. + +"Good-evening, Claudet!" said the cure, without moving from his work; +"you find me busy preparing my nets; if you will permit me, I will +continue, for I should like to have my two hundred traps finished by +this evening. The season is advancing, you know! The birds will begin +their migrations, and I should be greatly provoked if I were not +equipped in time for the opportune moment. And how is Monsieur de +Buxieres? I trust he will not be less good-natured than his deceased +cousin, and that he will allow me to spread my snares on the border +hedge of his woods. But," added he, as he noticed the flurried, +impatient countenance of his visitor, "I forgot to ask you, my dear +young fellow, to what happy chance I owe your visit? Excuse my neglect!" + +"Don't mention it, Monsieur le Cure. You have guessed rightly. It is a +very happy circumstance which brings me. I am about to marry." + +"Aha!" laughed the Abbe, "I congratulate you, my dear young friend. This +is really delightful news. It is not good for man to be alone, and I +am glad to know you must give up the perilous life of a bachelor. Well, +tell me quickly the name of your betrothed. Do I know her?" + +"Of course you do, Monsieur le Cure; there are few you know so well. It +is Mademoiselle Vincart." + +"Reine?" + +The Abbe flung away the pruning-knife and branch that he was cutting, +and gazed at Claudet with a stupefied air. At the same time, his +jovial face became shadowed, and his mouth assumed an expression of +consternation. + +"Yes, indeed, Reine Vincart," repeated Claudet, somewhat vexed at the +startled manner of his reverence; "are you surprised at my choice?" + +"Excuse me-and-is it all settled?" stammered the Abbe, with +bewilderment, "and--and do you really love each other?" + +"Certainly; we agree on that point; and I have come here to arrange with +you about having the banns published." + +"What! already?" murmured the cure, buttoning and unbuttoning the top +of his coat in his agitation, "you seem to be in a great hurry to go +to work. The union of the man and the woman--ahem--is a serious matter, +which ought not to be undertaken without due consideration. That is the +reason why the Church has instituted the sacrament of marriage. Hast +thou well considered, my son?" + +"Why, certainly, I have reflected," exclaimed Claudet with some +irritation, "and my mind is quite made up. Once more, I ask you, +Monsieur le Cure, are you displeased with my choice, or have you +anything to say against Mademoiselle Vincart?" + +"I? no, absolutely nothing. Reine is an exceedingly good girl." + +"Well, then?" + +"Well, my friend, I will go over to-morrow and see your fiancee, and we +will talk matters over. I shall act for the best, in the interests +of both of you, be assured of that. In the meantime, you will both be +united this evening in my prayers; but, for to-day, we shall have to +stop where we are. Good-evening, Claudet! I will see you again." + +With these enigmatic words, he dismissed the young lover, who returned +to the chateau, vexed and disturbed by his strange reception. + +The moment the door of the presbytery had closed behind Claudet, the +Abbe Pernot, flinging to one side all his preparations, began to pace +nervously up and down the principal garden-walk. He appeared completely +unhinged. His features were drawn, through an unusual tension of ideas +forced upon him. He had hurriedly caught his skullcap from his head, as +if he feared the heat of his meditation might cause a rush of blood to +the head. He quickened his steps, then stopped suddenly, folded his arms +with great energy, then opened them again abruptly to thrust his hands +into the pockets of his gown, searching through them with feverish +anxiety, as if he expected to find something which might solve obscure +and embarrassing questions. + +"Good Lord! Good Lord! What a dreadful piece of business; and right in +the bird season, too! But I can say nothing to Claudet. It is a secret +that does not belong to me. How can I get out of it? Tutt! tutt! tutt!" + +These monosyllabic ejaculations broke forth like the vexed clucking of +a frightened blackbird; after which relief, the Abbe resumed his fitful +striding up and down the box-bordered alley. This lasted until the hour +of twilight, when Augustine, the servant, as soon as the Angelus had +sounded, went to inform her master that they were waiting prayers for +him in the church. He obeyed the summons, although in a somewhat absent +mood, and hurried over the services in a manner which did not contribute +to the edification of the assistants. As soon as he got home, he ate his +Supper without appetite, mumbled his prayers, and shut himself up in the +room he used as a study and workshop. He remained there until the night +was far advanced, searching through his scanty library to find two dusty +volumes treating of "cases of conscience," which he looked eagerly over +by the feeble light of his study lamp. During this laborious search he +emitted frequent sighs, and only left off reading occasionally in order +to dose himself plentifully with snuff. At last, as he felt that his +eyes were becoming inflamed, his ideas conflicting in his brain, and as +his lamp was getting low, he decided to go to bed. But he slept badly, +turned over at least twenty times, and was up with the first streak of +day to say his mass in the chapel. He officiated with more dignity and +piety than was his wont; and after reading the second gospel he remained +for a long while kneeling on one of the steps of the altar. After he had +returned to the sacristy, he divested himself quickly of his sacerdotal +robes, reached his room by a passage of communication, breakfasted +hurriedly, and putting on his three-cornered hat, and seizing his +knotty, cherry-wood cane, he shot out of doors as if he had been +summoned to a fire. + +Augustine, amazed at his precipitate departure, went up to the attic, +and, from behind the shelter of the skylight, perceived her master +striding rapidly along the road to Planche-au-Vacher. There she lost +sight of him--the underwood was too thick. But, after a few minutes, the +gaze of the inquisitive woman was rewarded by the appearance of a +dark object emerging from the copse, and defining itself on the bright +pasture land beyond. "Monsieur le Cure is going to La Thuiliere," +thought she, and with this half-satisfaction she descended to her daily +occupations. + +It was true, the Abbe Pernot was walking, as fast as he could, to the +Vincart farm, as unmindful of the dew that tarnished his shoe-buckles +as of the thorns which attacked his calves. He had that within him which +spurred him on, and rendered him unconscious of the accidents on his +path. Never, during his twenty-five years of priestly office, had a more +difficult question embarrassed his conscience. The case was a grave +one, and moreover, so urgent that the Abbe was quite at a loss how to +proceed. How was it that he never had foreseen that such a combination +of circumstances might occur? A priest of a more fervent spirit, who had +the salvation of his flock more at heart, could not have been taken so +unprepared. Yes; that was surely the cause! The profane occupations in +which he had allowed himself to take so much enjoyment, had distracted +his watchfulness and obscured his perspicacity. Providence was now +punishing him for his lukewarmness, by interposing across his path this +stumbling-block, which was probably sent to him as a salutary warning, +but which he saw no way of getting over. + +While he was thus meditating and reproaching himself, the thrushes were +calling to one another from the branches of their favorite trees; whole +flights of yellowhammers burst forth from the hedges red with haws; but +he took no heed of them and did not even give a single thought to his +neglected nests and snares. + +He went straight on, stumbling over the juniper bushes, and wondering +what he should say when he reached the farm, and how he should begin. +Sometimes he addressed himself, thus: "Have I the right to speak? What +a revelation! And to a young girl! Oh, Lord, lead me in the straight way +of thy truth, and instruct me in the right path!" + +As he continued piously repeating this verse of the Psalmist, in order +to gain spiritual strength, the gray roofs of La Thuiliere rose before +him; he could hear the crowing of the cocks and the lowing of the cows +in the stable. Five minutes after, he had pushed open the door of the +kitchen where La Guite was arranging the bowls for breakfast. + +"Good-morning, Guitiote," said he, in a choking voice; "is Mademoiselle +Vincart up?" + +"Holy Virgin! Monsieur le Cure! Why, certainly Mademoiselle is up. +She was on foot before any of us, and now she is trotting around the +orchard. I will go fetch her." + +"No, do not stir. I know the way, and I will go and find her myself." + +She was in the orchard, was she? The Abbe preferred it should be so; he +thought the interview would be less painful, and that the surrounding +trees would give him ideas. He walked across the kitchen, descended +the steps leading from the ground floor to the garden, and ascended the +slope in search of Reine, whom he soon perceived in the midst of a bower +formed by clustering filbert-trees. + +At sight of the cure, Reine turned pale; he had doubtless come to tell +her the result of his interview with Claudet, and what day had been +definitely chosen for the nuptial celebration. She had been troubled all +night by the reflection that her fate would soon be irrevocably scaled; +she had wept, and her eyes betrayed it. Only the day before, she had +looked upon this project of marriage, which she had entertained in +a moment of anger and injured feeling, as a vague thing, a vaporous +eventuality of which the realization was doubtful; now, all was +arranged, settled, cruelly certain; there was no way of escaping from a +promise which Claudet, alas! was bound to consider a serious one. These +thoughts traversed her mind, while the cure was slowly approaching the +filbert-trees; she felt her heart throb, and her eyes again filled with +tears. Yet her pride would not allow that the Abbe should witness her +irresolution and weeping; she made an effort, overcame the momentary +weakness, and addressed the priest in an almost cheerful voice: + +"Monsieur le Cure, I am sorry that they have made you come up this hill +to find me. Let us go back to the farm, and I will offer you a cup of +coffee." + +"No, my child," replied the Abbe, motioning with his hand that she +should stay where she was, "no, thank you! I will not take anything. +Remain where you are. + +"I wish to talk to you, and we shall be less liable to be disturbed +here." + +There were two rustic seats under the nut-trees; the cure took one and +asked Reine to take the other, opposite to him. There they were, +under the thick, verdant branches, hidden from indiscreet passers-by, +surrounded by silence, installed as in a confessional. + +The morning quiet, the solitude, the half light, all invited meditation +and confidence; nevertheless the young girl and the priest sat +motionless; both agitated and embarrassed and watching each other +without uttering a sound. It was Reine who first broke the silence. + +"You have seen Claudet, Monsieur le Cure?" + +"Yes, yes!" replied the Abbe, sighing deeply. + +"He--spoke to you of our-plans," continued the young girl, in a +quavering voice, "and you fixed the day?" + +"No, my child, we settled nothing. I wanted to see you first, and +converse with you about something very important." + +The Abbe hesitated, rubbed a spot of mud off his soutane, raised his +shoulders like a man lifting a heavy burden, then gave a deep cough. + +"My dear child," continued he at length, prudently dropping his voice a +tone lower, "I will begin by repeating to you what I said yesterday +to Claudet Sejournant: the marriage, that is to say, the indissoluble +union, of man and woman before God, is one of the most solemn and +serious acts of life. The Church has constituted it a sacrament, which +she administers only on certain formal conditions. Before entering into +this bond, one ought, as we are taught by Holy Writ, to sound the heart, +subject the very inmost of the soul to searching examinations. I beg of +you, therefore, answer my questions freely, without false shame, just as +if you were at the tribunal of repentance. Do you love Claudet?" + +Reine trembled. This appeal to her sincerity renewed all her +perplexities and scruples. She raised her full, glistening eyes to the +cure, and replied, after a slight hesitation: + +"I have a sincere affection for Claudet-and-much esteem." + +"I understand that," replied the priest, compressing his lips, +"but--excuse me if I press the matter--has the engagement you have +made with him been determined simply by considerations of affection and +suitableness, or by more interior and deeper feelings?" + +"Pardon, Monsieur le Cure," returned Reine, coloring, "it seems to me +that a sentiment of friendship, joined to a firm determination to prove +a faithful and devoted wife, should be, in your eyes as they are in +mine, a sufficient assurance that--" + +"Certainly, certainly, my dear child; and many husbands would be +contented with less. However, it is not only a question of Claudet's +happiness, but of yours also. Come now! let me ask you: is your +affection for young Sejournant so powerful that in the event of any +unforeseen circumstance happening, to break off the marriage, you would +be forever unhappy?" + +"Ah!" replied Reine, more embarrassed than ever, "you ask too grave a +question, Monsieur le Cure! If it were broken off without my having to +reproach myself for it, it is probable that I should find consolation in +time." + +"Very good! Consequently, you do not love Claudet, if I may take the +word love in the sense understood by people of the world. You only like, +you do not love him? Tell me. Answer frankly." + +"Frankly, Monsieur le Cure, no!" + +"Thanks be to God! We are saved!" exclaimed the Abbe, drawing a long +breath, while Reine, amazed, gazed at him with wondering eyes. + +"I do not understand you," faltered she; "what is it?" + +"It is this: the marriage can not take place." + +"Can not? why?" + +"It is impossible, both in the eyes of the Church and in those of the +world." + +The young girl looked at him with increasing amazement. + +"You alarm me!" cried she. "What has happened? What reasons hinder me +from marrying Claudet?" + +"Very powerful reasons, my dear child. I do not feel at liberty to +reveal them to you, but you must know that I am not speaking without +authority, and that you may rely on the statement I have made." + +Reine remained thoughtful, her brows knit, her countenance troubled. + +"I have every confidence in you, Monsieur le Cure, but--" + +"But you hesitate about believing me," interrupted the Abbe, piqued +at not finding in one of his flock the blind obedience on which he had +reckoned. "You must know, nevertheless, that your pastor has no interest +in deceiving you, and that when he seeks to influence you, he has in +view only your well-being in this world and in the next." + +"I do not doubt your good intentions," replied Reine, with firmness, +"but a promise can not be annulled without sufficient cause. I have +given my word to Claudet, and I am too loyal at heart to break faith +with him without letting him know the reason." + +"You will find some pretext." + +"And supposing that Claudet would be content with such a pretext, my own +conscience would not be," objected the young girl, raising her clear, +honest glance toward the priest; "your words have entered my soul, they +are troubling me now, and it will be worse when I begin to think this +matter over again. I can not bear uncertainty. I must see my way clearly +before me. I entreat you then, Monsieur le Cure, not to do things by +halves. You have thought it your duty to tell me I can not wed with +Claudet; now tell me why not?" + +"Why not? why not?" repeated the Abbe, angrily. "I distress myself in +telling you that I am not authorized to satisfy your unwise curiosity! +You must humble your intelligence and believe without arguing." + +"In matters of faith, that may be possible," urged Reine, obstinately, +"but my marriage has nothing to do with discussing the truths of our +holy religion. I therefore respectfully ask to be enlightened, Monsieur +le Cure; otherwise--" + +"Otherwise?" repeated the Abby Pernot, inquiringly, rolling his eyes +uneasily. + +"Otherwise, I shall keep my word respectably, and I shall marry +Claudet." + +"You will not do that?" said he, imploringly, joining his hands as if in +supplication; "after being openly warned by me, you dare not burden your +soul with such a terrible responsibility. Come, my child, does not +the possibility of committing a mortal sin alarm your conscience as a +Christian?" + +"I can not sin if I am in ignorance, and as to my conscience, Monsieur +le Cure, do you think it is acting like a Christian to alarm without +enlightening?" + +"Is that your last word?" inquired the Abbe, completely aghast. + +"It is my last word," she replied, vehemently, moved both by a feeling +of self-respect, and a desire to force the hand of her interlocutor. + +"You are a proud, obstinate girl!" exclaimed the Abbe, rising abruptly, +"you wish to compel me to reveal this secret! Well, have your way! I +will tell you. May the harm which may result from it fall lightly upon +you, and do not hereafter reproach me for the pain I am about to inflict +upon you." + +He checked himself for a moment, again joined his hands, and raising his +eyes toward heaven ejaculated fervently, as if repeating his devotions +in the oratory: "O Lord, thou knowest I would have spared her this +bitter cup, but, between two evils, I have avoided the greater. If I +forfeit my solemn promise, consider, O Lord, I pray thee, that I do +it to avoid disgrace and exposure for her, and deign to forgive thy +servant!" + +He seated himself again, placed one of his hands before his eyes, and +began, in a hollow voice, Reine, all the while gazing nervously at him: + +"My child, you are forcing me to violate a secret which has been +solemnly confided to me. It concerns a matter not usually talked about +before young girls, but you are, I believe, already a woman in heart +and understanding, and you will hear resignedly what I have to tell you, +however much the recital may trouble you. I have already informed you +that your marriage with Claudet is impossible. I now declare that it +would be criminal, for the reason that incest is an abomination." + +"Incest!" repeated Reine, pale and trembling, "what do you mean?" + +"I mean," sighed the cure, "that you are Claudet's sister, not having +the same mother, but the same father: Claude-Odouart de Buxieres." + +"Oh! you are mistaken! that cannot be!" + +"I am stating facts. It grieves me to the heart, my dear child, that in +speaking of your deceased mother, I should have to reveal an error over +which she lamented, like David, with tears of blood. She confessed her +sin, not to the priest, but to a friend, a few days before her death. +In justice to her memory, I ought to add that, like most of the +unfortunates seduced by this untamable de Buxieres, she succumbed to his +wily misrepresentations. She was a victim rather than an accomplice. The +man himself acknowledged as much in a note entrusted to my care, which I +have here." + +And the Abbe' drew from his pocket an old, worn letter, the writing +yellow with age, and placed it before Reine. In this letter, written +in Claude de Buxieres's coarse, sprawling hand, doubtless in reply to a +reproachful appeal from his mistress, he endeavored to offer some kind +of honorable amends for the violence he had used, and to calm Madame +Vincart's remorse by promising, as was his custom, to watch over the +future of the child which should be born to her. + +"That child was yourself, my poor girl," continued the Abbe, picking up +the letter which Reine had thrown down, after reading it, with a gesture +of sickened disgust. + +She appeared not to hear him. She had buried her face in her hands, to +hide the flushing of her cheeks, and sat motionless, altogether +crushed beneath the shameful revelation; convulsive sobs and tremblings +occasionally agitating her frame. + +"You can now understand," continued the priest, "how the announcement of +this projected marriage stunned and terrified me. I could not confide to +Claudet the reason for my stupefaction, and I should have been thankful +if you could have understood so that I could have spared you this cruel +mortification, but you would not take any intimation from me. And now, +forgive me for inflicting this cross upon you, and bear it with courage, +with Christian fortitude." + +"You have acted as was your duty," murmured Reine, sadly, "and I thank +you, Monsieur le Cure!" + +"And will you promise me to dismiss Claudet at once--today?" + +"I promise you." + +The Abbe Pernot advanced to take her hand, and administer some words of +consolation; but she evaded, with a stern gesture, the good man's pious +sympathy, and escaped toward the dwelling. + +The spacious kitchen was empty when she entered. The shutters had been +closed against the sun, and it had become cool and pleasant. Here and +there, among the copper utensils, and wherever a chance ray made a gleam +of light, the magpie was hopping about, uttering short, piercing cries. +In the recess of the niche containing the colored prints, sat the old +man Vincart, dozing, in his usual supine attitude, his hands spread out, +his eyelids drooping, his mouth half open. At the sound of the door, his +eyes opened wide. He rather guessed at, than saw, the entrance of the +young girl, and his pallid lips began their accustomed refrain: "Reine! +Rei-eine!" + +Reine flew impetuously toward the paralytic old man, threw herself +on her knees before him, sobbing bitterly, and covered his hands with +kisses. Her caresses were given in a more respectful, humble, contrite +manner than ever before. + +"Oh! father--father!" faltered she; "I loved you always, I shall love +you now with all my heart and soul!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. LOVE'S SAD ENDING + +The kitchen was bright with sunshine, and the industrious bees were +buzzing around the flowers on the window-sills, while Reine was +listlessly attending to culinary duties, and preparing her father's +meal. The humiliating disclosures made by the Abbe Pernot weighed +heavily upon her mind. She foresaw that Claudet would shortly be at La +Thuiliere in order to hear the result of the cure's visit; but she did +not feel sufficiently mistress of herself to have a decisive interview +with him at such short notice, and resolved to gain at least one day +by absenting herself from the farm. It seemed to her necessary that she +should have that length of time to arrange her ideas, and evolve some +way of separating Claudet and herself without his suspecting the real +motive of rupture. So, telling La Guite to say that unexpected business +had called her away, she set out for the woods of Maigrefontaine. + +Whenever she had felt the need of taking counsel with herself before +deciding on any important matter, the forest had been her refuge and her +inspiration. The refreshing solitude of the valleys, watered by living +streams, acted as a strengthening balm to her irresolute will; her soul +inhaled the profound peace of these leafy retreats. By the time she had +reached the inmost shade of the forest her mind had become calmer, +and better able to unravel the confusion of thoughts that surged like +troubled waters through her brain. The dominant idea was, that her +self-respect had been wounded; the shock to her maidenly modesty, and +the shame attendant upon the fact, affected her physically, as if she +had been belittled and degraded by a personal stain; and this +downfall caused her deep humiliation. By slow degrees, however, and +notwithstanding this state of abject despair, she felt, cropping +up somewhere in her heart, a faint germ of gladness, and, by close +examination, discovered its origin: she was now loosed from her +obligations toward Claudet, and the prospect of being once more free +afforded her immediate consolation. + +She had so much regretted, during the last few weeks, the feeling of +outraged pride which had incited her to consent to this marriage; her +loyal, sincere nature had revolted at the constraint she had imposed +upon herself; her nerves had been so severely taxed by having to receive +her fiance with sufficient warmth to satisfy his expectations, and yet +not afford any encouragement to his demonstrative tendencies, that the +certainty of her newly acquired freedom created a sensation of relief +and well-being. But, hardly had she analyzed and acknowledged this +sensation when she reproached herself for harboring it when she was +about to cause Claudet such affliction. + +Poor Claudet! what a cruel blow was in store for him! He was so +guilelessly in love, and had such unbounded confidence in the success of +his projects! Reine was overcome by tender reminiscences. She had always +experienced, as if divining by instinct the natural bonds which united +them, a sisterly affection for Claudet. Since their earliest infancy, at +the age when they learned their catechism under the church porch, they +had been united in a bond of friendly fellowship. With Reine, this +tender feeling had always remained one of friendship, but, with Claudet, +it had ripened into love; and now, after allowing the poor young fellow +to believe that his love was reciprocated, she was forced to disabuse +him. It was useless for her to try to find some way of softening the +blow; there was none. Claudet was too much in love to remain satisfied +with empty words; he would require solid reasons; and the only +conclusive one which would convince him, without wounding his self-love, +was exactly the one which the young girl could not give him. She was, +therefore, doomed to send Claudet away with the impression that he had +been jilted by a heartless and unprincipled coquette. And yet something +must be done. The grand chasserot had been too long already in the +toils; there was something barbarously cruel in not freeing him from his +illusions. + +In this troubled state of mind, Reine gazed appealingly at the silent +witnesses of her distress. She heard a voice within her saying to the +tall, vaulted ash, "Inspire me!" to the little rose-colored centaurea +of the wayside, "Teach me a charm to cure the harm I have done!" But +the woods, which in former days had been her advisers and instructors, +remained deaf to her invocation. For the first time, she felt herself +isolated and abandoned to her own resources, even in the midst of her +beloved forest. + +It is when we experience these violent mental crises, that we become +suddenly conscious of Nature's cold indifference to our sufferings. She +really is nothing more than the reflex of our own sensations, and can +only give us back what we lend her. Beautiful but selfish, she allows +herself to be courted by novices, but presents a freezing, emotionless +aspect to those who have outlived their illusions. + +Reine did not reach home until the day had begun to wane. La Guite +informed her that Claudet had waited for her during part of the +afternoon, and that he would come again the next day at nine o'clock. +Notwithstanding her bodily fatigue, she slept uneasily, and her sleep +was troubled by feverish dreams. Every time she closed her eyes, she +fancied herself conversing with Claudet, and woke with a start at the +sound of his angry voice. + +She arose at dawn, descended at once to the lower floor, to get through +her morning tasks, and as soon as the big kitchen clock struck nine, she +left the house and took the path by which Claudet would come. A feeling +of delicate consideration toward her lover had impelled her to choose +for her explanation any other place than the one where she had first +received his declaration of love, and consented to the marriage. Very +soon he came in sight, his stalwart figure outlined against the gray +landscape. He was walking rapidly; her heart smote her, her hands became +like ice, but she summoned all her fortitude, and went bravely forward +to meet him. + +When he came within forty or fifty feet, he recognized Reine, and took a +short cut across the stubble studded with cobwebs glistening with dew. + +"Aha! my Reine, my queen, good-morning!" cried he, joyously, "it is +sweet of you to come to meet me!" + +"Good-morning, Claudet. I came to meet you because I wish to speak +with you on matters of importance, and I preferred not to have the +conversation take place in our house. Shall we walk as far as the +Planche-au-Vacher?" + +He stopped short, astonished at the proposal and also at the sad and +resolute attitude of his betrothed. He examined her more closely, +noticed her deep-set eyes, her cheeks, whiter than usual. + +"Why, what is the matter, Reine?" he inquired; "you are not yourself; do +you not feel well?" + +"Yes, and no. I have passed a bad night, thinking over matters that are +troubling me, and I think that has produced some fever." + +"What matters? Any that concern us?" + +"Yes;" replied she, laconically. + +Claudet opened his eyes. The young girl's continued gravity began to +alarm him; but, seeing that she walked quickly forward, with an absent +air, her face lowered, her brows bent, her mouth compressed, he lost +courage and refrained from asking her any questions. They walked on +thus in silence, until they came to the open level covered with +juniper-bushes, from which solitary place, surrounded by hawthorn +hedges, they could trace the narrow defile leading to Vivey, and the +faint mist beyond. + +"Let us stop here," said Reine, seating herself on a flat, mossy stone, +"we can talk here without fear of being disturbed." + +"No fear of that," remarked Claudet, with a forced smile, "with the +exception of the shepherd of Vivey, who comes here sometimes with his +cattle, we shall not see many passers-by. It must be a secret that you +have to tell me, Reine?" he added. + +"No;" she returned, "but I foresee that my words will give you pain, my +poor Claudet, and I prefer you should hear them without being annoyed by +the farm-people passing to and fro." + +"Explain yourself!" he exclaimed, impetuously. "For heaven's sake, don't +keep me in suspense!" + +"Listen, Claudet. When you asked my hand in marriage, I answered yes, +without taking time to reflect. But, since I have been thinking over our +plans, I have had scruples. My father is becoming every day more of an +invalid, and in his present state I really have no right to live for any +one but him. One would think he was aware of our intentions, for since +you have been visiting at the farm, he is more agitated and suffers +more. I think that any change in his way of living would bring on a +stroke, and I never should forgive myself if I thought I had shortened +his life. That is the reason why, as long as I have him with me, I do +not see that it will be possible for me to dispose of myself. On the +other hand, I do not wish to abuse your patience. I therefore ask you to +take back your liberty and give me back my promise." + +"That is to say, you won't have me!" he exclaimed. + +"No; my poor friend, it means only that I shall not marry so long as +my father is living, and that I can not ask you to wait until I am +perfectly free. Forgive me for having entered into the engagement too +carelessly, and do not on that account take your friendship from me." + +"Reine," interrupted Claudet, angrily, "don't turn your brain inside out +to make me believe that night is broad day. I am not a child, and I see +very well that your father's health is only a pretext. You don't want +me, that's all, and, with all due respect, you have changed your mind +very quickly! Only the day before yesterday you authorized me to arrange +about the day for the ceremony with the Abbe Pernot. Now that you have +had a visit from the cure, you want to put the affair off until the week +when two Sundays come together! I am a little curious to know what that +confounded old abbe has been babbling about me, to turn you inside out +like a glove in such a short time." + +Claudet's conscience reminded him of several rare frolics, chance +love-affairs, meetings in the woods, and so on, and he feared the priest +might have told Reine some unfavorable stories about him. "Ah!" he +continued, clenching his fists, "if this old poacher in a cassock has +done me an ill turn with you, he will not have much of a chance for +paradise!" + +"Undeceive yourself," said Reine, quickly, "Monsieur le Cure is your +friend, like myself; he esteems you highly, and never has said anything +but good of you." + +"Oh, indeed!" sneered the young man, "as you are both so fond of me, how +does it happen that you have given me my dismissal the very day after +your interview with the cure?" + +Reine, knowing Claudet's violent disposition, and wishing to avoid +trouble for the cure, thought it advisable to have recourse to evasion. + +"Monsieur le Cure," said she, "has had no part in my decision. He has +not spoken against you, and deserves no reproaches from you." + +"In that case, why do you send me away?" + +"I repeat again, the comfort and peace of my father are paramount with +me, and I do not intend to marry so long as he may have need of me." + +"Well," said Claudet, persistently, "I love you, and I will wait." + +"It can not be." + +"Why?" + +"Because," replied she, sharply, "because it would be kind neither to +you, nor to my father, nor to me. Because marriages that drag along in +that way are never good for anything!" + +"Those are bad reasons!" he muttered, gloomily. + +"Good or bad," replied the young girl, "they appear valid to me, and I +hold to them." + +"Reine," said he, drawing near to her and looking straight into her +eyes, "can you swear, by the head of your father, that you have given me +the true reason for your rejecting me?" + +She became embarrassed, and remained silent. + +"See!" he exclaimed, "you dare not take the oath!" + +"My word should suffice," she faltered. + +"No; it does not suffice. But your silence says a great deal, I tell +you! You are too frank, Reine, and you don't know how to lie. I read it +in your eyes, I do. The true reason is that you do not love me." + +She shrugged her shoulders and turned away her head. + +"No, you do not love me. If you had any love for me, instead of +discouraging me, you would hold out some hope to me, and advise me to +have patience. You never have loved me, confess now!" + +By dint of this persistence, Reine by degrees lost her self-confidence. +She could realize how much Claudet was suffering, and she reproached +herself for the torture she was inflicting upon him. Driven into a +corner, and recognizing that the avowal he was asking for was the only +one that would drive him away, she hesitated no longer. + +"Alas!" she murmured, lowering her eyes, "since you force me to tell you +some truths that I would rather have kept from you, I confess you have +guessed. I have a sincere friendship for you, but that is all. I have +concluded that to marry a person one ought to love him differently, +more than everything else in the world, and I feel that my heart is not +turned altogether toward you." + +"No," said Claudet, bitterly, "it is turned elsewhere." + +"What do you mean? I do not understand you." + +"I mean that you love some one else." + +"That is not true," she protested. + +"You are blushing--a proof that I have hit the nail!" + +"Enough of this!" cried she, imperiously. + +"You are right. Now that you have said you don't want me any longer, I +have no right to ask anything further. Adieu!" + +He turned quickly on his heel. Reine was conscious of having been too +hard with him, and not wishing him to go away with such a grief in his +heart, she sought to retain him by placing her hand upon his arm. + +"Come, Claudet," said she, entreatingly, "do not let us part in anger. +It pains me to see you suffer, and I am sorry if I have said anything +unkind to you. Give me your hand in good fellowship, will you?" + +But Claudet drew back with a fierce gesture, and glancing angrily at +Reine, he replied, rudely: + +"Thanks for your regrets and your pity; I have no use for them." She +understood that he was deeply hurt; gave up entreating, and turned away +with eyes full of tears. + +He remained motionless, his arms crossed, in the middle of the road. +After some minutes, he turned his head. Reine was already nothing more +than a dark speck against the gray of the increasing fog. Then he went +off, haphazard, across the pasture-lands. The fog was rising slowly, and +the sun, shorn of its beams, showed its pale face faintly through it. +To the right and the left, the woods were half hidden by moving white +billows, and Claudet walked between fluid walls of vapor. This hidden +sky, these veiled surroundings, harmonized with his mental condition. It +was easier for him to hide his chagrin. "Some one else! Yes; that's it. +She loves some other fellow! how was it I did not find that out the very +first day?" Then he recalled how Reine shrank from him when he solicited +a caress; how she insisted on their betrothal being kept secret, and +how many times she had postponed the date of the wedding. It was evident +that she had received him only in self-defence, and on the pleading of +Julien de Buxieres. Julien! the name threw a gleam of light across his +brain, hitherto as foggy as the country around him. Might not Julien be +the fortunate rival on whom Reine's affections were so obstinately set? +Still, if she had always loved Monsieur de Buxieres, in what spirit of +perversity or thoughtlessness had she suffered the advances of another +suitor? + +Reine was no coquette, and such a course of action would be repugnant to +her frank, open nature. It was a profound enigma, which Claudet, who had +plenty of good common sense, but not much insight, was unable to solve. +But grief has, among its other advantages, the power of rendering our +perceptions more acute; and by dint of revolving the question in his +mind, Claudet at last became enlightened. Had not Reine simply followed +the impulse of her wounded feelings? She was very proud, and when the +man whom she secretly loved had come coolly forward to plead the +cause of one who was indifferent to her, would not her self-respect +be lowered, and would she not, in a spirit of bravado, accept the +proposition, in order that he might never guess the sufferings of her +spurned affections? There was no doubt, that, later, recognizing that +the task was beyond her strength, she had felt ashamed of deceiving +Claudet any longer, and, acting on the advice of the Abbe Pernot, had +made up her mind to break off a union that was repugnant to her. + +"Yes;" he repeated, mournfully to himself, "that must have been the way +it happened." And with this kind of explanation of Reine's actions, his +irritation seemed to lessen. Not that his grief was less poignant, but +the first burst of rage had spent itself like a great wind-storm, which +becomes lulled after a heavy fall of rain; the bitterness was toned +down, and he was enabled to reason more clearly. + +Julien--well, what was the part of Julien in all this disturbance? "If +what I imagine is true," thought he, "Monsieur de Buxieres knows that +Reine loves him, but has he any reciprocal feeling for her? With a man +as mysterious as my cousin, it is not easy to find out what is going on +in his heart. Anyhow, I have no right to complain of him; as soon as +he discovered my love for Reine, did he not, besides ignoring his own +claim, offer spontaneously to take my message? Still, there is something +queer at the bottom of it all, and whatever it costs me, I am going to +find it out." + +At this moment, through the misty air, he heard faintly the village +clock strike eleven. "Already so late! how the time flies, even when one +is suffering!" He bent his course toward the chateau, and, breathless +and excited, without replying to Manette's inquiries, he burst into the +hall where his cousin was pacing up and down, waiting for breakfast. +At this sudden intrusion Julien started, and noted Claudet's quick +breathing and disordered state. + +"Ho, ho!" exclaimed he, in his usual, sarcastic tone, "what a hurry +you are in! I suppose you have come to say the wedding-day is fixed at +last?" + +"No!" replied Claudet, briefly, "there will be no wedding." + +Julien tottered, and turned to face his cousin. + +"What's that? Are you joking?" + +"I am in no mood for joking. Reine will not have me; she has taken back +her promise." + +While pronouncing these words, he scrutinized attentively his cousin's +countenance, full in the light from the opposite window. He saw his +features relax, and his eyes glow with the same expression which he had +noticed a few days previous, when he had referred to the fact that Reine +had again postponed the marriage. + +"Whence comes this singular change?" stammered de Buxieres, visibly +agitated; "what reasons does Mademoiselle Vincart give in explanation?" + +"Idle words: her father's health, disinclination to leave him. You may +suppose I take such excuses for what they are worth. The real cause of +her refusal is more serious and more mortifying." + +"You know it, then?" exclaimed Julien, eagerly. + +"I know it, because I forced Reine to confess it." + +"And the reason is?" + +"That she does not love me." + +"Reine--does not love you!" + +Again a gleam of light irradiated the young man's large, blue eyes. +Claudet was leaning against the table, in front of his cousin; he +continued slowly, looking him steadily in the face: + +"That is not all. Not only does Reine not love me, but she loves some +one else." + +Julien changed color; the blood coursed over his cheeks, his forehead, +his ears; he drooped his head. + +"Did she tell you so?" he murmured, at last, feebly. + +"She did not, but I guessed it. Her heart is won, and I think I know by +whom." + +Claudet had uttered these last words slowly and with a painful effort, +at the same time studying Julien's countenance with renewed inquiry. The +latter became more and more troubled, and his physiognomy expressed both +anxiety and embarrassment. + +"Whom do you suspect?" he stammered. + +"Oh!" replied Claudet, employing a simple artifice to sound the obscure +depth of his cousin's heart, "it is useless to name the person; you do +not know him." + +"A stranger?" + +Julien's countenance had again changed. His hands were twitching +nervously, his lips compressed, and his dilated pupils were blazing with +anger, instead of triumph, as before. + +"Yes; a stranger, a clerk in the iron-works at Grancey, I think." + +"You think!--you think!" cried Julien, fiercely, "why don't you have +more definite information before you accuse Mademoiselle Vincart of such +treachery?" + +He resumed pacing the hall, while his interlocutor, motionless, remained +silent, and kept his eyes steadily upon him. + +"It is not possible," resumed Julien, "Reine can not have played us +such a trick! When I spoke to her for you, it was so easy to say she was +already betrothed!" + +"Perhaps," objected Claudet, shaking his head, "she had reasons for not +letting you know all that was in her mind." + +"What reasons?" + +"She doubtless believed at that time that the man she preferred did not +care for her. There are some people who, when they are vexed, act in +direct contradiction to their own wishes. I have the idea that Reine +accepted me only for want of some one better, and afterward, being too +openhearted to dissimulate for any length of time, she thought better of +it, and sent me about my business." + +"And you," interrupted Julien, sarcastically, "you, who had been +accepted as her betrothed, did not know better how to defend your rights +than to suffer yourself to be ejected by a rival, whose intentions, +even, you have not clearly ascertained!" + +"By Jove! how could I help it? A fellow that takes an unwilling bride +is playing for too high stakes. The moment I found there was another she +preferred, I had but one course before me--to take myself off." + +"And you call that loving!" shouted de Buxieres, "you call that losing +your heart! God in heaven! if I had been in your place, how differently +I should have acted! Instead of leaving, with piteous protestations, +I should have stayed near Reine, I should have surrounded her with +tenderness. I should have expressed my passion with so much force that +its flame should pass from my burning soul to hers, and she would have +been forced to love me! Ah! If I had only thought! if I had dared! how +different it would have been!" + +He jerked out his sentences with unrestrained frenzy. He seemed hardly +to know what he was saying, or that he had a listener. Claudet stood +contemplating him in sullen silence: "Aha!" thought he, with bitter +resignation; "I have sounded you at last. I know what is in the bottom +of your heart." + +Manette, bringing in the breakfast, interrupted their colloquy, and both +assumed an air of indifference, according to a tacit understanding that +a prudent amount of caution should be observed in her presence. They +ate hurriedly, and as soon as the cloth was removed, and they were +again alone, Julien, glancing with an indefinable expression at Claudet, +muttered savagely: + +"Well! what do you decide?" + +"I will tell you later," responded the other, briefly. + +He quitted the room abruptly, told Manette that he would not be home +until late, and strode out across the fields, his dog following. He had +taken his gun as a blind, but it was useless for Montagnard to raise +his bark; Claudet allowed the hares to scamper away with out sending a +single shot after them. He was busy inwardly recalling the details +of the conversation he had had with his cousin. The situation now was +simplified Julien was in love with Reine, and was vainly combating his +overpowering passion. What reason had he for concealing his love? +What motive or reasoning had induced him, when he was already secretly +enamored of the girl, to push Claudet in front and interfere to procure +her acceptance of him as a fiance? This point alone remained obscure. +Was Julien carrying out certain theories of the respect due his position +in society, and did he fear to contract a misalliance by marrying a mere +farmer's daughter? Or did he, with his usual timidity and distrust of +himself, dread being refused by Reine, and, half through pride, half +through backward ness, keep away for fear of a humiliating rejection? +With de Buxieres's proud and suspicious nature, each of these +suppositions was equally likely. The conclusion most undeniable was, +that notwithstanding his set ideas and his moral cowardice, Julien had +an ardent and over powering love for Mademoiselle Vincart. As to Reine +herself, Claudet was more than ever convinced that she had a secret +inclination toward somebody, although she had denied the charge. But +for whom was her preference? Claudet knew the neighborhood too well to +believe the existence of any rival worth talking about, other than his +cousin de Buxieres. None of the boys of the village or the surrounding +towns had ever come courting old Father Vincart's daughter, and de +Buxieres himself possessed sufficient qualities to attract Reine. +Certainly, if he were a girl, he never should fix upon Julien for a +lover; but women often have tastes that men can not comprehend, and +Julien's refinement of nature, his bashfulness, and even his reserve, +might easily have fascinated a girl of such strong will and somewhat +peculiar notions. It was probable, therefore, that she liked him, +and perhaps had done so for a long time; but, being clear-sighted and +impartial, she could see that he never would marry her, because her +condition in life was not equal to his own. Afterward, when the man +she loved had flaunted his indifference so far as to plead the cause of +another, her pride had revolted, and in the blind agony of her wounded +feelings, she had thrown herself into the arms of the first comer, as if +to punish herself for entertaining loving thoughts of a man who could so +disdain her affection. + +So, by means of that lucid intuition which the heart alone can furnish, +Claudet at last succeeded in evolving the naked truth. But the fatiguing +labor of so much thinking, to which his brain was little accustomed, +and the sadness which continued to oppress him, overcame him to such an +extent that he was obliged to sit down and rest on a clump of brushwood. +He gazed over the woods and the clearings, which he had so often +traversed light of heart and of foot, and felt mortally unhappy. These +sheltering lanes and growing thickets, where he had so frequently +encountered Reine, the beautiful hunting-grounds in which he had taken +such delight, only awakened painful sensations, and he felt as if he +should grow to hate them all if he were obliged to pass the rest of his +days in their midst. As the day waned, the sinuosities of the forest +became more blended; the depth of the valleys was lost in thick vapors. +The wind had risen. The first falling leaves of the season rose and fell +like wounded birds; heavy clouds gathered in the sky, and the night was +coming on apace. Claudet was grateful for the sudden darkness, which +would blot out a view now so distasteful to him. Shortly, on the +Auberive side, along the winding Aubette, feeble lights became visible, +as if inviting the young man to profit by their guidance. He arose, +took the path indicated, and went to supper, or rather, to a pretence of +supper, in the same inn where he had breakfasted with Julien, whence the +latter had gone on his mission to Reine. This remembrance alone would +have sufficed to destroy his appetite. + +He did not remain long at table; he could not, in fact, stay many +minutes in one place, and so, notwithstanding the urgent insistence +of the hostess, he started on the way back to Vivey, feeling his way +through the profound darkness. When he reached the chateau, every one +was in bed. Noiselessly, his dog creeping after him, he slipped into his +room, and, overcome with fatigue, fell into a heavy slumber. + +The next morning his first visit was to Julien. He found him in a +nervous and feverish condition, having passed a sleepless night. +Claudet's revelations had entirely upset his intentions, and planted +fresh thorns of jealousy in his heart. On first hearing that the +marriage was broken off, his heart had leaped for joy, and hope had +revived within him; but the subsequent information that Mademoiselle +Vincart was probably interested in some lover, as yet unknown, had +grievously sobered him. He was indignant at Reine's duplicity, and +Claudet's cowardly resignation. The agony caused by Claudet's betrothal +was a matter of course, but this love-for-a-stranger episode was an +unexpected and mortal wound. He was seized with violent fits of rage; +he was sometimes tempted to go and reproach the young girl with what he +called her breach of faith, and then go and throw himself at her feet +and avow his own passion. + +But the mistrust he had of himself, and his incurable bashfulness, +invariably prevented these heroic resolutions from being carried out. He +had so long cultivated a habit of minute, fatiguing criticism upon every +inward emotion that he had almost incapacitated himself for vigorous +action. + +He was in this condition when Claudet came in upon him. At the noise of +the opening door, Julien raised his head, and looked dolefully at his +cousin. + +"Well?" said he, languidly. + +"Well!" retorted Claudet, bravely, "on thinking over what has been +happening during the last month, I have made sure of one thing of which +I was doubtful." + +"Of what were you doubtful?" returned de Buxieres, quite ready to take +offence at the answer. + +"I am about to tell you. Do you remember the first conversation we had +together concerning Reine? You spoke of her with so much earnestness +that I then suspected you of being in love with her." + +"I--I--hardly remember," faltered Julien, coloring. + +"In that case, my memory is better than yours, Monsieur de Buxieres. +To-day, my suspicions have become certainties. You are in love with +Reine Vincart!" + +"I?" faintly protested his cousin. + +"Don't deny it, but rather, give me your confidence; you will not be +sorry for it. You love Reine, and have loved her for a long while. +You have succeeded in hiding it from me because it is hard for you to +unbosom yourself; but, yesterday, I saw it quite plainly. You dare not +affirm the contrary!" + +Julien, greatly agitated, had hidden his face in his hands. After a +moment's silence, he replied, defiantly: "Well, and supposing it is so? +What is the use of talking about it, since Reine's affections are placed +elsewhere?" + +"Oh! that's another matter. Reine has declined to have me, and I really +think she has some other affair in her head. Yet, to confess the truth, +the clerk at the iron-works was a lover of my own imagining; she never +thought of him." + +"Then why did you tell such a lie?" cried Julien, impetuously. + +"Because I thought I would plead the lie to get at the truth. Forgive me +for having made use of this old trick to put you on the right track. It +wasn't such a bad idea, for I succeeded in finding out what you took so +much pains to hide from me." + +"To hide from you? Yes, I did wish to hide it from you. Wasn't that +right, since I was convinced that Reine loved you?" exclaimed Julien, +in an almost stifled voice, as if the avowal were choking him. "I have +always thought it idle to parade one's feelings before those who do not +care about them." + +"You were wrong," returned poor Claudet, sighing deeply, "if you had +spoken for yourself, I have an idea you would have been better received, +and you would have spared me a terrible heart-breaking." + +He said it with such profound sadness that Julien, notwithstanding the +absorbing nature of his own thoughts, was quite overcome, and almost +on the point of confessing, openly, the intensity of his feeling toward +Reine Vincart. But, accustomed as he was, by long habit, to concentrate +every emotion within himself, he found it impossible to become, all +at once, communicative; he felt an invincible and almost maidenly +bashfulness at the idea of revealing the secret sentiments of his soul, +and contented himself with saying, in a low voice: + +"Do you not love her any more, then?" + +"I? oh, yes, indeed! But to be refused by the only girl I ever wished to +marry takes all the spirit out of me. I am so discouraged, I feel like +leaving the country. If I were to go, it would perhaps be doing you a +service, and that would comfort me a little. You have treated me as a +friend, and that is a thing one doesn't forget. I have not the means to +pay you back for your kindness, but I think I should be less sorry to +go if my departure would leave the way more free for you to return to La +Thuiliere." + +"You surely would not leave on my account?" exclaimed Julien, in alarm. + +"Not solely on your account, rest assured. If Reine had loved me, it +never would have entered my head to make such a sacrifice for you, but +she will not have me. I am good for nothing here. I am only in your +way." + +"But that is a wild idea! Where would you go?" + +"Oh! there would be no difficulty about that. One plan would be to go +as a soldier. Why not? I am hardy, a good walker, a good shot, can stand +fatigue; I have everything needed for military life. It is an occupation +that I should like, and I could earn my epaulets as well as my neighbor. +So that perhaps, Monsieur de Buxieres, matters might in that way be +arranged to suit everybody." + +"Claudet!" stammered Julien, his voice thick with sobs, "you are a +better man than I! Yes; you are a better man than I!" + +And, for the first time, yielding to an imperious longing for expansion, +he sprang toward the grand chasserot, clasped him in his arms, and +embraced him fraternally. + +"I will not let you expatriate yourself on my account," he continued; +"do not act rashly, I entreat!" + +"Don't worry," replied Claudet, laconically, "if I so decide, it will +not be without deliberation." + +In fact, during the whole of the ensuing week, he debated in his mind +this question of going away. Each day his position at Vivey seemed +more unbearable. Without informing any one, he had been to Langres +and consulted an officer of his acquaintance on the subject of the +formalities required previous to enrolment. + +At last, one morning he resolved to go over to the military division and +sign his engagement. But he was not willing to consummate this sacrifice +without seeing Reine Vincart for the last time. He was nursing, down in +the bottom of his heart, a vague hope, which, frail and slender as the +filament of a plant, was yet strong enough to keep him on his native +soil. Instead of taking the path to Vivey, he made a turn in the +direction of La Thuiliere, and soon reached the open elevation whence +the roofs of the farm-buildings and the turrets of the chateau could +both alike be seen. There he faltered, with a piteous sinking of the +heart. Only a few steps between himself and the house, yet he hesitated +about entering; not that he feared a want of welcome, but because he +dreaded lest the reawakening of his tenderness should cause him to +lose a portion of the courage he should need to enable him to leave. +He leaned against the trunk of an old pear-tree and surveyed the forest +site on which the farm was built. + +The landscape retained its usual placidity. In the distance, over the +waste lands, the shepherd Tringuesse was following his flock of sheep, +which occasionally scattered over the fields, and then, under the +dog's harassing watchfulness, reformed in a compact group, previous to +descending the narrow hill-slope. One thing struck Claudet: the pastures +and the woods bore exactly the same aspect, presented the same play of +light and shade as on that afternoon of the preceding year, when he had +met Reine in the Ronces woods, a few days before the arrival of +Julien. The same bright yet tender tint reddened the crab-apple and the +wild-cherry; the tomtits and the robins chirped as before, among +the bushes, and, as in the previous year, one heard the sound of the +beechnuts and acorns dropping on the rocky paths. Autumn went through +her tranquil rites and familiar operations, always with the same +punctual regularity; and all this would go on just the same when Claudet +was no longer there. There would only be one lad the less in the +village streets, one hunter failing to answer the call when they were +surrounding the woods of Charbonniere. This dim perception of how small +a space man occupies on the earth, and of the ease with which he is +forgotten, aided Claudet unconsciously in his effort to be resigned, +and he determined to enter the house. As he opened the gate of the +courtyard, he found himself face to face with Reine, who was coming out. + +The young girl immediately supposed he had come to make a last assault, +in the hope of inducing her to yield to his wishes. She feared a renewal +of the painful scene which had closed their last interview, and her +first impulse was to put herself on her guard. Her countenance darkened, +and she fixed a cold, questioning gaze upon Claudet, as if to keep him +at a distance. But, when she noted the sadness of her young relative's +expression, she was seized with pity. Making an effort, however, to +disguise her emotion, she pretended to accost him with the calm and +cordial friendship of former times. + +"Why, good-morning, Claudet," said she, "you come just in time. A +quarter of an hour later you would not have found me. Will you come in +and rest a moment?" + +"Thanks, Reine," said he, "I will not hinder you in your work. But I +wanted to say, I am sorry I got angry the other day; you were right, we +must not leave each other with ill-feeling, and, as I am going away for +a long time, I desire first to take your hand in friendship." + +"You are going away?" + +"Yes; I am going now to Langres to enroll myself as a soldier. And true +it is, one knows when one goes away, but it is hard to know when one +will come back. That is why I wanted to say good-by to you, and make +peace, so as not to go away with too great a load on my heart." + +All Reine's coldness melted away. This young fellow, who was leaving +his country on her account, was the companion of her infancy, more than +that, her nearest relative. Her throat swelled, her eyes filled with +tears. She turned away her head, that he might not perceive her emotion, +and opened the kitchen-door. + +"Come in, Claudet," said she, "we shall be more comfortable in the +dining-room. We can talk there, and you will have some refreshment +before you go, will you not?" + +He obeyed, and followed her into the house. She went herself into the +cellar, to seek a bottle of old wine, brought two glasses, and filled +them with a trembling hand. + +"Shall you remain long in the service?" asked she. + +"I shall engage for seven years." + +"It is a hard life that you are choosing." + +"What am I to do?" replied he, "I could not stay here doing nothing." + +Reine went in and out of the room in a bewildered fashion. Claudet, too +much excited to perceive that the young girl's impassiveness was only on +the surface, said to himself: "It is all over; she accepts my departure +as an event perfectly natural; she treats me as she would Theotime, the +coal-dealer, or the tax-collector Boucheseiche. A glass of wine, two or +three unimportant questions, and then, good-by-a pleasant journey, and +take care of yourself!" + +Then he made a show of taking an airy, insouciant tone. + +"Oh, well!" he exclaimed, "I've always been drawn toward that kind of +life. A musket will be a little heavier than a gun, that's all; then I +shall see different countries, and that will change my ideas." He tried +to appear facetious, poking around the kitchen, and teasing the magpie, +which was following his footsteps with inquisitive anxiety. Finally, +he went up to the old man Vincart, who was lying stretched out in his +picture-lined niche. He took the flabby hand of the paralytic old man, +pressed it gently and endeavored to get up a little conversation with +him, but he had it all to himself, the invalid staring at him all the +time with uneasy, wide-open eyes. Returning to Reine, he lifted his +glass. + +"To your health, Reine!" said he, with forced gayety, "next time we +clink glasses together, I shall be an experienced soldier--you'll see!" + +But, when he put the glass to his lips, several big tears fell in, and +he had to swallow them with his wine. + +"Well!" he sighed, turning away while he passed the back of his hand +across his eyes, "it must be time to go." + +She accompanied him to the threshold. + +"Adieu, Reine!" + +"Adieu!" she murmured, faintly. + +She stretched out both hands, overcome with pity and remorse. He +perceived her emotion, and thinking that she perhaps still loved him +a little, and repented having rejected him, threw his arms impetuously +around her. He pressed her against his bosom, and imprinted kisses, wet +with tears, upon her cheek. He could not leave her, and redoubled his +caresses with passionate ardor, with the ecstasy of a lover who suddenly +meets with a burst of tenderness on the part of the woman he has +tenderly loved, and whom he expects never to fold again in his arms. +He completely lost his self-control. His embrace became so ardent that +Reine, alarmed at the sudden outburst, was overcome with shame and +terror, notwithstanding the thought that the man, who was clasping her +in his arms with such passion, was her own brother. + +She tore herself away from him and pushed him violently back. + +"Adieu!" she cried, retreating to the kitchen, of which she hastily shut +the door. + +Claudet stood one moment, dumfounded, before the door so pitilessly shut +in his face, then, falling suddenly from his happy state of illusion to +the dead level of reality, departed precipitately down the road. + +When he turned to give a parting glance, the farm buildings were no +longer visible, and the waste lands of the forest border, gray, stony, +and barren, stretched their mute expanse before him. + +"No!" exclaimed he, between his set teeth, "she never loved me. She +thinks only of the other man! I have nothing more to do but go away and +never return!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. LOVE HEALS THE BROKEN HEART + +In arriving at Langres, Claudet enrolled in the seventeenth battalion of +light infantry. Five days later, paying no attention to the lamentations +of Manette, he left Vivey, going, by way of Lyon, to the camp at +Lathonay, where his battalion was stationed. Julien was thus left alone +at the chateau to recover as best he might from the dazed feeling +caused by the startling events of the last few weeks. After Claudet's +departure, he felt an uneasy sensation of discomfort, and as if he +himself had lessened in value. He had never before realized how little +space he occupied in his own dwelling, and how much living heat Claudet +had infused into the house which was now so cold and empty. He felt poor +and diminished in spirit, and was ashamed of being so useless to +himself and to others. He had before him a prospect of new duties, +which frightened him. The management of the district, which Claudet had +undertaken for him, would now fall entirely on his shoulders, and just +at the time of the timber sales and the renewal of the fences. Besides +all this, he had Manette on his conscience, thinking he ought to try +to soften her grief at her son's unexpected departure. The ancient +housekeeper was like Rachel, she refused to be comforted, and her +temper was not improved by her recent trials. She filled the air +with lamentations, and seemed to consider Julien responsible for her +troubles. The latter treated her with wonderful patience and indulgence, +and exhausted his ingenuity to make her time pass more pleasantly. This +was the first real effort he had made to subdue his dislikes and his +passive tendencies, and it had the good effect of preparing him, by +degrees, to face more serious trials, and to take the initiative in +matters of greater importance. He discovered that the energy he expended +in conquering a first difficulty gave him more ability to conquer the +second, and from that result he decided that the will is like a muscle, +which shrivels in inaction and is developed by exercise; and he made +up his mind to attack courageously the work before him, although it had +formerly appeared beyond his capabilities. + +He now rose always at daybreak. Gaitered like a huntsman, and escorted +by Montagnard, who had taken a great liking to him, he would proceed to +the forest, visit the cuttings, hire fresh workmen, familiarize himself +with the woodsmen, interest himself in their labors, their joys and +their sorrows; then, when evening came, he was quite astonished to find +himself less weary, less isolated, and eating with considerable appetite +the supper prepared for him by Manette. Since he had been traversing +the forest, not as a stranger or a person of leisure, but with the +predetermination to accomplish some useful work, he had learned to +appreciate its beauties. The charms of nature and the living creatures +around no longer inspired him with the defiant scorn which he had +imbibed from his early solitary life and his priestly education; he now +viewed them with pleasure and interest. In proportion, as his sympathies +expanded and his mind became more virile, the exterior world presented a +more attractive appearance to him. + +While this work of transformation was going on within him, he was aided +and sustained by the ever dear and ever present image of Reine Vincart. +The trenches, filled with dead leaves, the rows of beech-trees, stripped +of their foliage by the rude breath of winter, the odor peculiar +to underwood during the dead season, all recalled to his mind the +impressions he had received while in company with the woodland queen. +Now that, he could better understand the young girl's adoration of the +marvellous forest world, he sought out, with loving interest, the sites +where she had gone into ecstasy, the details of the landscape which she +had pointed out to him the year before, and had made him admire. The +beauty of the scene was associated in his thoughts with Reine's love, +and he could not think of either separately. But, notwithstanding the +steadfastness and force of his love, he had not yet made any effort to +see Mademoiselle Vincart. At first, the increase of occupation caused +by Claudet's departure, the new duties devolving upon him, together with +his inexperience, had prevented Julien from entertaining the possibility +of renewing relations that had been so violently sundered. Little by +little, however; as he reviewed the situation of affairs, which his +cousin's generous sacrifice had engendered, he began to consider how he +could benefit thereby. Claudet's departure had left the field free, but +Julien felt no more confidence in himself than before. The fact that +Reine had so unaccountably refused to marry the grand chasserot did +not seem to him sufficient encouragement. Her motive was a secret, +and therefore, of doubtful interpretation. Besides, even if she were +entirely heart-whole, was that a reason why she should give Julien a +favorable reception? Could she forget the cruel insult to which he had +subjected her? And immediately after that outrageous behavior of his, he +had had the stupidity to make a proposal for Claudet. That was the kind +of affront, thought he, that a woman does not easily forgive, and the +very idea of presenting himself before her made his heart sink. He had +seen her only at a distance, at the Sunday mass, and every time he +had endeavored to catch her eye she had turned away her head. She also +avoided, in every way, any intercourse with the chateau. Whenever a +question arose, such as the apportionment of lands, or the allotment of +cuttings, which would necessitate her having recourse to M. de Buxieres, +she would abstain from writing herself, and correspond only through +the notary, Arbillot. Claudet's heroic departure, therefore, had really +accomplished nothing; everything was exactly at the same point as the +day after Julien's unlucky visit to La Thuiliere, and the same futile +doubts and fears agitated him now as then. It also occurred to him, that +while he was thus debating and keeping silence, days, weeks, and months +were slipping away; that Reine would soon reach her twenty-third year, +and that she would be thinking of marriage. It was well known that she +had some fortune, and suitors were not lacking. Even allowing that she +had no afterthought in renouncing Claudet, she could not always live +alone at the farm, and some day she would be compelled to accept a +marriage of convenience, if not of love. + +"And to think," he would say to himself, "that she is there, only a +few steps away, that I am consumed with longing, that I have only +to traverse those pastures, to throw myself at her feet, and that I +positively dare not! Miserable wretch that I am, it was last spring, +while we were in that but together, that I should have spoken of my +love, instead of terrifying her with my brutal caresses! Now it is too +late! I have wounded and humiliated her; I have driven away Claudet, who +would at any rate have made her a stalwart lover, and I have made +two beings unhappy, without counting myself. So much for my miserable +shufflings and evasion! Ah! if one could only begin life over again!" + +While thus lamenting his fate, the march of time went steadily on, with +its pitiless dropping out of seconds, minutes, and hours. The worst part +of winter was over; the March gales had dried up the forests; April was +tingeing the woods with its tender green; the song of the cuckoo was +already heard in the tufted bowers, and the festival of St. George had +passed. + +Taking advantage of an unusually clear day, Julien went to visit a farm, +belonging to him, in the plain of Anjeures, on the border of the forest +of Maigrefontaine. After breakfasting with the farmer, he took the way +home through the woods, so that he might enjoy the first varied effects +of the season. + +The forest of Maigrefontaine, situated on the slope of a hill, was full +of rocky, broken ground, interspersed with deep ravines, along which +narrow but rapid streams ran to swell the fishpond of La Thuiliere. +Julien had wandered away from the road, into the thick of the forest +where the budding vegetation was at its height, where the lilies +multiply and the early spring flowers disclose their umbellshaped +clusters, full of tiny, white stars. The sight of these blossoms, which +had such a tender meaning for him, since he had identified the name with +that of Reine, brought vividly before him the beloved image of the +young girl. He walked slowly and languidly on, heated by his feverish +recollections and desires, tormented by useless self-reproach, and +physically intoxicated by the balmy atmosphere and the odor of the +flowering shrubs at his feet. Arriving at the edge of a somewhat deep +pit, he tried to leap across with a single bound, but, whether he made +a false start, or that he was weakened and dizzy with the conflicting +emotions with which he had been battling, he missed his footing and +fell, twisting his ankle, on the side of the embankment. He rose with an +effort and put his foot to the ground, but a sharp pain obliged him to +lean against the trunk of a neighboring ash-tree. His foot felt as heavy +as lead, and every time he tried to straighten it his sufferings were +intolerable. All he could do was to drag himself along from one tree to +another until he reached the path. + +Exhausted by this effort; he sat down on the grass, unbuttoned +his gaiter, and carefully unlaced his boot. His foot had swollen +considerably. He began to fear he had sprained it badly, and wondered +how he could get back to Vivey. Should he have to wait on this lonely +road until some woodcutter passed, who would take him home? Montagnard, +his faithful companion, had seated himself in front of him, and +contemplated him with moist, troubled eyes, at the same time emitting +short, sharp whines, which seemed to say: + +"What is the matter?" and, "How are we going to get out of this?" + +Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching. He perceived a flutter of white +skirts behind the copse, and just at the moment he was blessing the +lucky chance that had sent some one in that direction, his eyes were +gladdened with a sight of the fair visage of Reine. + +She was accompanied by a little girl of the village, carrying a basket +full of primroses and freshly gathered ground ivy. Reine was quite +familiar with all the medicinal herbs of the country, and gathered them +in their season, in order to administer them as required to the people +of the farm. When she was within a few feet of Julien, she recognized +him, and her brow clouded over; but almost immediately she noticed his +altered features and that one of his feet was shoeless, and divined that +something unusual had happened. Going straight up to him, she said: + +"You seem to be suffering, Monsieur de Buxieres. What is the matter?" + +"A--a foolish accident," replied he, putting on a careless manner. "I +fell and sprained my ankle." + +The young girl knit her brows with an anxious expression; then, after a +moment's hesitation; she said: + +"Will you let me see your foot? My mother understood about bone-setting, +and I have been told that I inherit her gift of curing sprains." + +She drew from the basket an empty bottle and a handkerchief. + +"Zelie," said she to the little damsel, who was standing astonished at +the colloquy, "go quickly down to the stream, and fill this bottle." + +While she was speaking, Julien, greatly embarrassed, obeyed her +suggestions, and uncovered his foot. Reine, without any prudery or +nonsense, raised the wounded limb, and felt around cautiously. + +"I think," said she at last, "that the muscles are somewhat injured." + +Without another word, she tore the handkerchief into narrow strips, and +poured the contents of the bottle, which Zelie had filled, slowly over +the injure member, holding her hand high for that purpose. Then, with a +soft yet firm touch, she pressed the injured muscles into their places, +while Julien bit his lips and did his very utmost to prevent her seeing +how much he was suffering. After this massage treatment, the young +girl bandaged the ankle tightly with the linen bands, and fastened them +securely with pins. + +"There," said she, "now try to put on your shoe and stocking; they will +give support to the muscles. Now you, Zelie, run, fit to break your +neck, to the farm, make them harness the wagon, and tell them to bring +it here, as close to the path as possible." + +The girl picked up her basket and started on a trot. + +"Monsieur de Buxieres;" said Reine, "do you think you can walk as far as +the carriage road, by leaning on my arm?" + +"Yes;" he replied, with a grateful glance which greatly embarrassed +Mademoiselle Vincart, "you have relieved me as if by a miracle. I feel +much better and as if I could go anywhere you might lead, while leaning +on your arm!" + +She helped him to rise, and he took a few steps with her aid. + +"Why, it feels really better," sighed he. + +He was so happy in feeling himself thus tenderly supported by Reine, +that he altogether forgot his pain. + +"Let us walk slowly," continued she, "and do not be afraid to lean on +me. All you have to think of is reaching the carriage." + +"How good you are," stammered he, "and how ashamed I am!" + +"Ashamed of what?" returned Reine, hastily. "I have done nothing +extraordinary; anyone else would have acted in the same manner." + +"I entreat you," replied he, earnestly, "not to spoil my happiness. I +know very well that the first person who happened to pass would have +rendered me some charitable assistance; but the thought that it is +you--you alone--who have helped me, fills me with delight, at: the same +time that it increases my remorse. I so little deserve that you should +interest yourself in my behalf!" + +He waited, hoping perhaps that she would ask for an explanation, but, +seeing that she did not appear to understand, he added: + +"I have offended you. I have misunderstood you, and I have been cruelly +punished for my mistake. But what avails my tardy regret in healing +the injuries I have inflicted! Ah! if one could only go backward, and +efface, with a single stroke, the hours in which one has been blind and +headstrong!" + +"Let us not speak of that!" replied she, shortly, but in a singularly +softened tone. + +In spite of herself, she was touched by this expression of repentance, +so naively acknowledged in broken, disconnected sentences, vibrating +with the ring of true sincerity. In proportion as he abased himself, her +anger diminished, and she recognized that she loved him just the same, +notwithstanding his defects, his weakness, and his want of tact and +polish. She was also profoundly touched by his revealing to her, for the +first time, a portion of his hidden feelings. + +They had become silent again, but they felt nearer to each other than +ever before; their secret thoughts seemed to be transmitted to each +other; a mute understanding was established between them. She lent him +the support of her arm with more freedom, and the young man seemed to +experience fresh delight in her firm and sympathetic assistance. + +Progressing slowly, although more quickly than they would have chosen +themselves, they reached the foot of the path, and perceived the wagon +waiting on the beaten road. Julien mounted therein with the aid of +Reine and the driver. When he was stretched on the straw, which had +been spread for him on the bottom of the wagon, he leaned forward on +the side, and his eyes met those of Reine. For a few moments their +gaze seemed riveted upon each other, and their mutual understanding was +complete. These few, brief moments contained a whole confession of +love; avowals mingled with repentance, promises of pardon, tender +reconciliation! + +"Thanks!" he sighed at last, "will you give me your hand?" + +She gave it, and while he held it in his own, Reine turned toward the +driver on the seat. + +"Felix," said she, warningly, "drive slowly and avoid the ruts. +Good-night, Monsieur de Buxieres, send for the doctor as soon as you +get in, and all will be well. I will send to inquire how you are getting +along." + +She turned and went pensively down the road to La Thuiliere, while the +carriage followed slowly the direction to Vivey. + +The doctor, being sent for immediately on Julien's arrival, pronounced +it a simple sprain, and declared that the preliminary treatment had been +very skilfully applied, that the patient had now only to keep perfectly +still. Two days later came La Guite from Reine, to inquire after M. +de Buxieres's health. She brought a large bunch of lilies which +Mademoiselle Vincart had sent to the patient, to console him for not +being able to go in the woods, which Julien kept for several days close +by his side. + +This accident, happening at Maigrefontaine, and providentially attended +to by Reine Vincart, the return to the chateau in the vehicle belonging +to La Thuiliere, the sending of the lilies, were all a source of great +mystification to Manette. She suspected some amorous mystery in all +these events, commented somewhat uncharitably on every minor detail, +and took care to carry her comments all over the village. Very soon +the entire parish, from the most insignificant woodchopper to the +Abbe Pernot himself, were made aware that there was something going on +between M. de Buxieres and the daughter of old M. Vincart. + +In the mean time, Julien, quite unconscious that his love for Reine was +providing conversation for all the gossips of the country, was cursing +the untoward event that kept him stretched in his invalid-chair. At +last, one day, he discovered he could put his foot down and walk a +little with the assistance of his cane; a few days after, the doctor +gave him permission to go out of doors. His first visit was to La +Thuiliere. + +He went there in the afternoon and found Reine in the kitchen, seated +by the side of her paralytic father, who was asleep. She was reading a +newspaper, which she retained in her hand, while rising to receive her +visitor. After she had congratulated him on his recovery, and he had +expressed his cordial thanks for her timely aid, she showed him the +paper. + +"You find me in a state of disturbance," said she, with a slight degree +of embarrassment, "it seems that we are going to have war and that our +troops have entered Italy. Have you any news of Claudet?" + +Julien started. This was the last remark he could have expected. +Claudet's name had not been once mentioned in their interview at +Maigrefontaine, and he had nursed the hope that Reine thought no longer +about him. + +All his mistrust returned in a moment on hearing this name come from +the young girl's lips the moment he entered the house, and seeing the +emotion which the news in the paper had caused her. + +"He wrote me a few days ago," replied he. + +"Where is he?" + +"In Italy, with his battalion, which is a part of the first army corps. +His last letter is dated from Alexandria." + +Reine's eyes suddenly filled with tears, and she gazed absently at the +distant wooded horizon. + +"Poor Claudet!" murmured she, sighing, "what is he doing just now, I +wonder?" + +"Ah!" thought Julien, his visage darkening, "perhaps she loves him +still!" + +Poor Claudet! At the very time they are thus talking about him at the +farm, he is camping with his battalion near Voghera, on the banks of one +of the obscure tributaries of the river Po, in a country rich in waving +corn, interspersed with bounteous orchards and hardy vines climbing up +to the very tops of the mulberry-trees. His battalion forms the extreme +end of the advance guard, and at the approach of night, Claudet is on +duty on the banks of the stream. It is a lovely May night, irradiated +by millions of stars, which, under the limpid Italian sky, appear larger +and nearer to the watcher than they appeared in the vaporous atmosphere +of the Haute-Marne. + +Nightingales are calling to one another among the trees of the orchard, +and the entire landscape seems imbued with their amorous music. What +ecstasy to listen to them! What serenity their liquid harmonies spread +over the smiling landscape, faintly revealing its beauties in the mild +starlight. + +Who would think that preparations for deadly combat were going on +through the serenity of such a night? Occasionally a sharp exchange of +musketry with the advanced post of the enemy bursts upon the ear, and +all the nightingales keep silence. Then, when quiet is restored in the +upper air, the chorus of spring songsters begins again. Claudet leans +on his gun, and remembers that at this same hour the nightingales in the +park at Vivey, and in the garden of La Thuiliere, are pouring forth +the same melodies. He recalls the bright vision of Reine: he sees her +leaning at her window, listening to the same amorous song issuing from +the coppice woods of Maigrefontaine. His heart swells within him, and an +over-powering homesickness takes possession of him. But the next moment +he is ashamed of his weakness, he remembers his responsibility, primes +his ear, and begins investigating the dark hollows and rising hillocks +where an enemy might hide. + +The next morning, May 20th, he is awakened by a general hubbub and noise +of fighting. The battalion to which he belongs has made an attack upon +Montebello, and is sending its sharpshooters among the cornfields and +vineyards. Some of the regiments invade the rice-fields, climb the walls +of the vineyards, and charge the enemy's column-ranks. The sullen +roar of the cannon alternates with the sharp report of guns, and whole +showers of grape-shot beat the air with their piercing whistle. All +through the uproar of guns and thunder of the artillery, you can +distinguish the guttural hurrahs of the Austrians, and the broken oaths +of the French troopers. The trenches are piled with dead bodies, the +trumpets sound the attack, the survivors, obeying an irresistible +impulse, spring to the front. The ridges are crested with human masses +swaying to and fro, and the first red uniform is seen in the streets of +Montebello, in relief against the chalky facades bristling with Austrian +guns, pouring forth their ammunition on the enemy below. The soldiers +burst into the houses, the courtyards, the enclosures; every instant +you hear the breaking open of doors, the crashing of windows, and +the scuffling of the terrified inmates. The white uniforms retire in +disorder. The village belongs to the French! Not just yet, though. +From the last houses on the street, to the entrance of the cemetery, +is rising ground, and just behind stands a small hillock. The enemy has +retrenched itself there, and, from its cannons ranged in battery, is +raining a terrible shower on the village just evacuated. + +The assailants hesitate, and draw back before this hailstorm of iron; +suddenly a general appears from under the walls of a building already +crumbling under the continuous fire, spurs his horse forward, and +shouts: "Come, boys, let us carry the fort!" + +Among the first to rally to this call, one rifleman in particular, a +fine, broad-shouldered active fellow, with a brown moustache and olive +complexion, darts forward to the point indicated. It is Claudet. Others +are behind him, and soon more than a hundred men, with their bayonets, +are hurling themselves along the cemetery road; the grand chasserot +leaps across the fields, as he used formerly in pursuit of the game in +the Charbonniere forest. The soldiers are falling right and left of +him, but he hardly sees them; he continues pressing forward, breathless, +excited, scarcely stopping to think. As he is crossing one of the +meadows, however, he notices the profusion of scarlet gladiolus and also +observes that the rye and barley grow somewhat sturdier here than in +his country; these are the only definite ideas that detach themselves +clearly from his seething brain. The wall of the cemetery is scaled; +they are fighting now in the ditches, killing one another on the side of +the hill; at last, the fort is taken and they begin routing the enemy. +But, at this moment, Claudet stoops to pick up a cartridge, a ball +strikes him in the forehead, and, without a sound, he drops to the +ground, among the noisome fennels which flourish in graveyards--he +drops, thinking of the clock of his native village. + + ...................... + +"I have sad news for you," said Julien to Reine, as he entered the +garden of La Thuiliere, one June afternoon. + +He had received official notice the evening before, through the +mayor, of the decease of "Germain-Claudet Sejournant, volunteer in the +seventeenth battalion of light infantry, killed in an engagement with +the enemy, May 20, 1859." + +Reine was standing between two hedges of large peasant-roses. At +the first words that fell from M. de Buxieres's lips, she felt a +presentiment of misfortune. + +"Claudet?" murmured she. + +"He is dead," replied Julien, almost inaudibly, "he fought bravely and +was killed at Montebello." + +The young girl remained motionless, and for a moment de Buxieres +thought she would be able to bear, with some degree of composure, this +announcement of the death in a foreign country of a man whom she had +refused as a husband. Suddenly she turned aside, took two or three +steps, then leaning her head and folded arms on the trunk of an adjacent +tree, she burst into a passion of tears. The convulsive movement of her +shoulders and stifled sobs denoted the violence of her emotion. M. de +Buxieres, alarmed at this outbreak, which he thought exaggerated, felt +a return of his old misgivings. He was jealous now of the dead man whom +she was so openly lamenting. Her continued weeping annoyed him; he tried +to arrest her tears by addressing some consolatory remarks to her; +but, at the very first word, she turned away, mounted precipitately +the kitchen-stairs, and disappeared, closing the door behind her. Some +minutes after, La Guite brought a message to de Buxieres that Reine +wished to be alone, and begged him to excuse her. + +He took his departure, disconcerted, downhearted, and ready to weep +himself, over the crumbling of his hopes. As he was nearing the first +outlying houses of the village, he came across the Abbe Pernot, who was +striding along at a great rate, toward the chateau. + +"Ah!" exclaimed the priest, "how are you, Monsieur de Buxieres, I was +just going over to see you. Is it true that you have received bad news?" + +Julien nodded his head affirmatively, and informed the cure of the sad +notice he had received. The Abbe's countenance lengthened, his mouth +took on a saddened expression, and during the next few minutes he +maintained an attitude of condolence. + +"Poor fellow!" he sighed, with a slight nasal intonation, "he did not +have a fair chance! To have to leave us at twenty-six years of age, +and in full health, it is very hard. And such a jolly companion; such a +clever shot!" + +Finally, not being naturally of a melancholy turn of mind, nor able +to remain long in a mournful mood, he consoled himself with one of the +pious commonplaces which he was in the habit of using for the benefit +of others: "The Lord is just in all His dealings, and holy in all His +works; He reckons the hairs of our heads, and our destinies are in His +hands. We shall celebrate a fine high mass for the repose of Claudet's +soul." + +He coughed, and raised his eyes toward Julien. + +"I wished," continued he, "to see you for two reasons, Monsieur de +Buxieres: first of all, to hear about Claudet, and secondly, to speak to +you on a matter--a very delicate matter--which concerns you, but +which also affects the safety of another person and the dignity of the +parish." + +Julien was gazing at him with a bewildered air. The cure pushed open the +little park gate, and passing through, added: + +"Let us go into your place; we shall be better able to talk over the +matter." + +When they were underneath the trees, the Abbe resumed: + +"Monsieur de Buxieres, do you know that you are at this present time +giving occasion for the tongues of my parishioners to wag more than +is at all reasonable? Oh!" continued he, replying to a remonstrating +gesture of his companion, "it is unpremeditated on your part, I am sure, +but, all the same, they talk about you--and about Reine." + +"About Mademoiselle Vincart?" exclaimed Julien, indignantly, "what can +they say about her?" + +"A great many things which are displeasing to me. They speak of your +having sprained your ankle while in the company of Reine Vincart; of +your return home in her wagon; of your frequent visits to La Thuiliere, +and I don't know what besides. And as mankind, especially the female +portion, is more disposed to discover evil than good, they say you are +compromising this young person. Now, Reine is living, as one may say, +alone and unprotected. It behooves me, therefore, as her pastor, to +defend her against her own weakness. That is the reason why I have taken +upon myself to beg you to be more circumspect, and not trifle with her +reputation." + +"Her reputation?" repeated Julien, with irritation. "I do not understand +you, Monsieur le Cure!" + +"You don't, hey! Why, I explain my meaning pretty clearly. Human beings +are weak; it is easy to injure a girl's reputation, when you try to make +yourself agreeable, knowing you can not marry her." + +"And why could I not marry her?" inquired Julien, coloring deeply. + +"Because she is not in your own class, and you would not love her enough +to overlook the disparity, if marriage became necessary." + +"What do you know about it?" returned Julien, with violence. "I have no +such foolish prejudices, and the obstacles would not come from my side. +But, rest easy, Monsieur," continued he, bitterly, "the danger exists +only in the imagination of your parishioners. Reine has never cared for +me! It was Claudet she loved!" + +"Hm, hm!" interjected the cure, dubiously. + +"You would not doubt it," insisted de Buxieres, provoked at the Abbe's +incredulous movements of his head, "if you had seen her, as I saw her, +melt into tears when I told her of Sejournant's death. She did not +even wait until I had turned my back before she broke out in her +lamentations. My presence was of very small account. Ah! she has but too +cruelly made me feel how little she cares for me!" + +"You love her very much, then?" demanded the Abbe, slyly, an almost +imperceptible smile curving his lips. + +"Oh, yes! I love her," exclaimed he, impetuously; then coloring and +drooping his head. "But it is very foolish of me to betray myself, since +Reine cares nothing at all for me!" + +There was a moment of silence, during which the curb took a pinch of +snuff from a tiny box of cherry wood. + +"Monsieur de Buxieres;" said he, With a particularly oracular air, +"Claudet is dead, and the dead, like the absent, are always in the +wrong. But who is to say whether you are not mistaken concerning the +nature of Reine's unhappiness? I will have that cleared up this very +day. Good-night; keep quiet and behave properly." + +Thereupon he took his departure, but, instead of returning to the +parsonage, he directed his steps hurriedly toward La Thuiliere. +Notwithstanding a vigorous opposition from La Guite, he made use of his +pastoral authority to penetrate into Reine's apartment, where he shut +himself up with her. What he said to her never was divulged outside the +small chamber where the interview took place. He must, however, have +found words sufficiently eloquent to soften her grief, for when he had +gone away the young girl descended to the garden with a soothed although +still melancholy mien. She remained a long time in meditation in the +thicket of roses, but her meditations had evidently no bitterness in +them, and a miraculous serenity seemed to have spread itself over her +heart like a beneficent balm. + +A few days afterward, during the unpleasant coolness of one of those +mornings, white with dew, which are the peculiar privilege of the +mountain-gorges in Langres, the bells of Vivey tolled for the dead, +announcing the celebration of a mass in memory of Claudet. The grand +chasserot having been a universal favorite with every one in the +neighborhood, the church was crowded. The steep descent from the high +plain overlooked the village. They came thronging in through the wooded +glens of Praslay; by the Auberive road and the forests of Charbonniere; +companions in hunting and social amusements, foresters and wearers +of sabots, campers in the woods, inmates of the farms embedded in the +forests--none failed to answer the call. The rustic, white-walled nave +was too narrow to contain them all, and the surplus flowed into the +street. Arbeltier, the village carpenter, had erected a rudimentary +catafalque, which was draped in black and bordered with wax tapers, and +placed in front of the altar steps. On the pall, embroidered with +silver tears, were arranged large bunches of wild flowers, sent from La +Thuiliere, and spreading an aromatic odor of fresh verdure around. The +Abbe Pernot, wearing his insignia of mourning, officiated. Through the +side windows were seen portions of the blue sky; the barking of the +dogs and singing of birds were heard in the distance; and even while +listening to the 'Dies irae', the curb could not help thinking of the +robust and bright young fellow who, only the year previous, had been so +joyously traversing the woods, escorted by Charbonneau and Montagnard, +and who was now lying in a foreign land, in the common pit of the little +cemetery of Montebello. + +As each verse of the funeral service was intoned, Manette Sejournant, +prostrate on her prie-dieu, interrupted the monotonous chant with +tumultuous sobs. Her grief was noisy and unrestrained, but those present +sympathized more with the quiet though profound sorrow of Reine Vincart. +The black dress of the young girl contrasted painfully with the dead +pallor of her complexion. She emitted no sighs, but, now and then, +a contraction of the lips, a trembling of the hands testified to the +inward struggle, and a single tear rolled slowly down her cheek. + +From the corner where he had chosen to stand alone, Julien de Buxieres +observed, with pain, the mute eloquence of her profound grief, and +became once more a prey to the fiercest jealousy. He could not help +envying the fate of this deceased, who was mourned in so tender a +fashion. Again the mystery of an attachment so evident and so tenacious, +followed by so strange a rupture, tormented his uneasy soul. "She must +have loved Claudet, since she is in mourning for him," he kept repeating +to himself, "and if she loved him, why this rupture, which she herself +provoked, and which drove the unhappy man to despair?" + +At the close of the absolution, all the assistants defiled close beside +Julien, who was now standing in front of the catafalque. When it came to +Reine Vincart's turn, she reached out her hand to M. de Buxieres; at the +same time, she gazed at him with such friendly sadness, and infused into +the clasp of her hand something so cordial and intimate that the young +man's ideas were again completely upset. He seemed to feel as if it were +an encouragement to speak. When the men and women had dispersed, and a +surging of the crowd brought him nearer to Reine, he resolved to follow +her, without regard to the question of what people would say, or the +curious eyes that might be watching him. + +A happy chance came in his way. Reine Vincart had gone home by the path +along the outskirts of the wood and the park enclosure. Julien went +hastily back to the chateau, crossed the gardens, and followed an +interior avenue, parallel to the exterior one, from which he was +separated only by a curtain of linden and nut trees. He could just +distinguish, between the leafy branches, Reine's black gown, as she +walked rapidly along under the ashtrees. At the end of the enclosure, he +pushed open a little gate, and came abruptly out on the forest path. + +On beholding him standing in advance of her, the young girl appeared +more surprised than displeased. After a momentary hesitation, she walked +quietly toward him. + +"Mademoiselle Reine," said he then, gently, "will you allow me to +accompany you as far as La Thuiliere?" + +"Certainly," she replied, briefly. + +She felt a presentiment that something decisive was about to take place +between her and Julien, and her voice trembled as she replied. Profiting +by the tacit permission, de Buxieres walked beside Reine; the path was +so narrow that their garments rustled against each other, yet he did +not seem in haste to speak, and the silence was interrupted only by the +occasional flight of a bird, or the crackling of some falling branches. + +"Reine," said Julien, suddenly, "you have so often and so kindly +extended to me the hand of friendship, that I have decided to speak +frankly, and open my heart to you. I love you, Reine, and have loved you +for a long time. But I have been so accustomed to hide what I think, +I know so little how to conduct myself in the varying circumstances of +life, and I have so much mistrust of myself, that I never have dared to +tell you before now. This will explain to you my stupid behavior. I am +suffering the penalty to-day, for while I was hesitating, another took +my place; although he is dead, his shadow stands between us, and I know +that you love him still." + +She listened to him with bent head and half-closed eyes, and her heart +began to beat violently. + +"I never have loved him in the way you suppose," she replied, simply. + +A gleam of light shot through Julien's melancholy blue eyes. Both +remained silent. The green pasture-lands, bathed in the full noonday +sun, were lying before them. The grasshoppers were chirping in the +bushes, and the skylarks were soaring aloft with their joyous songs. +Julien was endeavoring to extract the exact meaning from the reply he +had just heard. He was partly reassured, but some points had still to be +cleared up. + +"But still," said he, "you are lamenting his loss." + +A melancholy smile flitted for an instant over Reine's pure, rosy lips. + +"Are you jealous of my tears?" said she, softly. + +"Oh, yes!" he exclaimed, with sudden exultation, "I love you so entirely +that I can not help envying Claudet his share in your affections! If +his death causes you such poignant regret, he must have been nearer and +dearer to you than those that survive." + +"You might reasonably suppose otherwise," replied she, almost in a +whisper, "since I refused to marry him." + +He shook his head, seemingly unable to accept that positive statement. + +Then Reine began to reflect that a man of his distrustful and despondent +temperament would, unless the whole truth were revealed to him, be +forevermore tormented by morbid and injurious misgivings. She knew he +loved her, and she wished him to love her in entire faith and security. +She recalled the last injunctions she had received from the Abbe Pernot, +and, leaning toward Julien, with tearful eyes and cheeks burning with +shame, she whispered in his ear the secret of her close relationship to +Claudet. + +This painful and agitating confidence was made in so low a voice as to +be scarcely distinguished from the soft humming of the insects, or the +gentle twittering of the birds. + +The sun was shining everywhere; the woods were as full of verdure and +blossoms as on the day when the young man had manifested his passion +with such savage violence. Hardly had the last words of her avowal +expired on Reine's lips, when Julien de Buxieres threw his arms around +her and fondly kissed away the tears from her eyes. + +This time he was not repelled. + + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + Accustomed to hide what I think + Amusements they offered were either wearisome or repugnant + Consoled himself with one of the pious commonplaces + Dreaded the monotonous regularity of conjugal life + Fawning duplicity + Had not been spoiled by Fortune's gifts + How small a space man occupies on the earth + Hypocritical grievances + I am not in the habit of consulting the law + I measure others by myself + It does not mend matters to give way like that + Like all timid persons, he took refuge in a moody silence + More disposed to discover evil than good + Nature's cold indifference to our sufferings + Never is perfect happiness our lot + Opposing his orders with steady, irritating inertia + Others found delight in the most ordinary amusements + Plead the lie to get at the truth + Sensitiveness and disposition to self-blame + The ease with which he is forgotten + There are some men who never have had any childhood + Those who have outlived their illusions + Timidity of a night-bird that is made to fly in the day + To make a will is to put one foot into the grave + Toast and white wine (for breakfast) + Vague hope came over him that all would come right + Vexed, act in direct contradiction to their own wishes + Women: they are more bitter than death + Yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh their amusements + You have considerable patience for a lover + You must be pleased with yourself--that is more essential + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Woodland Queen, Complete, by Andre Theuriet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOODLAND QUEEN, COMPLETE *** + +***** This file should be named 3938.txt or 3938.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/3/3938/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + + +A WOODLAND QUEEN +('Reine des Bois') + +By ANDRE THEURIET + + +With a Preface by MELCHIOR DE VOGUE, of the French academy + + + + +ANDRE THEURIET + + +CLAUDE-ADHEMAR-ANDRE THEURIET was born at Marly-le-Roi (Seine et Oise), +October 8,1833. His ancestors came from Lorraine. He was educated at +Bar-le-Duc and went to Paris in 1854 to study jurisprudence. After +finishing his courses he entered the Department of the Treasury, and +after an honorable career there, resigned as chef-de-bureau. He is a +poet, a dramatist, but, above all, a writer of great fiction. + +As early as 1857 the poems of Theuriet were printed in the 'Revue de +Paris' and the 'Revue des Deux Mondes'. His greatest novel, 'Reine des +Bois' (Woodland Queen), was crowned by the Academie Francaise in 1890. +To the public in general he became first known in 1870 by his 'Nouvelles +Intimes'. Since that time he has published a great many volumes of +poems, drama, and fiction. A great writer, he perhaps meets the wishes +of that large class of readers who seek in literature agreeable rest and +distraction, rather than excitement or aesthetic gratification. He is +one of the greatest spirits that survived the bankruptcy of Romanticism. +He excels in the description of country nooks and corners; of that polite +rusticity which knows nothing of the delving laborers of 'La Terre', but +only of graceful and learned leisure, of solitude nursed in revery, and +of passion that seems the springtide of germinating nature. He possesses +great originality and the passionate spirit of a 'paysagiste': pictures +of provincial life and family-interiors seem to appeal to his most +pronounced sympathies. His taste is delicate, his style healthy and +frank, and at the same time limpid and animated. + +After receiving, in 1890, the Prix Vitet for the ensemble of his literary +productions, he was elected to the Academy in 1896. To the stage +Theuriet has given 'Jean-Marie', drama in verses (Odeon, February 11, +1871). It is yet kept on the repertoire together with his 'Maison de +deux Barbeaux (1865), Raymonde (1887), and Les Maugars (1901).' + +His novels, tales, and poems comprise a long list. 'Le Bleu et le Noir' +(1873) was also crowned by the Academy. Then followed, at short +intervals: 'Mademoiselle Guignon (1874.); Le Mariage de Gerard (1875); La +Fortune d'Angele (1876); Raymonde (1877),' a romance of modern life, +vastly esteemed by the reading public; 'Le Don Juan de Vireloup (1877); +Sous Bois, Impressions d'un Forestier (1878); Le Filleul d'un Marquis +(1878); Les Nids (1879); Le fils Maugars (1879); La Maison de deux +Barbeaux (1879); Toute seule (1880); Sauvageonne (1880), his most +realistic work; Les Enchantements de la Foret (1881); Le Livre de la +Payse (poetry, 1882); Madame Heurteloup (1882); Peche de Jeunesse (1883); +Le Journal de Tristan, mostly autobiographical; Bigarreau (1885); Eusebe +Lombard (1885); Les OEillets de Kerlatz (1885); Helene (1886); Nos +Oiseaux (beautiful verses, 1886); La Vie Rustique (1887); Amour d'Automne +(1888); Josette (1888); Deux Soeurs (1889); Contes pour les Soirs d'Hiver +(1890); Charme Dangereux (1891); La Ronde des Saisons et des Mois (1889); +La Charmeresse (1891); Fleur de Nice (1896); Bois Fleury (1897); Refuge +(1898); Villa Tranquille (1899); Claudette (1900); La Petite Derniere +(1901); Le Manuscrit du Chanoine (1902), etc. + +Besides this abundant production Andre Theuriet has also contributed to +various journals and magazines: 'Le Moniteur, Le Musee Universal, +L'Illustration, Le Figaro, Le Gaulois, La Republique Francaise, etc.; he +has lectured in Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, and has even found +leisure to fill the post as Mayor of Bourg-la-Reine (Seine et Oise), +perhaps no onerous office (1882-1900). He has also been an 'Officier de +la Legion d'Honneur' since 1895. + MELCHIOR DE VOGUE + de l'Academie Francaise. + + + + +A WOODLAND QUEEN + + +BOOK 1. + + +CHAPTER I + +THE UNFINISHED WILL + +Toward the middle of October, about the time of the beechnut harvest, +M. Eustache Destourbet, justice of the Peace of Auberive, accompanied by +his clerk, Etienne Seurrot, left his home at Abbatiale, in order to +repair to the Chateau of Vivey, where he was to take part in removing the +seals on some property whose owner had deceased. + +At that period, 1857, the canton of Auberive, which stretches its massive +forests like a thick wall between the level plain of Langres and the +ancient Chatillonais, had but one main road of communication: that from +Langres to Bar-sur-Aube. The almost parallel adjacent route, from +Auberive to Vivey, was not then in existence; and in order to reach this +last commune, or hamlet, the traveller had to follow a narrow grass- +bordered path, leading through the forest up the hill of Charboniere, +from the summit of which was seen that intermingling of narrow gorges and +wooded heights which is so characteristic of this mountainous region. On +all sides were indented horizons of trees, among which a few, of more +dominant height, projected their sharp outlines against the sky; in the +distance were rocky steeps, with here and there a clump of brambles, down +which trickled slender rivulets; still farther, like little islands, half +submerged in a sea of foliage, were pastures of tender green dotted with +juniper bushes, almost black in their density, and fields of rye +struggling painfully through the stony soil--the entire scene presenting +a picture of mingled wildness and cultivation, aridity and luxuriant +freshness. + +Justice Destourbet, having strong, wiry limbs, ascended cheerily the +steep mountain-path. His tall, spare figure, always in advance of his +companion, was visible through the tender green of the young oaks, +clothed in a brown coat, a black cravat, and a very high hat, which the +justice, who loved correctness in details, thought it his duty to don +whenever called upon to perform his judicial functions. The clerk, +Seurrot, more obese, and of maturer age, protuberant in front, and +somewhat curved in the back, dragged heavily behind, perspiring and out +of breath, trying to keep up with his patron, who, now and then seized +with compassion, would come to a halt and wait for his subordinate. + +"I trust," said Destourbet, after one of these intervals which enabled +the clerk to walk by his side, "I trust we shall find Maitre Arbillot +down there; we shall have need of his services in looking over and filing +the papers of the deceased." + +"Yes, Monsieur," answered Seurrot, "the notary will meet us at the +chateau; he went to Praslay to find out from his associates whether +Monsieur de Buxieres had not left a will in his keeping. In my humble +opinion, that is hardly likely; for the deceased had great confidence in +Maitre Arbillot, and it seems strange that he should choose to confide +his testamentary intentions to a rival notary." + +"Well," observed the justice, "perhaps when the seals are raised, we may +discover an autograph will in some corner of a drawer." + +"It is to be hoped so, Monsieur," replied Seurrot; "I wish it with all my +heart, for the sake of Claudet Sejournant, for he is a good fellow, +although on the sinister bar of the escutcheon, and a right jolly +companion." + +"Yes; and a marvellous good shot," interrupted the justice. "I recognize +all that; but even if he had a hundred other good qualities, the grand +chasserot, as they call him here, will be on the wrong side of the hedge +if Monsieur de Buxieres has unfortunately died intestate. In the eye of +the law, as you are doubtless aware, a natural child, who has not been +acknowledged, is looked upon as a stranger." + +"Monsieur de Buxieres always treated Claudet as his own son, and every +one knew that he so considered him." + +"Possibly, but if the law were to keep count of all such cases, there +would be no end to their labors; especially in all questions of the +'cujus'. Odouart de Buxieres was a terribly wild fellow, and they say +that these old beech-trees of Vivey forest could tell many a tale of his +exploits." + +"He, he!" assented the clerk, laughing slyly, and showing his toothless +gums, "there is some truth in that. The deceased had the devil in his +boots. He could see neither a deer nor a pretty girl without flying in +pursuit. Ah, yes! Many a trick has he played them--talk of your +miracles, forsooth!--well, Claudet was his favorite, and Monsieur de +Buxieres has told me, over and over again, that he would make him his +heir, and I shall be very much astonished if we do not find a will." + +"Seurrot, my friend," replied the justice, calmly, "you are too +experienced not to know that our country folks dread nothing so much as +testifying to their last wishes--to make a will, to them, is to put one +foot into the grave. They will not call in the priest or the notary +until the very last moment, and very often they delay until it is too +late. Now, as the deceased was at heart a rustic, I fear greatly that he +did not carry his intentions into execution." + +"That would be a pity--for the chateau, the lands, and the entire fortune +would go to an heir of whom Monsieur Odouart never had taken account-- +to one of the younger branch of Buxieres, whom he had never seen, having +quarrelled with the family." + +"A cousin, I believe," said the justice. + +"Yes, a Monsieur Julien de Buxieres, who is employed by the Government at +Nancy." + +"In fact, then, and until we receive more ample information, he is, for +us, the sole legitimate heir. Has he been notified?" + +"Yes, Monsieur. He has even sent his power of attorney to Monsieur +Arbillot's clerk." + +"So much the better," said M. Destourbet, "in that case, we can proceed +regularly without delay." + +While thus conversing, they had traversed the forest, and emerged on the +hill overlooking Vivey. From the border line where they stood, they +could discover, between the half-denuded branches of the line of aspens, +the sinuous, deepset gorge, in which the Aubette wound its tortuous way, +at the extremity of which the village lay embanked against an almost +upright wall of thicket and pointed rocks. On the west this narrow +defile was closed by a mill, standing like a sentinel on guard, in its +uniform of solid gray; on each side of the river a verdant line of meadow +led the eye gradually toward the clump of ancient and lofty ash-trees, +behind which rose the. Buxieres domicile. This magnificent grove of +trees, and a monumental fence of cast-iron, were the only excuse for +giving the title of chateau to a very commonplace structure, of which the +main body presented bare, whitewashed walls, flanked by two small towers +on turrets shaped like extinguishers, and otherwise resembling very +ordinary pigeon-houses. + +This chateau, or rather country squire's residence, had belonged to the +Odouart de Buxieres for more than two centuries. Before the Revolution, +Christophe de Buxieres, grandfather of the last proprietor, had owned a +large portion of Vivey, besides several forges in operation on the Aube +and Aubette rivers. He had had three children: one daughter, who had +embraced religion as a vocation; Claude Antoine, the elder son, to whom +he left his entire fortune, and Julien Abdon, the younger, officer in the +regiment of Rohan Soubise, with whom he was not on good terms. After +emigrating and serving in Conde's army, the younger Buxieres had returned +to France during the Restoration, had married, and been appointed special +receiver in a small town in southern France. But since his return, he +had not resumed relations with his elder brother, whom he accused of +having defrauded him of his rights. The older one had married also, one +of the Rochetaillee family; he had had but one son, Claude Odouart de +Buxieres, whose recent decease had brought about the visit of the Justice +of Auberive and his clerk. + +Claude de Buxieres had lived all his life at Vivey. Inheriting from his +father and grandfather flourishing health and a robust constitution, he +had also from them strong love for his native territory, a passion for +the chase, and a horror of the constraint and decorum exacted by worldly +obligations. He was a spoiled child, brought up by a weak-minded mother +and a preceptor without authority, who had succeeded in imparting to him +only the most elementary amount of instruction, and he had, from a very +early age, taken his own pleasure as his sole rule of life. He lived +side by side with peasants and poachers, and had himself become a regular +country yeoman, wearing a blouse, dining at the wine-shop, and taking +more pleasure in speaking the mountain patois than his own native French. +The untimely death of his father, killed by an awkward huntsman while +following the hounds, had emancipated him at the age of twenty years. +From this period he lived his life freely, as he understood it; always in +the open air, without hindrance of any sort, and entirely unrestrained. + +Nothing was exaggerated in the stories told concerning him. He was a +handsome fellow, jovial and dashing in his ways, and lavish with his +money, so he met with few rebuffs. Married women, maids, widows, any +peasant girl of attractive form or feature, all had had to resist his +advances, and with more than one the resistance had been very slight. +It was no false report which affirmed that he had peopled the district +with his illegitimate progeny. He was not hard to please, either; +strawberry-pickers, shepherd-girls, wood-pilers, day-workers, all were +equally charming in his sight; he sought only youth, health, and a kindly +disposition. + +Marriage would have been the only safeguard for him; but aside from the +fact that his reputation of reckless huntsman and general scapegrace +naturally kept aloof the daughters of the nobles, and even the Langarian +middle classes, he dreaded more than anything else in the world the +monotonous regularity of conjugal life. He did not care to be restricted +always to the same dishes--preferring, as he said, his meat sometimes +roast, sometimes boiled, or even fried, according to his humor and his +appetite. + +Nevertheless, about the time that Claude de Buxieres attained his thirty- +sixth year, it was noticed that he had a more settled air, and that his +habits were becoming more sedentary. The chase was still his favorite +pastime, but he frequented less places of questionable repute, seldom +slept away from home, and seemed to take greater pleasure in remaining +under his own roof. The cause of this change was ascribed by some to the +advance of years creeping over him; others, more perspicacious, verified +a curious coincidence between the entrance of a new servant in the +chateau and the sudden good behavior of Claude. + +This girl, a native of Aprey, named Manette Sejournant, was not, strictly +speaking, a beauty, but she had magnificent blonde hair, gray, caressing +eyes, and a silvery, musical voice. Well built, supple as an adder, +modest and prudish in mien, she knew how to wait upon and cosset her +master, accustoming him by imperceptible degrees to prefer the cuisine of +the chateau to that of the wine-shops. After a while, by dint of making +her merits appreciated, and her presence continually desired, she became +the mistress of Odouart de Buxieres, whom she managed to retain by +proving herself immeasurably superior, both in culinary skill and in +sentiment, to the class of females from whom he had hitherto been seeking +his creature comforts. + +Matters went on in this fashion for a year or so, until Manette went on a +three months' vacation. When she reappeared at the chateau, she brought +with her an infant, six weeks old, which she declared was the child of a +sister, lately deceased, but which bore a strange likeness to Claude. +However, nobody made remarks, especially as M. de Buxieres, after he had +been drinking a little, took no pains to hide his paternity. He himself +held the little fellow at the baptismal font, and later, consigned him to +the care of the Abbe Pernot, the curate of Vivey, who prepared the little +Claudet for his first communion, at the same time that he instructed him +in reading, writing, and the first four rules of arithmetic. As soon as +the lad reached his fifteenth year, Claude put a gun into his hands, and +took him hunting with him. Under the teaching of M. de Buxieres, Claudet +did honor to his master, and soon became such an expert that he could +give points to all the huntsmen of the canton. None could equal him in +tracing a dog; he knew all the passes, by-paths, and enclosures of the +forest; swooped down upon the game with the keen scent and the velocity +of a bird of prey, and never was known to miss his mark. Thus it was +that the country people surnamed him the 'grand chasserot', the term +which we here apply to the sparrow-hawk. Besides all these advantages, +he was handsome, alert, straight, and well made, dark-haired and olive- +skinned, like all the Buxieres; he had his mother's caressing glance, but +also the overhanging eyelids and somewhat stern expression of his father, +from whom he inherited also a passionate temperament, and a spirit averse +to all kinds of restraint. They were fond of him throughout the country, +and M. de Buxieres, who felt his youth renewed in him, was very proud of +his adroitness and his good looks. He would invite him to his pleasure +parties, and make him sit at his own table, and confided unhesitatingly +all his secrets to him. In short, Claudet, finding himself quite at home +at the chateau, naturally considered himself as one of the family. There +was but one formality wanting to that end: recognizance according to law. +At certain favorable times, Manette Sejournant would gently urge M. de +Buxieres to have the situation legally authorized, to which he would +invariably reply, from a natural dislike to taking legal advisers into +his confidence: + +"Don't worry about anything; I have no direct heir, and Claudet will have +all my fortune; my will and testament will be worth more to him than a +legal acknowledgment." + +He would refer so often and so decidedly to his settled intention of +making Claudet his sole heir, that Manette, who knew very little about +what was required in such cases, considered the matter already secure. +She continued in unsuspecting serenity until Claude de Buxieres, in his +sixty-second year, died suddenly from a stroke of apoplexy. + +The will, which was to insure Claudet's future prospects, and to which +the deceased had so often alluded, did it really exist? Neither Manette +nor the grand chasserot had been able to obtain any certain knowledge in +the matter, the hasty search for it after the decease having been +suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the mayor of Vivey; and by the +proceedings of the justice of the peace. The seals being once imposed, +there was no means, in the absence of a verified will, of ascertaining on +whom the inheritance devolved, until the opening of the inventory; and +thus the Sejournants awaited with feverish anxiety the return of the +justice of the peace and his bailiff. + +M. Destourbet and Stephen Seurrot pushed open a small door to the right +of the main gateway, passed rapidly under the arched canopy of beeches, +the leaves of which, just touched by the first frost, were already +falling from the branches, and, stamping their muddy feet on the outer +steps, advanced into the vestibule. The wide corridor, flagged with +black-and-white pavement, presented a cheerless aspect of bare walls +discolored by damp, and adorned alternately by stags' heads and family +portraits in a crumbling state of decay. The floor was thus divided: on +the right, the dining-room and the kitchen; on the left, drawing-room and +a billiard-hall. A stone staircase, built in one of the turrets, led to +the upper floors. Only one of these rooms, the kitchen, which the +justice and his bailiff entered, was occupied by the household. A cold +light, equally diffused in all directions, and falling from a large +window, facing north across the gardens, allowed every detail of the +apartment to be seen clearly; opposite the door of entrance, the tall +chimney-place, with its deep embrasure, gave ample shelter to the notary, +who installed himself upon a stool and lighted his pipe at one of the +embers, while his principal clerk sat at the long table, itemizing the +objects contained in the inventory. + +In the opposite angle of the chimney-place, a lad of twenty-four years, +no other than Claudet, called by the friendly nickname of the grand +chasserot, kept company with the notary, while he toyed, in an absent +fashion, with the silky ears of a spaniel, whose fluffy little head lay +in his lap. Behind him, Manette Sejournant stood putting away her shawl +and prayerbook in a closet. A mass had been said in the morning at the +church, for the repose of the soul of the late Claude de Buxieres, and +mother and son had donned their Sunday garments to assist at the +ceremony. + +Claudet appeared ill at ease in his black, tightly buttoned suit, and +kept his eyes with their heavy lids steadily bent upon the head of the +animal. To all the notary's questions, he replied only by monosyllables, +passing his fingers every now and then through his bushy brown locks, and +twining them in his forked beard, a sure indication with him of +preoccupation and bad humor. + +Manette had acquired with years an amount of embonpoint which detracted +materially from the supple and undulating beauty which had so captivated +Claude de Buxieres. The imprisonment of a tight corset caused undue +development of the bust at the expense of her neck and throat, which +seemed disproportionately short and thick. Her cheeks had lost their +gracious curves and her double chin was more pronounced. All that +remained of her former attractions were the caressing glance of her eye, +tresses still golden and abundant, especially as seen under the close cap +of black net, white teeth, and a voice that had lost nothing of its +insinuating sweetness. + +As the justice and his bailiff entered, Maitre Arbillot, and a petulant +little man with squirrel-like eyes and a small moustache, arose quickly. + +"Good-morning, gentlemen," he cried. "I was anxiously expecting you--if +you are willing, we will begin our work at once, for at this season night +comes on quickly." + +"At your orders, Maitre Arbillot," replied the justice, laying his hat +down carefully on the window-sill; "we shall draw out the formula for +raising the seals. By the way, has no will yet been found?" + +"None to my knowledge. It is quite clear to me that the deceased made no +testament, none at least before a notary." + +"But," objected M. Destourbet, "he may have executed a holograph +testament." + +"It is certain, gentlemen," interrupted Manette, with her soft, plaintive +voice, "that our dear gentleman did not go without putting his affairs in +order. 'Manette,' said he, not more than two weeks ago; 'I do not intend +you shall be worried, neither you nor Claudet, when I am no longer here. +All shall be arranged to your satisfaction.' Oh! he certainly must have +put down his last wishes on paper. Look well around, gentlemen; you will +find a will in some drawer or other." + +While she applied her handkerchief ostentatiously to her nose and wiped +her eyes, the justice exchanged glances with the notary. + +"Maitre Arbillot, you think doubtless with me, that we ought to begin +operations by examining the furniture of the bedroom?" + +The notary inclined his head, and notified his chief clerk to remove his +papers to the first floor. + +"Show us the way, Madame," said the justice to the housekeeper; and the +quartet of men of the law followed Manette, carrying with them a huge +bunch of keys. + +Claudet had risen from his seat when the justice arrived. As the party +moved onward, he followed hesitatingly, and then halted, uncertain how to +decide between the desire to assist in the search and the fear of +intruding. The notary, noticing his hesitation; called to him: + +"Come, you also, Claudet, are not you one of the guardians of the seals?" + +And they wended their silent way, up the winding staircase of the turret. +The high, dark silhouette of Manette headed the procession; then followed +the justice, carefully choosing his foothold on the well-worn stairs, the +asthmatic old bailiff, breathing short and hard, the notary, beating his +foot impatiently every time that Seurrot stopped to take breath, and +finally the principal clerk and Claudet. + +Manette, opening noiselessly the door of the deceased's room, entered, as +if it were a church, the somewhat stifling apartment. Then she threw +open the shutters, and the afternoon sun revealed an interior decorated +and furnished in the style of the close of the eighteenth century. An +inlaid secretary, with white marble top and copper fittings, stood near +the bed, of which the coverings had been removed, showing the mattresses +piled up under a down bed covered with blue-and-white check. + +As soon as the door was closed, the clerk settled himself at the table +with his packet of stamped paper, and began to run over, in a low, rapid +voice, the preliminaries of the inventory. In this confused murmuring +some fragments of phrases would occasionally strike the ear: "Chateau of +Vivey--deceased the eighth of October last--at the requisition of Marie- +Julien de Buxieres, comptroller of direct contributions at Nancy--styling +himself heir to Claude Odouart de Buxieres, his cousin-german by blood--" + +This last phrase elicited from Claudet a sudden movement of surprise. + +"The inventory," explained Maitre Arbillot, "is drawn up at the +requisition of the only heir named, to whom we must make application, if +necessary, for the property left by the deceased." + +There was a moment of silence, interrupted by a plaintive sigh from +Manette Sejournant and afterward by the tearing sound of the sealed bands +across the bureau, the drawers and pigeonholes of which were promptly +ransacked by the justice and his assistant. + +Odouart de Buxieres had not been much of a scribe. A double Liege +almanac, a memorandum-book, in which he had entered the money received +from the sale of his wood and the dates of the payments made by his +farmers; a daybook, in which he had made careful note of the number of +head of game killed each day--that was all the bureau contained. + +"Let us examine another piece of furniture," murmured the justice. + +Manette and Claudet remained unmoved. They apparently knew the reason +why none but insignificant papers had been found in the drawers, for +their features expressed neither surprise nor disappointment. + +Another search through a high chest of drawers with large copper handles +was equally unprofitable. Then they attacked the secretary, and after +the key had been turned twice in the noisy lock, the lid went slowly +down. The countenances of both mother and son, hitherto so unconcerned, +underwent a slight but anxious change. The bailiff continued his +scrupulous search of each drawer under the watchful eye of the justice, +finding nothing but documents of mediocre importance; old titles to +property, bundles of letters, tradesmen's bills, etc. Suddenly, at the +opening of the last drawer, a significant "Ah!" from Stephen Seurrot +drew round him the heads of the justice and the notary, and made Manette +and Claudet, standing at the foot of the bed, start with expectation. +On the dark ground of a rosewood box lay a sheet of white paper, on which +was written: + +"This is my testament." + +With the compression of lip and significant shake of the head of a +physician about to take in hand a hopeless case of illness, the justice +made known to his two neighbors the text of the sheet of paper, on which +Claude Odouart de Buxieres had written, in his coarse, ill-regulated +hand, the following lines: + +"Not knowing my collateral heirs, and caring nothing about them, I give +and bequeath all my goods and chattels--" + +The testator had stopped there, either because he thought it better, +before going any further, to consult some legal authority more +experienced than himself, or because he had been interrupted in his labor +and had deferred completing this testifying of his last will until some +future opportunity. + +M. Destourbet, after once more reading aloud this unfinished sentence, +exclaimed: + +"Monsieur de Buxieres did not finish--it is much to be regretted!" + +"My God! is it possible?" interrupted the housekeeper; "you think, +then, Monsieur justice, that Claudet does not inherit anything?" + +"According to my idea," replied he, "we have here only a scrap of +unimportant paper; the name of the legatee is not indicated, and even +were it indicated, the testament would still be without force, being +neither dated nor signed." + +"But perhaps Monsieur de Buxieres made another?" + +"I think not; I am more inclined to suppose that he did not have time to +complete the arrangements that he wished to make, and the proof lies in +the very existence of this incomplete document in the only piece of +furniture in which he kept his papers." Then, turning toward the notary +and the bailiff: "You are doubtless, gentlemen, of the same opinion as +myself; it will be wise, therefore, to defer raising the remainder of the +seals until the arrival of the legal heir. Maitre Arbillot, Monsieur +Julien de Buxieres must be notified, and asked to be here in Vivey as +soon as possible." + +"I will write this evening," said the notary; "in the meanwhile, the +keeping of the seals will be continued by Claudet Sejournant." + +The justice inclined his head to Manette, who was standing, pale and +motionless, at the foot of the bed; stunned by the unexpected +announcement; the bailiff and the chief clerk, after gathering up their +papers, shook hands sympathizingly with Claudet. + +"I am grieved to the heart, my dear fellow," said the notary, in his +turn, "at what has happened! It is hard to swallow, but you will always +keep a courageous heart, and be able to rise to the top; besides, even +if, legally, you own nothing here, this unfinished testament of Monsieur +de Buxieres will constitute a moral title in your favor, and I trust that +the heir will have enough justice and right feeling to treat you +properly." + +"I want nothing from him!" muttered Claudet, between his teeth; then, +leaving his mother to attend to the rest of the legal fraternity, he went +hastily to his room, next that of the deceased, tore off his dress-coat, +slipped on a hunting-coat, put on his gaiters, donned his old felt hat, +and descended to the kitchen, where Manette was sitting, huddled up in +front of the embers, weeping and bewailing her fate. + +Since she had become housekeeper and mistress of the Buxieres household, +she had adopted a more polished speech and a more purely French mode of +expression, but in this moment of discouragement and despair the rude +dialect of her native country rose to her lips, and in her own patois she +inveighed against the deceased: + +"Ah! the bad man, the mean man! Didn't I tell him, time and again, that +he would leave us in trouble! Where can we seek our bread this late in +the day? We shall have to beg in the streets!" + +"Hush! hush! mother," interrupted Claudet, sternly, placing his hand on +her shoulder, "it does not mend matters to give way like that. Calm +thyself--so long as I have hands on the ends of my arms, we never shall +be beggars. But I must go out--I need air." + +And crossing the gardens rapidly, he soon reached the outskirts of the +brambly thicket. + +This landscape, both rugged and smiling in its wildness, hardly conveyed +the idea of silence, but rather of profound meditation, absolute calm; +the calmness of solitude, the religious meditation induced by spacious +forest depths. The woods seemed asleep, and the low murmurings, which +from time to time escaped from their recesses, seemed like the +unconscious sighs exhaled by a dreamer. The very odor peculiar to trees +in autumn, the penetrating and spicy odor of the dying leaves, had a +delicate and subtle aroma harmonizing with this quietude of fairyland. + +Now and then, through the vaporous golden atmosphere of the late autumn +sunset, through the pensive stillness of the hushed woods, the distant +sound of feminine voices, calling to one another, echoed from the hills, +and beyond the hedges was heard the crackling of branches, snapped by +invisible hands, and the rattle of nuts dropping on the earth. It was +the noise made by the gatherers of beechnuts, for in the years when the +beech produces abundantly, this harvest, under the sanction of the +guardians of the forest, draws together the whole population of women and +children, who collect these triangular nuts, from which an excellent +species of oil is procured. + +Wending his way along the copse, Claudet suddenly perceived, through an +opening in the trees, several large white sheets spread under the +beeches, and covered with brown heaps of the fallen fruit. One or two +familiar voices hailed him as he passed, but he was not disposed to +gossip, for the moment, and turned abruptly into the bushwood, so as to +avoid any encounter. The unexpected event which had just taken place, +and which was to change his present mode of life, as well as his plans +for the future, was of too recent occurrence for him to view it with any +degree of calmness. + +He was like a man who has received a violent blow on the head, and is for +the moment stunned by it. He suffered vaguely, without seeking to know +from what cause; he had not been able as yet to realize the extent of his +misfortune; and every now and then a vague hope came over him that all +would come right. + +So on he went, straight ahead, his eyes on the ground, and his hands in +his pockets, until he emerged upon one of the old forest roads where the +grass had begun to burst through the stony interstices; and there, in the +distance, under the light tracery of weaving branches, a delicate female +silhouette was outlined on the dark background. A young woman, dressed +in a petticoat of gray woolen material, and a jacket of the same, close- +fitting at the waist, her arms bare to the elbows and supporting on her +head a bag of nuts enveloped in a white sheet, advanced toward him with a +quick and rhythmical step. The manner in which she carried her burden +showed the elegance of her form, the perfect grace of her chest and +throat. She was not very tall, but finely proportioned. As she +approached, the slanting rays of the setting sun shone on her heavy brown +hair, twisted into a thick coil at the back of her head, and revealed the +amber paleness of her clear skin, the long oval of her eyes, the firm +outline of her chin and somewhat full lips; and Claudet, roused from his +lethargic reverie by the sound of her rapid footsteps, raised his eyes, +and recognized the daughter of Pere Vincart, the proprietor of La +Thuiliere. + +At the same moment, the young girl, doubtless fatigued with the weight of +her bundle, had laid it down by the roadside while she recovered her +breath. In a few seconds Claudet was by her side. + +"Good-evening, Reine," said he, in a voice singularly softened in tone, +"shall I give you a lift with that?" + +"Good-evening, Claudet," replied she; "truly, now, that is not an offer +to be refused. The weight is greater than I thought." + +"Have you come far thus laden?" + +"No; our people are nutting in the Bois des Ronces; I came on before, +because I don't like to leave father alone for long at a time and, as I +was coming, I wished to bring my share with me." + +"No one can reproach you with shirking work, Reine, nor of being afraid +to take hold of things. To see you all day trotting about the farm, no +one would think you had been to school in the city, like a young lady." + +And Claudet's countenance became irradiated with a glow of innocent and +tender admiration. It was evident that his eyes looked with delight into +the dark limpid orbs of Reine, on her pure and rosy lips, and on her +partly uncovered neck, the whiteness of which two little brown moles only +served to enhance. + +"How can it be helped?" replied she, smiling, "it must be done; when +there is no man in the house to give orders, the women must take a hand +themselves. My father was not very strong when my mother died, and since +he had that attack he has become quite helpless, and I have had to take +his place." + +While she spoke, Claudet took hold of the bundle, and, lifting it as if +it had been a feather, threw it over his shoulder. They walked on, side +by side, in the direction of La Thuliere; the sun had set, and a +penetrating moisture, arising from the damp soil of the adjacent pasture +lands, encircled them in a bluish fog. + +"So he is worse, your father, is he?" said Claudet, after a moment's +silence. + +"He can not move from his armchair, his mental faculties are weakening, +and I am obliged to amuse him like a child. But how is it with yourself, +Claudet?" she asked, turning her frank, cordial gaze upon him. "You +have had your share of trouble since we last met, and great events have +happened. Poor Monsieur de Buxieres was taken away very suddenly!" + +The close relationship that united Claudet with the deceased was a secret +to no one; Reine, as well as all the country people, knew and admitted +the fact, however irregular, as one sanctioned by time and continuity. +Therefore, in speaking to the young man, her voice had that tone of +affectionate interest usual in conversing with a bereaved friend on a +death that concerns him. + +The countenance of the 'grand chasserot', which had cleared for a time +under her influence, became again clouded. + +"Yes;" sighed he, "he was taken too soon!" + +"And now, Claudet, you are sole master at the chateau?" + +"Neither--master--nor even valet!" he returned, with such bitterness +that the young girl stood still with surprise. + +"What do you mean?" she exclaimed, "was it not agreed with Monsieur de +Buxieres that you should inherit all his property?" + +"Such was his intention, but he did not have time to put it in execution; +he died without leaving any will, and, as I am nothing in the eye of the +law, the patrimony will go to a distant relative, a de Buxieres whom +Monsieur Odouart did not even know." + +Reine's dark eyes filled with tears. + +"What a misfortune!" she exclaimed, "and who could have expected such a +thing? Oh! my poor Claudet!" + +She was so moved, and spoke with such sincere compassion, that Claudet +was perhaps misled, and thought he read in her glistening eyes a tenderer +sentiment than pity; he trembled, took her hand, and held it long in his. + +"Thank you, Reine! Yes," he added, after a pause, "it is a rude shock to +wake up one morning without hearth or home, when one has been in the +habit of living on one's income." + +"What do you intend to do?" inquired Reine, gravely. + +Claudet shrugged his shoulders. + +"To work for my bread--or, if I can find no suitable trade, enlist in a +regiment. I think I should not make a bad soldier. Everything is going +round and round in my head like a millwheel. The first thing to do is to +see about my mother, who is lamenting down there at the house--I must +find her a comfortable place to live." + +The young girl had become very thoughtful. + +"Claudet," replied she, "I know you are very proud, very sensitive, and +could not wish to hurt your feelings. Therefore, I pray you not to take +in ill part that which I am going to say-in short, if you should get into +any trouble, you will, I hope, remember that you have friends at La +Thuiliere, and that you will come to seek us." + +The 'grand chasserot' reddened. + +"I shall never take amiss what you may say to me, Reine!" faltered he; +"for I can not doubt your good heart--I have known it since the time when +we played together in the cure's garden, while waiting for the time to +repeat the catechism. But there is no hurry as yet; the heir will not +arrive for several weeks, and by that time, I trust, we shall have had a +chance to turn round." + +They had reached the boundary of the forest where the fields of La +Thuiliere begin. + +By the last fading light of day they could distinguish the black outline +of the ancient forge, now become a grange, and a light was twinkling in +one of the low windows of the farm. + +"Here you are at home," continued Claudet, laying the bundle of nuts on +the flat stone wall which surrounded the farm buildings; "I wish you +good-night." + +"Will you not come in and get warm?" + +"No; I must go back," replied he. + +"Good-night, then, Claudet; au revoir and good courage!" + +He gazed at her for a moment in the deepening twilight, then, abruptly +pressing her hands: + +"Thank you, Reine," murmured he in a choking voice, "you are a good girl, +and I love you very much!" + +He left the young mistress of the farm precipitately, and plunged again +into the woods. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE HEIR TO VIVEY + +While these events were happening at Vivey, the person whose name excited +the curiosity and the conversational powers of the villagers--Marie- +Julien de Buxieres--ensconced in his unpretentious apartment in the Rue +Stanislaus, Nancy, still pondered over the astonishing news contained in +the Auberive notary's first letter. The announcement of his inheritance, +dropping from the skies, as it were, had found him quite unprepared, and, +at first, somewhat sceptical. He remembered, it is true, hearing his +father once speak of a cousin who had remained a bachelor and who owned a +fine piece of property in some corner of the Haute Marne; but, as all +intercourse had long been broken off between the two families, M. de +Buxieres the elder had mentioned the subject only in relation to barely +possible hopes which had very little chance of being realized. Julien +had never placed any reliance on this chimerical inheritance, and he +received almost with indifference the official announcement of the death +of Claude Odouart de Buxieres. + +By direct line from his late father, he became in fact the only +legitimate heir of the chateau and lands of Vivey; still, there was a +strong probability that Claude de Buxieres had made a will in favor of +some one more within his own circle. The second missive from Arbillot +the notary, announcing that the deceased had died intestate, and +requesting the legal heir to come to Vivey as soon as possible, put a +sudden end to the young man's doubts, which merged into a complex +feeling, less of joy than of stupefaction. + +Up to the present time, Julien de Buxieres had not been spoiled by +Fortune's gifts. His parents, who had died prematurely, had left him +nothing. He lived in a very mediocre style on his slender salary as +comptroller of direct contributions, and, although twenty-seven years +old, was housed like a supernumerary in a small furnished room on the +second floor above the ground. At this time his physique was that of a +young man of medium height, slight, pale, and nervous, sensitive in +disposition, reserved and introspective in habit. His delicate features, +his intelligent forehead surmounted by soft chestnut hair, his pathetic +blue eyes, his curved, dissatisfied mouth, shaded by a slight, dark +moustache, indicated a melancholy, unquiet temperament and precocious +moral fatigue. + +There are some men who never have had any childhood, or rather, whose +childhood never has had its happy time of laughter. Julien was one of +these. That which imparts to childhood its charm and enjoyment is the +warm and tender atmosphere of the home; the constant and continued +caressing of a mother; the gentle and intimate creations of one's native +country where, by degrees, the senses awaken to the marvellous sights of +the outer world; where the alternating seasons in their course first +arouse the student's ambition and cause the heart of the adolescent youth +to thrill with emotion; where every street corner, every tree, every turn +of the soil, has some history to relate. Julien had had no experiences +of this peaceful family life, during which are stored up such treasures +of childhood's recollections. He was the son of a government official, +who had been trotted over all France at the caprice of the +administration, and he had never known, so to speak, any associations of +the land in which he was born, or the hearth on which he was raised. +Chance had located his birth in a small town among the Pyrenees, and when +he was two years old he had been transplanted to one of the industrial +cities of Artois. At the end of two years more came another removal to +one of the midland towns, and thus his tender childhood had been buffeted +about, from east to west, from north to south, taking root nowhere. +All he could remember of these early years was an unpleasant impression +of hasty packing and removal, of long journeys by diligence, and of +uncomfortable resettling. His mother had died just as he was entering +upon his eighth year; his father, absorbed in official work, and not +caring to leave the child to the management of servants, had placed him +at that early age in a college directed by priests. Julien thus passed +his second term of childhood, and his boyhood was spent behind these +stern, gloomy walls, bending resignedly under a discipline which, though +gentle, was narrow and suspicious, and allowed little scope for personal +development. He obtained only occasional glimpses of nature during the +monotonous daily walks across a flat, meaningless country. At very rare +intervals, one of his father's colleagues would take him visiting; but +these stiff and ceremonious calls only left a wearisome sensation of +restraint and dull fatigue. During the long vacation he used to rejoin +his father, whom he almost always found in a new residence. The poor man +had alighted there for a time, like a bird on a tree; and among these +continually shifting scenes, the lad had felt himself more than ever a +stranger among strangers; so that he experienced always a secret though +joyless satisfaction in returning to the cloisters of the St. Hilaire +college and submitting himself to the yoke of the paternal but inflexible +discipline of the Church. + +He was naturally inclined, by the tenderness of his nature, toward a +devotional life, and accepted with blind confidence the religious and +moral teaching of the reverend fathers. A doctrine which preached +separation from profane things; the attractions of a meditative and pious +life, and mistrust of the world and its perilous pleasures, harmonized +with the shy and melancholy timidity of his nature. Human beings, +especially women, inspired him with secret aversion, which was increased +by consciousness of his awkwardness and remissness whenever he found +himself in the society of women or young girls. + +The beauties of nature did not affect him; the flowers in the springtime, +the glories of the summer sun, the rich coloring of autumn skies, having +no connection in his mind with any joyous recollection, left him cold and +unmoved; he even professed an almost hostile indifference to such purely +material sights as disturbing and dangerous to the inner life. He lived +within himself and could not see beyond. + +His mind, imbued with a mystic idealism, delighted itself in solitary +reading or in meditations in the house of prayer. The only emotion he +ever betrayed was caused by the organ music accompanying the hymnal +plain-song, and by the pomp of religious ceremony. + +At the age of eighteen, he left the St. Hilaire college in order to +prepare his baccalaureate, and his father, becoming alarmed at his +increasing moodiness and mysticism, endeavored to infuse into him the +tastes and habits of a man of the world by introducing him into the +society of his equals in the town where he lived; but the twig was +already bent, and the young man yielded with bad grace to the change of +regime; the amusements they offered were either wearisome or repugnant to +him. He would wander aimlessly through the salons where they were +playing whist, where the ladies played show pieces at the piano, and +where they spoke a language he did not understand. He was quite aware of +his worldly inaptitude, and that he was considered awkward, dull, and +ill-tempered, and the knowledge of this fact paralyzed and frightened him +still more. He could not disguise his feeling of ennui sufficiently to +prevent the provincial circles from being greatly offended; they declared +unanimously that young de Buxieres was a bear, and decided to leave him +alone. The death of his father, which happened just as the youth was +beginning his official cares, put a sudden end to all this constraint. +He took advantage of his season of mourning to resume his old ways; and +returned with a sigh of relief to his solitude, his books, and his +meditations. According to the promise of the Imitation, he found +unspeakable joys in his retirement; he rose at break of day, assisted at +early mass, fulfilled, conscientiously, his administrative duties, took +his hurried meals in a boardinghouse, where he exchanged a few polite +remarks with his fellow inmates, then shut himself up in his room to read +Pascal or Bossuet until eleven o'clock. + +He thus attained his twenty-seventh year, and it was into the calm of +this serious, cloister-like life, that the news fell of the death of +Claude de Buxieres and of the unexpected inheritance that had accrued to +him. + +After entering into correspondence with the notary, M. Arbillot, and +becoming assured of the reality of his rights and of the necessity of +his presence at Vivey, he had obtained leave of absence from his official +duties, and set out for Haute Marne. On the way, he could not help +marvelling at the providential interposition which would enable him to +leave a career for which he felt he had no vocation, and to pursue his +independent life, according to his own tastes, and secured from any fear +of outside cares. According to the account given by the notary, Claude +de Buxieres's fortune might be valued at two hundred thousand francs, in +furniture and other movables, without reckoning the chateau and the +adjacent woods. This was a much larger sum than had ever been dreamed of +by Julien de Buxieres, whose belongings did not amount in all to three +thousand francs. He made up his mind, therefore, that, as soon as he was +installed at Vivey, he would change his leave of absence to an unlimited +furlough of freedom. He contemplated with serene satisfaction this +perspective view of calm and solitary retirement in a chateau lost to +view in the depths of the forest, where he could in perfect security give +himself up to the studious contemplative life which he loved so much, +far from all worldly frivolities and restraint. He already imagined +himself at Vivey, shut up in his carefully selected library; he delighted +in the thought of having in future to deal only with the country people, +whose uncivilized ways would be like his own, and among whom his timidity +would not be remarked. + +He arrived at Langres in the afternoon of a foggy October day, and +inquired immediately at the hotel how he could procure a carriage to +take him that evening to Vivey. They found him a driver, but, to his +surprise, the man refused to take the journey until the following +morning, on account of the dangerous state of the crossroads, where +vehicles might stick fast in the mire if they ventured there after +nightfall. Julien vainly endeavored to effect an arrangement with him, +and the discussion was prolonged in the courtyard of the hotel. Just as +the man was turning away, another, who had overheard the end of the +colloquy, came up to young de Buxieres, and offered to undertake the +journey for twenty francs. + +"I have a good horse," said he to Julien; "I know the roads, and will +guarantee that we reach Vivey before nightfall." + +The bargain was quickly made; and in half an hour, Julien de Buxieres was +rolling over the plain above Langres, in a shaky old cabriolet, the muddy +hood of which bobbed over at every turn of the wheel, while the horse +kept up a lively trot over the stones. + +The clouds were low, and the road lay across bare and stony prairies, the +gray expanse of which became lost in the distant mist. This depressing +landscape would have made a disagreeable impression on a less unobserving +traveller, but, as we have said, Julien looked only inward, and the +phenomena of the exterior world influenced him only unconsciously. +Half closing his eyes, and mechanically affected by the rhythmical +tintinnabulation of the little bells, hanging around the horse's neck, +he had resumed his meditations, and considered how he should arrange his +life in this, to him, unknown country, which would probably be his own +for some time to come. Nevertheless, when, at the end of the level +plain, the road turned off into the wooded region, the unusual aspect of +the forest aroused his curiosity. The tufted woods and lofty trees, in +endless succession under the fading light, impressed him by their +profound solitude and their religious silence. His loneliness was in +sympathy with the forest, which seemed contemporary with the Sleeping +Beauty of the wood, the verdant walls of which were to separate him +forever from the world of cities. Henceforth, he could be himself, could +move freely, dress as he wished, or give way to his dreaming, without +fearing to encounter the ironical looks of idle and wondering neighbors. +For the first time since his departure from his former home, +he experienced a feeling of joy and serenity; the influence of the +surroundings, so much in harmony with his wishes, unlocked his tongue, +and made him communicative. + +He made up his mind to speak to the guide, who was smoking at his side +and whipping his horse. + +"Are we far from Vivey now?" + +"That depends, Monsieur--as the crow flies, the distance is not very +great, and if we could go by the roads, we should be there in one short +hour. Unfortunately, on turning by the Allofroy farm, we shall have to +leave the highroad and take the cross path; and then--my gracious! we +shall plunge into the ditch down there, and into perdition." + +"You told me that you were well acquainted with the roads!" + +"I know them, and I do not know them. When it comes to these crossroads, +one is sure of nothing. They change every year, and each new +superintendent cuts a way out through the woods according to his fancy. +The devil himself could not find his way." + +"Yet you have been to Vivey before?" + +"Oh, yes; five or six years ago; I used often to take parties of hunters +to the chateau. Ah! Monsieur, what a beautiful country it is for +hunting; you can not take twenty steps along a trench without seeing a +stag or a deer." + +"You have doubtless had the opportunity of meeting Monsieur Odouart de +Buxieres?" + +"Yes, indeed, Monsieur, more than once-ah! he is a jolly fellow and a +fine man--" + +"He was," interrupted Julien, gravely, "for he is dead." + +"Ah! excuse me--I did not know it. What! is he really dead? So fine a +man! What we must all come to. Careful, now!" added he, pulling in the +reins, "we are leaving the highroad, and must keep our eyes open." + +The twilight was already deepening, the driver lighted his lantern, and +the vehicle turned into a narrow lane, half mud, half stone, and hedged +in on both sides with wet brushwood, which flapped noisily against the +leathern hood. After fifteen minutes' riding, the paths opened upon a +pasture, dotted here and there with juniper bushes, and thence divided +into three lines, along which ran the deep track of wagons, cutting the +pasturage into small hillocks. After long hesitation, the man cracked +his whip and took the right-hand path. + +Julien began to fear that the fellow had boasted too much when he +declared that he knew the best way. The ruts became deeper and deeper; +the road was descending into a hole; suddenly, the wheels became embedded +up to the hub in thick, sticky mire, and the horse refused to move. The +driver jumped to the ground, swearing furiously; then he called Julien to +help him to lift out the wheel. But the young man, slender and frail as +he was, and not accustomed to using his muscles, was not able to render +much assistance. + +"Thunder and lightning!" cried the driver, "it is impossible to get out +of this--let go the wheel, Monsieur, you have no more strength than a +chicken, and, besides, you don't know how to go about it. What a devil +of a road! But we can't spend the night here!" + +"If we were to call out," suggested Julien, somewhat mortified at the +inefficiency of his assistance, "some one would perhaps come to our aid." + +They accordingly shouted with desperation; and after five or six minutes, +a voice hailed back. A woodcutter, from one of the neighboring +clearings, had heard the call, and was running toward them. + +"This way!" cried the guide, "we are stuck fast in the mud. Give us a +lift." + +The man came up and walked round the vehicle, shaking his head. + +"You've got on to a blind road," said he, "and you'll have trouble in +getting out of it, seeing as how there's not light to go by. You had +better unharness the horse, and wait for daylight, if you want to get +your carriage out." + +"And where shall we go for a bed?" growled the driver; "there isn't even +a house near in this accursed wild country of yours!" + +"Excuse me-you are not far from La Thuiliere; the farm people will not +refuse you a bed, and to-morrow morning they will help you to get your +carriage out of the mud. Unharness, comrade; I will lead you as far as +the Plancheau-Vacher; and from there you will see the windows of the +farmhouse." + +The driver, still grumbling, decided to take his advice. They +unharnessed the horse; took one of the lanterns of the carriage as a +beacon, and followed slowly the line of pasture-land, under the +woodchopper's guidance. At the end of about ten minutes, the forester +pointed out a light, twinkling at the extremity of a rustic path, +bordered with moss. + +"You have only to go straight ahead," said he, "besides, the barking of +the dogs will guide you. Ask for Mamselle Vincart. Good-night, +gentlemen." + +He turned on his heel, while Julien, bewildered, began to reproach +himself for not having thanked him enough. The conductor went along with +his lantern; young de Buxieres followed him with eyes downcast. Thus +they continued silently until they reached the termination of the mossy +path, where a furious barking saluted their ears. + +"Here we are," growled the driver, "fortunately the dogs are not yet let +loose, or we should pass a bad quarter of an hour!" + +They pushed open a side-wicket and, standing in the courtyard, could see +the house. With the exception of the luminous spot that reddened one of +the windows of the ground floor, the long, low facade was dark, and, as +it were, asleep. On the right, standing alone, outlined against the sky, +was the main building of the ancient forge, now used for granaries and +stables; inside, the frantic barking of the watch-dogs mingled with the +bleating of the frightened sheep, the neighing of horses, and the +clanking of wooden shoes worn by the farm hands. At the same moment, the +door of the house opened, and a servant, attracted by the uproar, +appeared on the threshold, a lantern in her hand. + +"Hallo! you people," she exclaimed sharply to the newcomers, who were +advancing toward her, "what do you want?" + +The driver related, in a few words, the affair of the cabriolet, and +asked whether they would house him at the farm until the next day-- +himself and the gentleman he was conducting to Vivey. + +The girl raised the lantern above her head in order to scrutinize the two +strangers; doubtless their appearance and air of respectability reassured +her, for she replied, in a milder voice: + +"Well, that does not depend on me--I am not the mistress here, but come +in, all the same--Mamselle Reine can not be long now, and she will answer +for herself." + +As soon as the driver had fastened his horse to one of the outside posts +of the wicket-gate, the servant brought them into a large, square hall, +in which a lamp, covered with a shade, gave a moderate light. She placed +two chairs before the fire, which she drew together with the poker. + +"Warm yourselves while you are waiting," continued she, "it will not be +long, and you must excuse me--I must go and milk the cows--that is work +which will not wait." + +She reached the courtyard, and shut the gate after her, while Julien +turned to examine the room into which they had been shown, and felt a +certain serenity creep over him at the clean and cheerful aspect of this +homely but comfortable interior. The room served as both kitchen and +dining-room. On the right of the flaring chimney, one of the cast-iron +arrangements called a cooking-stove was gently humming; the saucepans, +resting on the bars, exhaled various appetizing odors. In the centre, +the long, massive table of solid beech was already spread with its coarse +linen cloth, and the service was laid. White muslin curtains fell in +front of the large windows, on the sills of which potted chrysanthemums +spread their white, brown, and red blossoms. + +Round the walls a shining battery of boilers, kettles, basins, and copper +plates were hung in symmetrical order. On the dresser, near the clock, +was a complete service of old Aprey china, in bright and varied colors, +and not far from the chimney, which was ornamented with a crucifix of +yellow copper, was a set of shelves, attached to the wall, containing +three rows of books, in gray linen binding. Julien, approaching, read, +not without surprise, some of the titles: Paul and Virginia, La +Fontaine's Fables, Gessner's Idylls, Don Quixote, and noticed several odd +volumes of the Picturesque Magazine. + +Hanging from the whitened ceiling were clusters of nuts, twisted hemp, +strings of yellow maize, and chaplets of golden pippins tied with straw, +all harmonizing in the dim light, and adding increased fulness to the +picture of thrift and abundance. + +"It's jolly here!" said the driver, smacking his lips, "and the smell +which comes from that oven makes one hungry. I wish Mamselle Reine would +arrive!" + +Just as he said this, a mysterious falsetto voice, which seemed to come +from behind the copper basins, repeated, in an acrid voice: "Reine! +Reine!" + +"What in the world is that?" exclaimed the driver, puzzled. + +Both looked toward the beams; at the same moment there was a rustling of +wings, a light hop, and a black-and-white object flitted by, resting, +finally, on one of the shelves hanging from the joists. + +"Ha, ha!" said the driver, laughing, "it is only a magpie!" + +He had hardly said it, when, like a plaintive echo, another voice, a +human voice this time, childish and wavering, proceeding from a dark +corner, faltered: "Rei-eine--Rei-eine!" + +"Hark!" murmured Julien," some one answered." + +His companion seized the lamp, and advanced toward the portion of the +room left in shadow. Suddenly he stopped short, and stammered some vague +excuse. + +Julien, who followed him, then perceived, with alarm, in a sort of niche +formed by two screens, entirely covered with illustrations from Epinal, +a strange-looking being stretched in an easy-chair, which was covered +with pillows and almost hidden under various woolen draperies. He was +dressed in a long coat of coarse, pale-blue cloth. He was bareheaded, +and his long, white hair formed a weird frame for a face of bloodless hue +and meagre proportions, from which two vacant eyes stared fixedly. He +sat immovable and his arms hung limply over his knees. + +"Monsieur," said Julien, bowing ceremoniously, "we are quite ashamed at +having disturbed you. Your servant forgot to inform us of your presence, +and we were waiting for Mademoiselle Reine, without thinking that--" + +The old man continued immovable, not seeming to understand; he kept +repeating, in the same voice, like a frightened child: + +"Rei-eine! Rei-eine!" + +The two bewildered travellers gazed at this sepulchral-looking personage, +then at each other interrogatively, and began to feel very uncomfortable. +The magpie, perched upon the hanging shelf, suddenly flapped his wings, +and repeated, in his turn, in falsetto: + +"Reine, queen of the woods!" + +"Here I am, papa, don't get uneasy!" said a clear, musical voice behind +them. + +The door had been suddenly opened, and Reine Vincart had entered. She +wore on her head a white cape or hood, and held in front of her an +enormous bouquet of glistening leaves, which seemed to have been gathered +as specimens of all the wild fruit-trees of the forest: the brown beam- +berries, the laburnums, and wild cherry, with their red, transparent +fruit, the bluish mulberry, the orange-clustered mountain-ash. All this +forest vegetation, mingling its black or purple tints with the dark, +moist leaves, brought out the whiteness of the young girl's complexion, +her limpid eyes, and her brown curls escaping from her hood. + +Julien de Buxieres and his companion had turned at the sound of Reine's +voice. As soon as she perceived them, she went briskly toward them, +exclaiming: + +"What are you doing here? Don't you see that you are frightening him?" + +Julien, humbled and mortified, murmured an excuse, and got confused in +trying to relate the incident of the carriage. She interrupted him +hurriedly: + +"The carriage, oh, yes--La Guitiote spoke to me about it. Well, your +carriage will be attended to! Go and sit down by the fire, gentlemen; +we will talk about it presently." + +She had taken the light from the driver, and placed it on an adjacent +table with her plants. In the twinkling of an eye, she removed her hood, +unfastened her shawl, and then knelt down in front of the sick man, after +kissing him tenderly on the forehead. From the corner where Julien had +seated himself, he could hear her soothing voice. Its caressing tones +contrasted pleasantly with the harsh accent of a few minutes before. + +"You were longing for me, papa," said she, "but you see, I could not +leave before all the sacks of potatoes had been laid in the wagon. +Now everything has been brought in, and we can sleep in peace. I thought +of you on the way, and I have brought you a fine bouquet of wild fruits. +We shall enjoy looking them over tomorrow, by daylight. Now, this is the +time that you are to drink your bouillon like a good papa, and then as +soon as we have had our supper Guite and I will put you to bed nice and +warm, and I will sing you a song to send you to sleep." + +She rose, took from the sideboard a bowl which she filled from a saucepan +simmering on the stove, and then, without taking any notice of her +visitors, she returned to the invalid. Slowly and with delicate care she +made him swallow the soup by spoonfuls. Julien, notwithstanding the +feeling of ill-humor caused by the untoward happenings of the evening, +could not help admiring the almost maternal tenderness with which the +young girl proceeded in this slow and difficult operation. When the bowl +was empty she returned to the stove, and at last bethought herself of her +guests. + +"Excuse me, Monsieur, but I had to attend to my father first. If I +understood quite aright, you were going to Vivey." + +"Yes, Mademoiselle, I had hoped to sleep there tonight." + +"You have probably come," continued she, "on business connected with the +chateau. Is not the heir of Monsieur Odouart expected very shortly?" + +"I am that heir," replied Julien, coloring. + +"You are Monsieur de Buxieres?" exclaimed Reine, in astonishment. Then, +embarrassed at having shown her surprise too openly, she checked herself, +colored in her turn, and finally gave a rapid glance at her interlocutor. +She never should have imagined this slender young man, so melancholy in +aspect, to be the new proprietor--he was so unlike the late Odouart de +Buxieres! + +"Pardon me, Monsieur," continued she, "you must have thought my first +welcome somewhat unceremonious, but my first thought was for my father. +He is a great invalid, as you may have noticed, and for the first moment +I feared that he had been startled by strange faces." + +"It is I, Mademoiselle," replied Julien, with embarrassment, "it is I who +ought to ask pardon for having caused all this disturbance. But I do not +intend to trouble you any longer. If you will kindly furnish us with a +guide who will direct us to the road to Vivey, we will depart to-night +and sleep at the chateau." + +"No, indeed," protested Reine, very cordially. "You are my guests, and I +shall not allow you to leave us in that manner. Besides, you would +probably find the gates closed down there, for I do not think they +expected you so soon." + +During this interview, the servant who had received the travellers had +returned with her milk-pail; behind her, the other farm-hands, men and +women, arranged themselves silently round the table. + +"Guitiote," said Reine, "lay two more places at the table. The horse +belonging to these gentlemen has been taken care of, has he not?" + +"Yes, Mamselle, he is in the stable," replied one of the grooms. + +"Good! Bernard, to-morrow you will take Fleuriot with you, and go in +search of their carriage which has been swamped in the Planche-au-Vacher. +That is settled. Now, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you proceed to table-- +and your coachman also? Upon my word, I do not know whether our supper +will be to your liking. I can only offer you a plate of soup, a chine of +pork, and cheese made in the country; but you must be hungry, and when +one has a good appetite, one is not hard to please." + +Every one had been seated at the table; the servants at the lower end, +and Reine Vincart, near the fireplace, between M. de Buxieres and the +driver. La Guite helped the cabbage-soup all around; soon nothing was +heard but the clinking of spoons and smacking of lips. Julien, scarcely +recovered from his bewilderment, watched furtively the pretty, robust +young girl presiding at the supper, and keeping, at the same time, a +watchful eye over all the details of service. He thought her strange; +she upset all his ideas. His own imagination and his theories pictured a +woman, and more especially a young girl, as a submissive, modest, shadowy +creature, with downcast look, only raising her eyes to consult her +husband or her mother as to what is allowable and what is forbidden. +Now, Reine did not fulfil any of the requirements of this ideal. She +seemed to be hardly twenty-two years old, and she acted with the +initiative genius, the frankness and the decision of a man, retaining all +the while the tenderness and easy grace of a woman. Although it was +evident that she was accustomed to govern and command, there was nothing +in her look, gesture, or voice which betrayed any assumption of +masculinity. She remained a young girl while in the very act of playing +the virile part of head of the house. But what astonished Julien quite +as much was that she seemed to have received a degree of education +superior to that of people of her condition, and he wondered at the +amount of will-power by which a nature highly cultivated, relatively +speaking, could conform to the unrefined, rough surroundings in which she +was placed. + +While Julien was immersed in these reflections, and continued eating with +an abstracted air, Reine Vincart was rapidly examining the reserved, +almost ungainly, young man, who did not dare address any conversation to +her, and who was equally stiff and constrained with those sitting near +him. She made a mental comparison of him with Claudet, the bold +huntsman, alert, resolute, full of dash and spirit, and a feeling of +charitable compassion arose in her heart at the thought of the reception +which the Sejournant family would give to this new master, so timid and +so little acquainted with the ways and dispositions of country folk. +Julien did not impress her as being able to defend himself against the +ill-will of persons who would consider him an intruder, and would +certainly endeavor to make him pay dearly for the inheritance of which +he had deprived them. + +"You do not take your wine, Monsieur de Buxieres!" said she, noticing +that her guest's glass was still full. + +"I am not much of a wine-drinker," replied he, "and besides, I never take +wine by itself--I should be obliged if you would have some water +brought." + +Reine smiled, and passed him the water-bottle. + +"Indeed?" she said, "in that case, you have not fallen among congenial +spirits, for in these mountains they like good dinners, and have a +special weakness for Burgundy. You follow the chase, at any rate?" + +"No, Mademoiselle, I do not know how to handle a gun!" + +"I suppose it is not your intention to settle in Vivey?" + +"Why not?" replied he; "on the contrary, I intend to inhabit the +chateau, and establish myself there definitely." + +"What!" exclaimed Reine, laughing, "you neither drink nor hunt, and you +intend to live in our woods! Why, my poor Monsieur, you will die of +ennui." + +"I shall have my books for companions; besides, solitude never has had +any terrors for me." + +The young girl shook her head incredulously. + +"I shouldn't wonder," she continued, "if you do not even play at cards." + +"Never; games of chance are repugnant to me." + +"Take notice that I do not blame you," she replied, gayly, "but I must +give you one piece of advice: don't speak in these neighborhoods of your +dislike of hunting, cards, or good wine; our country folk would feel pity +for you, and that would destroy your prestige." + +Julien gazed at her with astonishment. She turned away to give +directions to La Guite about the beds for her guests--then the supper +went on silently. As soon as they had swallowed their last mouthful, +the menservants repaired to their dormitory, situated in the buildings of +the ancient forge. Reine Vincart rose also. + +"This is the time when I put my father to bed--I am obliged to take leave +of you, Monsieur de Buxieres. Guitiote will conduct you to your room. +For you, driver, I have had a bed made in a small room next to the +furnace; you will be nice and warm. Good-night, gentlemen, sleep well!" + +She turned away, and went to rejoin the paralytic sufferer, who, as she +approached, manifested his joy by a succession of inarticulate sounds. + +The room to which Guitiote conducted Julien was on the first floor, and +had a cheerful, hospitable appearance. The walls were whitewashed; the +chairs, table, and bed were of polished oak; a good fire of logs crackled +in the fireplace, and between the opening of the white window-curtains +could be seen a slender silver crescent of moon gliding among the +flitting clouds. The young man went at once to his bed; but +notwithstanding the fatigues of the day, sleep did not come to him. +Through the partition he could hear the clear, sonorous voice of Reine +singing her father to sleep with one of the popular ballads of the +country, and while turning and twisting in the homespun linen sheets, +scented with orrisroot, he could not help thinking of this young girl, so +original in her ways, whose grace, energy, and frankness fascinated and +shocked him at the same time. At last he dozed off; and when the morning +stir awoke him, the sun was up and struggling through the foggy +atmosphere. + +The sky had cleared during the night; there had been a frost, and the +meadows were powdered white. The leaves, just nipped with the frost, +were dropping softly to the ground, and formed little green heaps at the +base of the trees. Julien dressed himself hurriedly, and descended to +the courtyard, where the first thing he saw was the cabriolet, which had +been brought in the early morning and which one of the farm-boys was in +the act of sousing with water in the hope of freeing the hood and wheels +from the thick mud which covered them. When he entered the diningroom, +brightened by the rosy rays of the morning sun, he found Reine Vincart +there before him. She was dressed in a yellow striped woolen skirt, and +a jacket of white flannel carelessly belted at the waist. Her dark +chestnut hair, parted down the middle and twisted into a loose knot +behind, lay in ripples round her smooth, open forehead. + +"Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres," said she, in her cordial tone, +"did you sleep well? Yes? I am glad. You find me busy attending to +household matters. My father is still in bed, and I am taking advantage +of the fact to arrange his little corner. The doctor said he must not be +put near the fire, so I have made a place for him here; he enjoys it +immensely, and I arranged this nook to protect him from draughts." + +And she showed him how she had put the big easy chair, padded with +cushions, in the bright sunlight which streamed through the window, and +shielded by the screens, one on each side. She noticed that Julien was +examining, with some curiosity, the uncouth pictures from Epinal, with +which the screens were covered. + +"This," she explained, "is my own invention. My father is a little weak +in the head, but he understands a good many things, although he can not +talk about them. He used to get weary of sitting still all day in his +chair, so I lined the screens with these pictures in order that he might +have something to amuse him. He is as pleased as a child with the bright +colors, and I explain the subjects to him. I don't tell him much at a +time, for fear of fatiguing him. We have got now to Pyramus and Thisbe, +so that we shall have plenty to occupy us before we reach the end." + +She caught a pitying look from her guest which seemed to say: "The poor +man may not last long enough to reach the end." Doubtless she had the +same fear, for her dark eyes suddenly glistened, she sighed, and remained +for some moments without speaking. + +In the mean time the magpie, which Julien had seen the day before, was +hopping around its mistress, like a familiar spirit; it even had the +audacity to peck at her hair and then fly away, repeating, in its cracked +voice: + +"Reine, queen of the woods!" + +"Why 'queen of the woods?"' asked Julien, coloring. + +"Ah!" replied the young girl, "it is a nickname which the people around +here give me, because I am so fond of the trees. I spend all the time I +can in our woods, as much as I can spare from the work of the farm. + +"Margot has often heard my father call me by that name; she remembers it, +and is always repeating it." + +"Do you like living in this wild country?" + +"Very much. I was born here, and I like it." + +"But you have not always lived here?" + +"No; my mother, who had lived in the city, placed me at school in her own +country, in Dijon. I received there the education of a young lady, +though there is not much to show for it now. I stayed there six years; +then my mother died, my father fell ill, and I came home." + +"And did you not suffer from so sudden a change?" + +"Not at all. You see I am really by nature a country girl. I wish you +might not have more trouble than I had, in getting accustomed to your new +way of living, in the chateau at Vivey. But," she added, going toward +the fire, "I think they are harnessing the horse, and you must be hungry. +Your driver has already primed himself with some toast and white wine. +I will not offer you the same kind of breakfast. I will get you some +coffee and cream." + +He bent his head in acquiescence, and she brought him the coffee herself, +helping him to milk and toasted bread. He drank rapidly the contents of +the cup, nibbled at a slice of toast, and then, turning to his hostess, +said, with a certain degree of embarrassment: + +"There is nothing left for me to do, Mademoiselle, but to express my most +heartfelt thanks for your kind hospitality. It is a good omen for me to +meet with such cordiality on my arrival in an unknown part of the +country. May I ask you one more question?" he continued, looking +anxiously at her; "why do you think it will be so difficult for me to get +accustomed to the life they lead here?" + +"Why?" replied she, shaking her head, "because, to speak frankly, +Monsieur, you do not give me the idea of having much feeling for the +country. You are not familiar with our ways; you will not be able to +speak to the people in their language, and they will not understand +yours--you will be, in their eyes, 'the city Monsieur,' whom they will +mistrust and will try to circumvent. I should like to find that I am +mistaken, but, at present, I have the idea that you will encounter +difficulties down there of which you do not seem to have any +anticipation--" + +She was intercepted by the entrance of the driver, who was becoming +impatient. The horse was in harness, and they were only waiting for M. +de Buxieres. Julien rose, and after awkwardly placing a piece of silver +in the hand of La Guite, took leave of Reine Vincart, who accompanied him +to the threshold. + +"Thanks, once more, Mademoiselle," murmured he, "and au revoir, since we +shall be neighbors." + +He held out his hand timidly and she took it with frank cordiality. +Julien got into the cabriolet beside the driver, who began at once to +belabor vigorously his mulish animal. + +"Good journey and good luck, Monsieur," cried Reine after him, and the +vehicle sped joltingly away. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +CONSCIENCE HIGHER THAN THE LAW + +On leaving La Thuiliere, the driver took the straight line toward the +pasturelands of the Planche-au-Vacher. + +According to the directions they had received from the people of the +farm, they then followed a rocky road, which entailed considerable +jolting for the travellers, but which led them without other difficulty +to the bottom of a woody dell, where they were able to ford the stream. +As soon as they had, with difficulty, ascended the opposite hill, the +silvery fog that had surrounded them began to dissipate, and they +distinguished a road close by, which led a winding course through the +forest. + +"Ah! now I see my way!" said the driver, "we have only to go straight +on, and in twenty minutes we shall be at Vivey. This devil of a fog cuts +into one's skin like a bunch of needles. With your permission, Monsieur +de Buxieres, and if it will not annoy you, I will light my pipe to warm +myself." + +Now that he knew he was conducting the proprietor of the chateau, he +repented having treated him so cavalierly the day before; he became +obsequious, and endeavored to gain the good-will of his fare by showing +himself as loquacious as he had before been cross and sulky. But Julien +de Buxieres, too much occupied in observing the details of the country, +or in ruminating over the impressions he had received during the morning, +made but little response to his advances, and soon allowed the +conversation to drop. + +The sun's rays had by this time penetrated the misty atmosphere, and the +white frost had changed to diamond drops, which hung tremblingly on the +leafless branches. A gleam of sunshine showed the red tints of the +beech-trees, and the bright golden hue of the poplars, and the forest +burst upon Julien in all the splendor of its autumnal trappings. The +pleasant remembrance of Reine Vincart's hospitality doubtless predisposed +him to enjoy the charm of this sunshiny morning, for he became, perhaps +for the first time in his life, suddenly alive to the beauty of this +woodland scenery. By degrees, toward the left, the brushwood became less +dense, and several gray buildings appeared scattered over the glistening +prairie. Soon after appeared a park, surrounded by low, crumbling walls, +then a group of smoky roofs, and finally, surmounting a massive clump of +ash-trees, two round towers with tops shaped like extinguishers. The +coachman pointed them out to the young man with the end of his whip. + +"There is Vivey," said he, "and here is your property, Monsieur de +Buxieres." + +Julien started, and, notwithstanding his alienation from worldly things, +he could not repress a feeling of satisfaction when he reflected that, by +legal right, he was about to become master of the woods, the fields, and +the old homestead of which the many-pointed slate roofs gleamed in the +distance. This satisfaction was mingled with intense curiosity, but it +was also somewhat shadowed by a dim perspective of the technical details +incumbent on his taking possession. No doubt he should be obliged, in +the beginning, to make himself personally recognized, to show the workmen +and servants of the chateau that the new owner was equal to the +situation. Now, Julien was not, by nature, a man of action, and the +delicately expressed fears of Reine Vincart made him uneasy in his mind. +When the carriage, suddenly turning a corner, stopped in front of the +gate of entrance, and he beheld, through the cast-iron railing, the long +avenue of ash-trees, the grass-grown courtyard, the silent facade, his +heart began to beat more rapidly, and his natural timidity again took +possession of him. + +"The gate is closed, and they don't seem to be expecting you," remarked +the driver. + +They dismounted. Noticing that the side door was half open, the coachman +gave a vigorous pull on the chain attached to the bell. At the sound of +the rusty clamor, a furious barking was heard from an adjoining outhouse, +but no one inside the house seemed to take notice of the ringing. + +"Come, let us get in all the same," said the coachman, giving another +pull, and stealing a furtive look at his companion's disconcerted +countenance. + +He fastened his horse to the iron fence, and both passed through the side +gate to the avenue, the dogs all the while continuing their uproar. Just +as they reached the courtyard, the door opened and Manette Sejournant +appeared on the doorstep. + +"Good-morning, gentlemen," said she, in a slow, drawling voice, "is it +you who are making all this noise?" + +The sight of this tall, burly woman, whose glance betokened both audacity +and cunning, increased still more Julien's embarrassment. He advanced +awkwardly, raised his hat and replied, almost as if to excuse himself: + +"I beg pardon, Madame--I am the cousin and heir of the late Claude de +Buxieres. I have come to install myself in the chateau, and I had sent +word of my intention to Monsieur Arbillot, the notary--I am surprised he +did not notify you." + +"Ah! it is you, Monsieur Julien de Buxieres!" exclaimed Madame +Sejournant, scrutinizing the newcomer with a mingling of curiosity +and scornful surprise which completed the young man's discomfiture. +"Monsieur Arbillot was here yesterday--he waited for you all day, +and as you did not come, he went away at nightfall." + +"I presume you were in my cousin's service?" said Julien, amiably, being +desirous from the beginning to evince charitable consideration with +regard to his relative's domestic affairs. + +"Yes, Monsieur," replied Manette, with dignified sadness; "I attended +poor Monsieur de Buxieres twenty-six years, and can truly say I served +him with devotion! But now I am only staying here in charge of the +seals--I and my son Claudet. We have decided to leave as soon as the +notary does not want us any more." + +"I regret to hear it, Madame," replied Julien, who was beginning to feel +uncomfortable. "There must be other servants around--I should be obliged +if you would have our carriage brought into the yard. And then, if you +will kindly show us the way, we will go into the house, for I am desirous +to feel myself at home--and my driver would not object to some +refreshment." + +"I will send the cowboy to open the gate," replied the housekeeper. "If +you will walk this way, gentlemen, I will take you into the only room +that can be used just now, on account of the seals on the property." + +Passing in front of them, she directed her steps toward the kitchen, and +made way for them to pass into the smoky room, where a small servant was +making coffee over a clear charcoal fire. As the travellers entered, the +manly form of Claudet Sejournant was outlined against the bright light of +the window at his back. + +"My son," said Manette, with a meaning side look, especially for his +benefit, "here is Monsieur de Buxieres, come to take possession of his +inheritance." + +The grand chasserot attempted a silent salutation, and then the young men +took a rapid survey of each other. + +Julien de Buxieres was startled by the unexpected presence of so handsome +a young fellow, robust, intelligent, and full of energy, whose large +brown eyes gazed at him with a kind of surprised and pitying compassion +which was very hard for Julien to bear. He turned uneasily away, making +a lame excuse of ordering some wine for his coachman; and while Manette, +with an air of martyrdom, brought a glass and a half-empty bottle, +Claudet continued his surprised and inquiring examination of the legal +heir of Claude de Buxieres. + +The pale, slight youth, buttoned up in a close-fitting, long frock-coat, +which gave him the look of a priest, looked so unlike any of the Buxieres +of the elder branch that it seemed quite excusable to hesitate about the +relationship. Claudet maliciously took advantage of the fact, and began +to interrogate his would-be deposer by pretending to doubt his identity. + +"Are you certainly Monsieur Julien de Buxieres?" asked he, surveying him +suspiciously from head to foot. + +"Do you take me for an impostor?" exclaimed the young man. + +"I do not say that," returned Claudet, crossly, "but after all, you do +not carry your name written on your face, and, by Jove! as guardian of +the seals, I have some responsibility--I want information, that is all!" + +Angry at having to submit to these inquiries in the presence of the +coachman who had brought him from Langres, Julien completely lost control +of his temper. + +"Do you require me to show my papers?" he inquired, in a haughty, +ironical tone of voice. + +Manette, foreseeing a disturbance, hastened to interpose, in her +hypocritical, honeyed voice: + +"Leave off, Claudet, let Monsieur alone. He would not be here, would he, +if he hadn't a right? As to asking him to prove his right, that is not +our business--it belongs to the justice and the notary. You had better, +my son, go over to Auberive, and ask the gentlemen to come to-morrow to +raise the seals." + +At this moment, the cowboy, who had been sent to open the gate, entered +the kitchen. + +"The carriage is in the courtyard," said he, "and Monsieur's boxes are in +the hall. Where shall I put them, Madame Sejoumant?" + +Julien's eyes wandered from Manette to the young boy, with an expression +of intense annoyance and fatigue. + +"Why, truly," said Manette, "as a matter of fact, there is only the room +of our deceased master, where the seals have been released. Would +Monsieur object to taking up his quarters there?" + +"I am willing," muttered Julien; "have my luggage carried up there, and +give orders for it to be made ready immediately." + +The housekeeper gave a sign, and the boy and the servant disappeared. + +"Madame," resumed Julien, turning toward Manette, "if I understand you +right, I can no longer reckon upon your services to take care of my +household. Could you send me some one to supply your place?" + +"Oh! as to that matter," replied the housekeeper, still in her wheedling +voice, "a day or two more or less! I am not so very particular, and I +don't mind attending to the house as long as I remain. At what hour +would you wish to dine, Monsieur?" + +"At the hour most convenient for you," responded Julien, quickly, anxious +to conciliate her; "you will serve my meals in my room." + +As the driver had now finished his bottle, they left the room together. + +As soon as the door was closed, Manette and her son exchanged sarcastic +looks. + +"He a Buxieres!" growled Claudet. "He looks like a student priest in +vacation." + +"He is an 'ecrigneule'," returned Manette, shrugging her shoulders. + +'Ecrigneule' is a word of the Langrois dialect, signifying a puny, +sickly, effeminate being. In the mouth of Madame Sejournant, this +picturesque expression acquired a significant amount of scornful energy. + +"And to think," sighed Claudet, twisting his hands angrily in his bushy +hair, "that such a slip of a fellow is going to be master here!" + +"Master?" repeated Manette, shaking her head, "we'll see about that! +He does not know anything at all, and has not what is necessary for +ordering about. In spite of his fighting-cock airs, he hasn't two +farthings' worth of spunk--it would be easy enough to lead him by the +nose. Do you see, Claudet, if we were to manage properly, instead of +throwing the handle after the blade, we should be able before two weeks +are, over to have rain or sunshine here, just as we pleased. We must +only have a little more policy." + +"What do you mean by policy, mother?" + +"I mean--letting things drag quietly on--not breaking all the windows at +the first stroke. The lad is as dazed as a young bird that has fallen +from its nest. What we have to do is to help him to get control of +himself, and accustom him not to do without us. As soon as we have made +ourselves necessary to him, he will be at our feet." + +"Would you wish me to become the servant of the man who has cheated me +out of my inheritance?" protested Claudet, indignantly. + +"His servant--no, indeed! but his companion--why not? And it would be +so easy if you would only make up your mind to it, Claude. I tell you +again, he is not ill-natured-he looks like a man who is up to his neck in +devotion. When he once feels we are necessary to his comfort, and that +some reliable person, like the curate, for example, were to whisper to +him that you are the son of Claudet de Buxieres, he would have scruples, +and at last, half on his own account, and half for the sake of religion, +he would begin to treat you like a relative." + +"No;" said Claudet, firmly, "these tricky ways do not suit me. Monsieur +Arbillot proposed yesterday that I should do what you advise. He even +offered to inform this gentleman of my relationship to Claude de +Buxieres. I refused, and forbade the notary to open his mouth on the +subject. What! should I play the part of a craven hound before this +younger son whom my father detested, and beg for a portion of the +inheritance? Thank you! I prefer to take myself out of the way at +once!" + +"You prefer to have your mother beg her bread at strangers' doors!" +replied Manette, bitterly, shedding tears of rage. + +"I have already told you, mother, that when one has a good pair of arms, +and the inclination to use them, one has no need to beg one's bread. +Enough said! I am going to Auberive to notify the justice and the +notary." + +While Claudet was striding across the woods, the boy carried the luggage +of the newly arrived traveller into the chamber on the first floor, and +Zelie, the small servant, put the sheets on the bed, dusted the room, and +lighted the fire. In a few minutes, Julien was alone in his new +domicile, and began to open his boxes and valises. The chimney, which +had not been used since the preceding winter, smoked unpleasantly, and +the damp logs only blackened instead of burning. The boxes lay wide +open, and the room of the deceased Claude de Buxieres had the +uncomfortable aspect of a place long uninhabited. Julien had seated +himself in one of the large armchairs, covered in Utrecht velvet, and +endeavored to rekindle the dying fire. He felt at loose ends and +discouraged, and had no longer the courage to arrange his clothes in the +open wardrobes, which stood open, emitting a strong odor of decaying +mold. + +The slight breath of joyous and renewed life which had animated him on +leaving the Vincart farm, had suddenly evaporated. His anticipations +collapsed in the face of these bristling realities, among which he felt +his isolation more deeply than ever before. He recalled the cordiality +of Reine's reception, and how she had spoken of the difficulties he +should have to encounter. How little he had thought that her forebodings +would come true the very same day! The recollection of the cheerful and +hospitable interior of La Thuiliere contrasted painfully with his cold, +bare Vivey mansion, tenanted solely by hostile domestics. Who were these +people--this Manette Sejournant with her treacherous smile, and this +fellow Claudet, who had, at the very first, subjected him to such +offensive questioning? Why did they seem so ill-disposed toward him? He +felt as if he were completely enveloped in an atmosphere of contradiction +and ill-will. He foresaw what an amount of quiet but steady opposition +he should have to encounter from these subordinates, and he became +alarmed at the prospect of having to display so much energy in order to +establish his authority in the chateau. He, who had pictured to himself +a calm and delightful solitude, wherein he could give himself up entirely +to his studious and contemplative tastes. What a contrast to the +reality! + +Rousing himself at last, he proceeded mechanically to arrange his +belongings in the room, formerly inhabited by his cousin de Buxieres. +He had hardly finished when Zelie made her appearance with some plates +and a tablecloth, and began to lay the covers. Seeing the fire had gone +out, the little servant uttered an exclamation of dismay. + +"Oh!" cried she, "so the wood didn't flare!" + +He gazed at her as if she were talking Hebrew, and it was at least a +minute before he understood that by "flare" she meant kindle. + +"Well, well!" she continued, "I'll go and fetch some splinters." + +She returned in a few moments, with a basket filled with the large +splinters thrown off by the woodchoppers in straightening the logs: she +piled these up on the andirons, and then, applying her mouth vigorously +to a long hollow tin tube, open at both ends, which she carried with her, +soon succeeded in starting a steady flame. + +"Look there!" said she, in a tone implying a certain degree of contempt +for the "city Monsieur" who did not even know how to keep up a fire, +"isn't that clever? Now I must lay the cloth." + +While she went about her task, arranging the plates, the water-bottle, +and glasses symmetrically around the table, Julien tried to engage her in +conversation. But the little maiden, either because she had been +cautioned beforehand, or because she did not very well comprehend M. de +Buxieres's somewhat literary style of French, would answer only in +monosyllables, or else speak only in patois, so that Julien had to give +up the idea of getting any information out of her. Certainly, +Mademoiselle Vincart was right in saying that he did not know the +language of these people. + +He ate without appetite the breakfast on which Manette had employed all +her culinary art, barely tasted the roast partridge, and to Zelie's great +astonishment, mingled the old Burgundy wine with a large quantity of +water. + +"You will inform Madame Sejournant," said he to the girl, as he folded +his napkin, "that I am not a great eater, and that one dish will suffice +me in future." + +He left her to clear away, and went out to look at the domain which he +was to call his own. It did not take him very long. The twenty or +thirty white houses, which constituted the village and lay sleeping in +the wooded hollow like eggs in a nest, formed a curious circular line +around the chateau. In a few minutes he had gone the whole length of it, +and the few people he met gave him only a passing glance, in which +curiosity seemed to have more share than any hospitable feeling. +He entered the narrow church under the patronage of Our Lady; the gray +light which entered through the moldy shutters showed a few scattered +benches of oak, and the painted wooden altar. He knelt down and +endeavored to collect his thoughts, but the rude surroundings of this +rustic sanctuary did not tend to comfort his troubled spirit, and he +became conscious of a sudden withering of all religious fervor. +He turned and left the place, taking a path that led through the forest. +It did not interest him more than the village; the woods spoke no +language which his heart could understand; he could not distinguish an +ash from an oak, and all the different plants were included by him under +one general term of "weeds"; but he needed bodily fatigue and violent +physical agitation to dissipate the overpowering feeling of +discouragement that weighed down his spirits. He walked for several +hours without seeing anything, nearly got lost, and did not reach home +till after dark. Once more the little servant appeared with his meal, +which he ate in an abstracted manner, without even asking whether he were +eating veal or mutton; then he went immediately to bed, and fell into an +uneasy sleep. And thus ended his first day. + +The next morning, about nine o'clock, he was informed that the justice of +the peace, the notary, and the clerk, were waiting for him below. He +hastened down and found the three functionaries busy conferring in a low +voice with Manette and Claudet. The conversation ceased suddenly upon +his arrival, and during the embarrassing silence that followed, all eyes +were directed toward Julien, who saluted the company and delivered to the +justice the documents proving his identity, begging him to proceed +without delay to the legal breaking of the seals. They accordingly began +operations, and went through all the house without interruption, +accompanied by Claudet, who stood stiff and sullen behind the justice, +taking advantage of every little opportunity to testify his dislike and +ill-feeling toward the legal heir of Claude de Buxieres. Toward eleven +o'clock, the proceedings came to an end, the papers were signed, and +Julien was regularly invested with his rights. But the tiresome +formalities were not yet over: he had to invite the three officials to +breakfast. This event, however, had been foreseen by Manette. Since +early morning she had been busy preparing a bountiful repast, and had +even called Julien de Buxieres aside in order to instruct him in the +hospitable duties which his position and the customs of society imposed +upon him. + +As they entered the dining-room, young de Buxieres noticed that covers +were laid for five people; he began to wonder who the fifth guest could +be, when an accidental remark of the clerk showed him that the unknown +was no other than Claudet. The fact was that Manette could not bear the +idea that her son, who had always sat at table with the late Claude de +Buxieres, should be consigned to the kitchen in presence of these +distinguished visitors from Auberive, and had deliberately laid a place +for him at the master's table, hoping that the latter would not dare put +any public affront upon Claudet. She was not mistaken in her idea. +Julien, anxious to show a conciliatory spirit, and making an effort to +quell his own repugnance, approached the 'grand chasserot', who was +standing at one side by himself, and invited him to take his seat at the +table. + +"Thank you," replied Claudet, coldly, "I have breakfasted." So saying, +he turned his back on M. de Buxieres, who returned to the hall, vexed +and disconcerted. + +The repast was abundant, and seemed of interminable length to Julien. +The three guests, whose appetites had been sharpened by their morning +exercise, did honor to Madame Sejournant's cooking; they took their wine +without water, and began gradually to thaw under the influence of their +host's good Burgundy; evincing their increased liveliness by the exchange +of heavy country witticisms, or relating noisy and interminable stories +of their hunting adventures. Their conversation was very trying to +Julien's nerves. Nevertheless, he endeavored to fulfil his duties as +master of the house, throwing in a word now and then, so as to appear +interested in their gossip, but he ate hardly a mouthful. His features +had a pinched expression, and every now and then he caught himself trying +to smother a yawn. His companions at the table could not understand a +young man of twenty-eight years who drank nothing but water, scorned all +enjoyment in eating, and only laughed forcedly under compulsion. At +last, disturbed by the continued taciturnity of their host, they rose +from the table sooner than their wont, and prepared to take leave. +Before their departure, Arbillot the notary, passed his arm familiarly +through that of Julien and led him into an adjoining room, which served +as billiard-hall and library. + +"Monsieur de Buxieres," said he, pointing to a pile of law papers heaped +upon the green cloth of the table; "see what I have prepared for you; you +will find there all the titles and papers relating to the real estate, +pictures, current notes, and various matters of your inheritance. You +had better keep them under lock and key, and study them at your leisure. +You will find them very interesting. I need hardly say," he added, "that +I am at your service for any necessary advice or explanation. But, in +respect to any minor details, you can apply to Claudet Sejournant, who is +very intelligent in such matters, and a good man of business. And, by +the way, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you allow me to commend the young man +especially to your kindly consideration." + +But Julien interrupted him with an imperious gesture, and replied, +frowning angrily: + +"If you please, Maitre Arbillot, we will not enter upon that subject. +I have already tried my best to show a kindly feeling toward Monsieur +Claudet, but I have been only here twenty-four hours, and he has already +found opportunities for affronting me twice. I beg you not to speak of +him again." + +The notary, who was just lighting his pipe, stopped suddenly. Moved by a +feeling of good-fellowship for the 'grand chasserot', who had, however, +enjoined him to silence, he had it on the tip of his tongue to inform +Julien of the facts concerning the parentage of Claudet de Buxieres; but, +however much he wished to render Claudet a service, he was still more +desirous of respecting the feelings of his client; so, between the +hostility of one party and the backwardness of the other, he chose the +wise part of inaction. + +"That is sufficient, Monsieur de Buxieres," replied he, "I will not press +the matter." + +Thereupon he saluted his client, and went to rejoin the justice and the +clerk, and the three comrades wended their way to Auberive through the +woods, discussing the incidents of the breakfast, and the peculiarities +of the new proprietor. + +"This de Buxieres," said M. Destourbet, "does not at all resemble his +deceased cousin Claude!" + +"I can quite understand why the two families kept apart from each other," +observed the notary, jocosely. + +"Poor 'chasserot'!" whined Seurrot the clerk, whom the wine had rendered +tender-hearted; "he will not have a penny. I pity him with all my +heart!" + +As soon as the notary had departed, Julien came to the determination of +transforming into a study the hall where he had been conferring with +Maitre Arbillot, which was dignified with the title of "library," +although it contained at the most but a few hundred odd volumes. The +hall was spacious, and lighted by two large windows opening on the +garden; the floor was of oak, and there was a great fireplace where the +largest logs used in a country in which the wood costs nothing could find +ample room to blaze and crackle. It took the young man several days to +make the necessary changes, and during that time he enjoyed a respite +from the petty annoyances worked by the steady hostility of Manette +Sejournant and her son. To the great indignation of the inhabitants of +the chateau, he packed off the massive billiard-table, on which Claude de +Buxieres had so often played in company with his chosen friends, to the +garret; after which the village carpenter was instructed to make the +bookshelves ready for the reception of Julien's own books, which were +soon to arrive by express. When he had got through with these labors, +he turned his attention to the documents placed in his hands by the +notary, endeavoring to find out by himself the nature of his revenues. +He thought this would be a very easy matter, but he soon found that it +was encumbered with inextricable difficulties. + +A large part of the products of the domain consisted of lumber ready for +sale. Claude de Buxieres had been in the habit of superintending, either +personally or through his intermediate agents, one half of the annual +amount of lumber felled for market, the sale of which was arranged with +the neighboring forge owners by mutual agreement; the other half was +disposed of by notarial act. This latter arrangement was clear and +comprehensible; the price of sale and the amounts falling due were both +clearly indicated in the deed. But it was quite different with the +bargains made by the owner himself, which were often credited by notes +payable at sight, mostly worded in confused terms, unintelligible to any +but the original writer. Julien became completely bewildered among these +various documents, the explanations in which were harder to understand +than conundrums. Although greatly averse to following the notary's +advice as to seeking Claudet's assistance, he found himself compelled to +do so, but was met by such laconic and surly answers that he concluded it +would be more dignified on his part to dispense with the services of one +who was so badly disposed toward him. He therefore resolved to have +recourse to the debtors themselves, whose names he found, after much +difficulty, in the books. These consisted mostly of peasants of the +neighborhood, who came to the chateau at his summons; but as soon as they +came into Julien's presence, they discovered, with that cautious +perception which is an instinct with rustic minds, that before them stood +a man completely ignorant of the customs of the country, and very poorly +informed on Claude de Buxieres's affairs. They made no scruple of +mystifying this "city gentleman," by means of ambiguous statements and +cunning reticence. The young man could get no enlightenment from them; +all he clearly understood was, that they were making fun of him, and that +he was not able to cope with these country bumpkins, whose shrewdness +would have done honor to the most experienced lawyer. + +After a few days he became discouraged and disgusted. He could see +nothing but trouble ahead; he seemed surrounded by either open enemies or +people inclined to take advantage of him. It was plain that all the +population of the village looked upon him as an intruder, a troublesome +master, a stranger whom they would like to intimidate and send about his +business. Manette Sejournant, who was always talking about going, still +remained in the chateau, and was evidently exerting her influence to keep +her son also with her. The fawning duplicity of this woman was +unbearable to Julien; he had not the energy necessary either to subdue +her, or to send her away, and she appeared every morning before him with +a string of hypocritical grievances, and opposing his orders with steady, +irritating inertia. It seemed as if she were endeavoring to render his +life at Vivey hateful to him, so that he would be compelled finally to +beat a retreat. + +One morning in November he had reached such a state of moral fatigue and +depression that, as he sat listlessly before the library fire, the +question arose in his mind whether it would not be better to rent the +chateau, place the property in the hands of a manager, and take himself +and his belongings back to Nancy, to his little room in the Rue +Stanislaus, where, at any rate, he could read, meditate, or make plans +for the future without being every moment tormented by miserable, petty +annoyances. His temper was becoming soured, his nerves were unstrung, +and his mind was so disturbed that he fancied he had none but enemies +around him. A cloudy melancholy seemed to invade his brain; he was +seized with a sudden fear that he was about to have an attack of +persecution-phobia, and began to feel his pulse and interrogate his +sensations to see whether he could detect any of the premonitory +symptoms. + +While he was immersing himself in this unwholesome atmosphere of +hypochondria, the sound of a door opening and shutting made him start; +he turned quickly around, saw a young woman approaching and smiling at +him, and at last recognized Reine Vincart. + +She wore the crimped linen cap and the monk's hood in use among the +peasants of the richer class. Her wavy, brown hair, simply parted in +front, fell in rebellious curls from under the border of her cap, of +which the only decoration was a bow of black ribbon; the end floating +gracefully over her shoulders. The sharp November air had imparted a +delicate rose tint to her pale complexion, and additional vivacity to her +luminous, dark eyes. + +"Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres," said she, in her clear, pleasantly +modulated voice; "I think you may remember me? It is not so long since +we saw each other at the farm." + +"Mademoiselle Vincart!" exclaimed Julien. "Why, certainly I remember +you!" + +He drew a chair toward the fire, and offered it to her. This charming +apparition of his cordial hostess at La Thuiliere evoked the one pleasant +remembrance in his mind since his arrival in Vivey. It shot, like a ray +of sunlight, across the heavy fog of despair which had enveloped the new +master of the chateau. It was, therefore, with real sincerity that he +repeated: + +"I both know you and am delighted to see you. I ought to have called +upon you before now, to thank you for your kind hospitality, but I have +had so much to do, and," his face clouding over, "so many annoyances!" + +"Really?" said she, softly, gazing pityingly at him; "you must not take +offence, but, it is easy to see you have been worried! Your features are +drawn and you have an anxious look. Is it that the air of Vivey does not +agree with you?" + +"It is not the air," replied Julien, in an irritated tone, "it is the +people who do not agree with me. And, indeed," sighed he, "I do not +think I agree any better with them. But I need not annoy other persons +merely because I am annoyed myself! Mademoiselle Vincart, what can I do +to be of service to you? Have you anything to ask me?" + +"Not at all!" exclaimed Reine, with a frank smile; "I not only have +nothing to ask from you, but I have brought something for you--six +hundred francs for wood we had bought from the late Monsieur de Buxieres, +during the sale of the Ronces forest." She drew from under her cloak a +little bag of gray linen, containing gold, five-franc pieces and bank- +notes. "Will you be good enough to verify the amount?" continued she, +emptying the bag upon the table; "I think it is correct. You must have +somewhere a memorandum of the transaction in writing." + +Julien began to look through the papers, but he got bewildered with the +number of rough notes jotted down on various slips of paper, until at +last, in an impatient fit of vexation, he flung the whole bundle away, +scattering the loose sheets all over the floor. + +"Who can find anything in such a chaos?" he exclaimed. "I can't see my +way through it, and when I try to get information from the people here, +they seem to have an understanding among themselves to leave me under a +wrong impression, or even to make my uncertainties still greater! Ah! +Mademoiselle Reine, you were right! I do not understand the ways of your +country folk. Every now and then I am tempted to leave everything just +as it stands, and get away from this village, where the people mistrust +me and treat me like an enemy!" + +Reine gazed at him with a look of compassionate surprise. Stooping +quietly down, she picked up the scattered papers, and while putting them +in order on the table, she happened to see the one relating to her own +business. + +"Here, Monsieur de Buxieres," said she, "here is the very note you were +looking for. You seem to be somewhat impatient. Our country folk are +not so bad as you think; only they do not yield easily to new influences. +The beginning is always difficult for them. I know something about it +myself. When I returned from Dijon to take charge of the affairs at La +Thuiliere, I had no more experience than you, Monsieur, and I had great +difficulty in accomplishing anything. Where should we be now, if I had +suffered myself to be discouraged, like you, at the very outset?" + +Julien raised his eyes toward the speaker, coloring with embarrassment to +hear himself lectured by this young peasant girl, whose ideas, however, +had much more virility than his own. + +"You reason like a man, Mademoiselle Vincart," remarked he, admiringly, +"pray, how old are you?" + +"Twenty-two years; and you, Monsieur de Buxieres?" + +"I shall soon be twenty-eight." + +"There is not much difference between us; still, you are the older, and +what I have done, you can do also." + +"Oh!" sighed he, "you have a love of action. I have a love of repose-- +I do not like to act." + +"So much the worse!" replied Reine, very decidedly. "A man ought to +show more energy. Come now, Monsieur de Buxieres, will you allow me to +speak frankly to you? If you wish people to come to you, you must first +get out of yourself and go to seek them; if you expect your neighbor to +show confidence and good-will toward you, you must be open and good- +natured toward him." + +"That plan has not yet succeeded with two persons around here," replied +Julien, shaking his head. + +"Which persons?" + +"The Sejournants, mother and son. I tried to be pleasant with Claudet, +and received from both only rebuffs and insolence." + +"Oh! as to Claudet," resumed she, impulsively, "he is excusable. You +can not expect he will be very gracious in his reception of the person +who has supplanted him--" + +"Supplanted?--I do not understand." + +"What!" exclaimed Reine, "have they not told you anything, then? +That is wrong. Well, at the risk of meddling in what does not concern +me, I think it is better to put you in possession of the facts: Your +deceased cousin never was married, but he had a child all the same-- +Claudet is his son, and he intended that he should be his heir also. +Every one around the country knows that, for Monsieur de Buxieres made no +secret of it " + +"Claudet, the son of Claude de Buxieres?" ejaculated Julien, with +amazement. + +"Yes; and if the deceased had had the time to make his will, you would +not be here now. But," added the young girl, coloring, "don't tell +Claudet I have spoken to you about it. I have been talking here too +long. Monsieur de Buxieres, will you have the goodness to reckon up your +money and give me a receipt?" + +She had risen, and Julien gazed wonderingly at the pretty country girl +who had shown herself so sensible, so resolute, and so sincere. He bent +his head, collected the money on the table, scribbled hastily a receipt +and handed it to Reine. + +"Thank you, Mademoiselle," said he, "you are the first person who has +been frank with me, and I am grateful to you for it." + +"Au revoir, Monsieur de Buxieres." + +She had already gained the door while he made an awkward attempt to +follow her. She turned toward him with a smile on her lips and in her +eyes. + +"Come, take courage!" she added, and then vanished. + +Julien went back dreamily, and sat down again before the hearth. The +revelation made by Reine Vincart had completely astounded him. Such was +his happy inexperience of life, that he had not for a moment suspected +the real position of Manette and her son at the chateau. And it was this +young girl who had opened his eyes to the fact! He experienced a certain +degree of humiliation in having had so little perception. Now that +Reine's explanation enabled him to view the matter from a different +standpoint, he found Claudet's attitude toward him both intelligible and +excusable. In fact, the lad was acting in accordance with a very +legitimate feeling of mingled pride and anger. After all, he really was +Claude de Buxieres's son--a natural son, certainly, but one who had been +implicitly acknowledged both in private and in public by his father. If +the latter had had time to draw up the incomplete will which had been +found, he would, to all appearances, have made Claudet his heir. +Therefore, the fortune of which Julien had become possessed, he owed to +some unexpected occurrence, a mere chance. Public opinion throughout the +entire village tacitly recognized and accepted the 'grand chasserot' as +son of the deceased, and if this recognition had been made legally, he +would have been rightful owner of half the property. + +"Now that I have been made acquainted with this position of affairs, +what is my duty?" asked Julien of himself. Devout in feeling and in +practice, he was also very scrupulous in all matters of conscience, and +the reply was not long in coming: that both religion and uprightness +commanded him to indemnify Claudet for the wrong caused to him by the +carelessness of Claude de Buxieres. Reine had simply told him the facts +without attempting to give him any advice, but it was evident that, +according to her loyal and energetic way of thinking, there was injustice +to be repaired. Julien was conscious that by acting to that effect he +would certainly gain the esteem and approbation of his amiable hostess of +La Thuiliere, and he felt a secret satisfaction in the idea. He rose +suddenly, and, leaving the library, went to the kitchen, where Manette +Sejournant was busy preparing the breakfast. + +"Where is your son?" said he. "I wish to speak with him." + +Manette looked inquiringly at him. + +"My son," she replied, "is in the garden, fixing up a box to take away +his little belongings in--he doesn't want to stay any longer at other +peoples' expense. And, by the way, Monsieur de Buxieres, have the +goodness to provide yourself with a servant to take my place; we shall +not finish the week here." + +Without making any reply, Julien went out by the door, leading to the +garden, and discovered Claudet really occupied in putting together the +sides of a packing-case. Although the latter saw the heir of the de +Buxieres family approaching, he continued driving in the nails without +appearing to notice his presence. + +"Monsieur Claudet," said Julien, "can you spare me a few minutes? I +should like to talk to you." + +Claudet raised his head, hesitated for a moment, then, throwing away his +hammer and putting on his loose jacket, muttered: + +"I am at your service." + +They left the outhouse together, and entered an avenue of leafy lime- +trees, which skirted the banks of the stream. + +"Monsieur," said Julien, stopping in the middle of the walk, "excuse me +if I venture on a delicate subject--but I must do so--now that I know +all." + +"Beg pardon--what do you know?" demanded Claudet, reddening. + +"I know that you are the son of my cousin de Buxieres," replied the young +man with considerable emotion. + +The 'grand chasserot' knitted his brows. + +"Ah!" said he, bitterly, "my mother's tongue has been too long, or else +that blind magpie of a notary has been gossiping, notwithstanding my +instructions." + +"No; neither your mother nor Maitre Arbillot has been speaking to me. +What I know I have learned from a stranger, and I know also that you +would be master here if Claude de Buxieres had taken the precaution to +write out his will. His negligence on that point has been a wrong to +you, which it is my duty to repair." + +"What's that!" exclaimed Claudet. Then he muttered between his teeth: +"You owe me nothing. The law is on your side." + +"I am not in the habit of consulting the law when it is a question of +duty. Besides, Monsieur de Buxieres treated you openly as his son; if he +had done what he ought, made a legal acknowledgment, you would have the +right, even in default of a will, to one half of his patrimony. This +half I come to offer to you, and beg of you to accept it." + +Claudet was astonished, and opened his great, fierce brown eyes with +amazement. The proposal seemed so incredible that he thought he must be +dreaming, and mistrusted what he heard. + +"What! You offer me half the inheritance?" faltered he. + +"Yes; and I am ready to give you a certified deed of relinquishment as +soon as you wish--" + +Claudet interrupted him with a violent shrug of the shoulders. + +"I make but one condition," pursued Julien. + +"What is it?" asked Claudet, still on the defensive. + +"That you will continue to live here, with me, as in your father's time." + +Claudet was nearly overcome by this last suggestion, but a lingering +feeling of doubt and a kind of innate pride prevented him from giving +way, and arrested the expression of gratitude upon his lips. + +"What you propose is very generous, Monsieur," said he, "but you have not +thought much about it, and later you might regret it. If I were to stay +here, I should be a restraint upon you--" + +"On the contrary, you would be rendering me a service, for I feel myself +incapable of managing the property," replied Julien, earnestly. Then, +becoming more confidential as his conscience was relieved of its burden, +he continued, pleasantly: "You see I am not vain about admitting the +fact. Come, cousin, don't be more proud than I am. Accept freely what I +offer with hearty goodwill!" + +As he concluded these words, he felt his hand seized, and affectionately +pressed in a strong, robust grip. + +"You are a true de Buxieres!" exclaimed Claudet, choking with emotion. +"I accept--thanks--but, what have I to give you in exchange?--nothing but +my friendship; but that will be as firm as my grip, and will last all my +life." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Amusements they offered were either wearisome or repugnant +Dreaded the monotonous regularity of conjugal life +Fawning duplicity +Had not been spoiled by Fortune's gifts +Hypocritical grievances +I am not in the habit of consulting the law +It does not mend matters to give way like that +Opposing his orders with steady, irritating inertia +There are some men who never have had any childhood +To make a will is to put one foot into the grave +Toast and white wine (for breakfast) +Vague hope came over him that all would come right + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of A Woodland Queen, v1 +by Andre Theuriet + + + + + + +A WOODLAND QUEEN +('Reine des Bois') + +By ANDRE THEURIET + + + +BOOK 2. + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE DAWN OF LOVE + +Winter had come, and with it all the inclement accompaniments usual in +this bleak and bitter mountainous country: icy rains, which, mingled with +sleet, washed away whirlpools of withered leaves that the swollen streams +tossed noisily into the ravines; sharp, cutting winds from the north, +bleak frosts hardening the earth and vitrifying the cascades; abundant +falls of snow, lasting sometimes an entire week. The roads had become +impassable. A thick, white crust covered alike the pasture-lands, the +stony levels, and the wooded slopes, where the branches creaked under the +weight of their snowy burdens. A profound silence encircled the village, +which seemed buried under the successive layers of snowdrifts. Only here +and there, occasionally, did a thin line of blue smoke, rising from one +of the white roofs, give evidence of any latent life among the +inhabitants. The Chateau de Buxieres stood in the midst of a vast carpet +of snow on which the sabots of the villagers had outlined a narrow path, +leading from the outer steps to the iron gate. Inside, fires blazed on +all the hearths, which, however, did not modify the frigid atmosphere of +the rudely-built upper rooms. + +Julien de Buxieres was freezing, both physically and morally, in his +abode. His generous conduct toward Claudet had, in truth, gained him the +affection of the 'grand chasserot', made Manette as gentle as a lamb, +and caused a revulsion of feeling in his favor throughout the village; +but, although his material surroundings had become more congenial, he +still felt around him the chill of intellectual solitude. The days also +seemed longer since Claudet had taken upon himself the management of all +details. Julien found that re-reading his favorite books was not +sufficient occupation for the weary hours that dragged slowly along +between the rising and the setting of the sun. The gossipings of +Manette, the hunting stories of Claudet had no interest for young +de Buxieres, and the acquaintances he endeavored to make outside left +only a depressing feeling of ennui and disenchantment. + +His first visit had been made to the cure of Vivey, where he hoped to +meet with some intellectual resources, and a tone of conversation more in +harmony with his tastes. In this expectation, also, he had been +disappointed. The Abbe Pernot was an amiable quinquagenarian, and a +'bon vivant', whose mind inclined more naturally toward the duties of +daily life than toward meditation or contemplative studies. The ideal +did not worry him in the least; and when he had said his mass, read his +breviary, confessed the devout sinners and visited the sick, he gave the +rest of his time to profane but respectable amusements. He was of robust +temperament, with a tendency to corpulency, which he fought against by +taking considerable exercise; his face was round and good-natured, his +calm gray eyes reflected the tranquillity and uprightness of his soul, +and his genial nature was shown in his full smiling mouth, his thick, +wavy, gray hair, and his quick and cordial gestures. + +When Julien was ushered into the presbytery, he found the cure installed +in a small room, which he used for working in, and which was littered up +with articles bearing a very distant connection to his pious calling: +nets for catching larks, hoops and other nets for fishing, stuffed birds, +and a collection of coleopterx. At the other end of the room stood a +dusty bookcase, containing about a hundred volumes, which seemed to have +been seldom consulted. The Abbe, sitting on a low chair in the chimney- +corner, his cassock raised to his knees, was busy melting glue in an old +earthen pot. + +"Aha, good-day! Monsieur de Buxieres," said he in his rich, jovial +voice, "you have caught me in an occupation not very canonical; but what +of it? As Saint James says: 'The bow can not be always bent.' I am +preparing some lime-twigs, which I shall place in the Bois des Ronces as +soon as the snow is melted. I am not only a fisher of souls, but I +endeavor also to catch birds in my net, not so much for the purpose of +varying my diet, as of enriching my collection!" + +"You have a great deal of spare time on your hands, then?" inquired +Julien, with some surprise. + +"Well, yes--yes--quite a good deal. The parish is not very extensive, as +you have doubtless noticed; my parishioners are in the best possible +health, thank God! and they live to be very old. I have barely two or +three marriages in a year, and as many burials, so that, you see, one +must fill up one's time somehow to escape the sin of idleness. Every man +must have a hobby. Mine is ornithology; and yours, Monsieur +de Buxieres?" + +Julien was tempted to reply: "Mine, for the moment, is ennui." He was +just in the mood to unburden himself to the cure as to the mental thirst +that was drying up his faculties, but a certain instinct warned him that +the Abbe was not a man to comprehend the subtle complexities of his +psychological condition, so he contented himself with replying, briefly: + +"I read a great deal. I have, over there in the chateau, a pretty fair +collection of historical and religious works, and they are at your +service, Monsieur le Cure!" + +"A thousand thanks," replied the Abbe Pernot, making a slight grimace; +"I am not much of a reader, and my little stock is sufficient for my +needs. You remember what is said in the Imitation: 'Si scires totam +Bibliam exterius et omnium philosophorum dicta, quid totum prodesset sine +caritate Dei et gratia?' Besides, it gives me a headache to read too +steadily. I require exercise in the open air. Do you hunt or fish, +Monsieur de Buxieres?" + +"Neither the one nor the other." + +"So much the worse for you. You will find the time hang very heavily on +your hands in this country, where there are so few sources of amusement. +But never fear! You can not be always reading, and when the fine weather +comes you will yield to the temptation; all the more likely because you +have Claudet Sejournant with you. A jolly fellow he is; there is not one +like him for killing a snipe or sticking a trout! Our trout here on the +Aubette, Monsieur de Buxieres, are excellent--of the salmon kind, and +very meaty." + +Then came an interval of silence. The Abbe began to suspect that this +conversation was not one of profound interest to his visitor, and he +resumed: + +"Speaking of Claudet, Monsieur, allow me to offer you my congratulations. +You have acted in a most Christian-like and equitable manner, in making +amends for the inconceivable negligence of the deceased Claude de +Buxieres. Then, on the other hand, Claudet deserves what you have done +for him. He is a good fellow, a little too quick-tempered and violent +perhaps, but he has a heart of gold. Ah! it would have been no use for +the deceased to deny it--the blood of de Buxieres runs in his veins!" + +"If public rumor is to be believed," said Julien timidly, rising to go, +"my deceased cousin Claude was very much addicted to profane pleasures." + +"Yes, yes, indeed!" sighed the Abbe, "he was a devil incarnate--but what +a magnificent man! What a wonderful huntsman! Notwithstanding his +backslidings, there was a great deal of good in him, and I am fain to +believe that God has taken him under His protecting mercy." + +Julien took his leave, and returned to the chateau, very much +discouraged. "This priest," thought he to himself, "is a man of +expediency. He allows himself certain indulgences which are to be +regretted, and his mind is becoming clogged by continual association with +carnal-minded men. His thoughts are too much given to earthly things, +and I have no more faith in him than in the rest of them." + +So he shut himself up again in his solitude, with one more illusion +destroyed. He asked himself, and his heart became heavy at the thought, +whether, in course of time, he also would undergo this stultification, +this moral depression, which ends by lowering us to the level of the low- +minded people among whom we live. + +Among all the persons he had met since his arrival at Vivey, only one had +impressed him as being sympathetic and attractive: Reine Vincart--and +even her energy was directed toward matters that Julien looked upon as +secondary. And besides, Reine was a woman, and he was afraid of women. +He believed with Ecclesiastes the preacher, that "they are more bitter +than death . . . and whoso pleaseth God shall escape from them." +He had therefore no other refuge but in his books or his own sullen +reflections, and, consequently, his old enemy, hypochondria, again made +him its prey. + +Toward the beginning of January, the snow in the valley had somewhat +melted, and a light frost made access to the woods possible. As the +hunting season seldom extended beyond the first days of February, the +huntsmen were all eager to take advantage of the few remaining weeks to +enjoy their favorite pastime. Every day the forest resounded with the +shouts of beaters-up and the barking of the hounds. From Auberive, +Praslay and Grancey, rendezvous were made in the woods of Charbonniere or +Maigrefontaine; nothing was thought of but the exploits of certain +marksmen, the number of pieces bagged, and the joyous outdoor breakfasts +which preceded each occasion. One evening, as Julien, more moody than +usual, stood yawning wearily and leaning on the corner of the stove, +Claudet noticed him, and was touched with pity for this young fellow, +who had so little idea how to employ his time, his youth, or his money. +He felt impelled, as a conscientious duty, to draw him out of his +unwholesome state of mind, and initiate him into the pleasures of country +life. + +"You do not enjoy yourself with us, Monsieur Julien," said he, kindly; +"I can't bear to see you so downhearted. You are ruining yourself with +poring all day long over your books, and the worst of it is, they do not +take the frowns out of your face. Take my word for it, you must change +your way of living, or you will be ill. Come, now, if you will trust in +me, I will undertake to cure your ennui before a week is over." + +"And what is your remedy, Claudet?" demanded Julien, with a forced +smile. + +"A very simple one: just let your books go, since they do not succeed in +interesting you, and live the life that every one else leads. The +de Buxieres, your ancestors, followed the same plan, and had no fault +to find with it. You are in a wolf country--well, you must howl with +the wolves!" + +"My dear fellow," replied Julien, shaking his head, "one can not remake +one's self. The wolves themselves would discover that I howled out of +tune, and would send me back to my books." + +"Nonsense! try, at any rate. You can not imagine what pleasure there is +in coursing through the woods, and suddenly, at a sharp turn, catching +sight of a deer in the distance, then galloping to the spot where he must +pass, and holding him with the end of your gun! You have no idea what an +appetite one gets with such exercise, nor how jolly it is to breakfast +afterward, all together, seated round some favorite old beech-tree. +Enjoy your youth while you have it. Time enough to stay in your chimney- +corner and spit in the ashes when rheumatism has got hold of you. +Perhaps you will say you never have followed the hounds, and do not know +how to handle a gun?" + +"That is the exact truth." + +"Possibly, but appetite comes with eating, and when once you have tasted +of the pleasures of the chase, you will want to imitate your companions. +Now, see here: we have organized a party at Charbonniere to-morrow, +for the gentlemen of Auberive; there will be some people you know-- +Destourbet, justice of the Peace, the clerk Seurrot, Maitre Arbillot and +the tax-collector, Boucheseiche. Hutinet went over the ground yesterday, +and has appointed the meeting for ten o'clock at the Belle-Etoile. Come +with us; there will be good eating and merriment, and also some fine +shooting, I pledge you my word!" + +Julien refused at first, but Claudet insisted, and showed him the +necessity of getting more intimately acquainted with the notables of +Auberive--people with whom he would be continually coming in contact as +representing the administration of justice and various affairs in the +canton. He urged so well that young de Buxieres ended by giving his +consent. Manette received immediate instructions to prepare eatables for +Hutinet, the keeper, to take at early dawn to the Belle-Etoile, and it +was decided that the company should start at precisely eight o'clock. + +The next morning, at the hour indicated, the 'grand chasserot' was +already in the courtyard with his two hounds, Charbonneau and Montagnard, +who were leaping and barking sonorously around him. Julien, reminded of +his promise by the unusual early uproar, dressed himself with a bad +grace, and went down to join Claudet, who was bristling with impatience. +They started. There had been a sharp frost during the night; some hail +had fallen, and the roads were thinly coated with a white dust, called by +the country people, in their picturesque language, "a sugarfrost" of +snow. A thick fog hung over the forest, so that they had to guess their +way; but Claudet knew every turn and every sidepath, and thus he and his +companion arrived by the most direct line at the rendezvous. They soon +began to hear the barking of the dogs, to which Montagnard and +Charbonneau replied with emulative alacrity, and finally, through the +mist, they distinguished the group of huntsmen from Auberive. + +The Belle-Etoile was a circular spot, surrounded by ancient ash-trees, +and formed the central point for six diverging alleys which stretched out +indefinitely into the forest. The monks of Auberive, at the epoch when +they were the lords and owners of the land, had made this place a +rendezvous for huntsmen, and had provided a table and some stone benches, +which, thirty years ago, were still in existence. The enclosure, +which had been chosen for the breakfast on the present occasion, was +irradiated by a huge log-fire; a very respectable display of bottles, +bread, and various eatables covered the stone table, and the dogs, +attached by couples to posts, pulled at their leashes and barked in +chorus, while their masters, grouped around the fire, warmed their +benumbed fingers over the flames, and tapped their heels while waiting +for the last-comers. + +At sight of Julien and Claudet, there was a joyous hurrah of welcome. +Justice Destourbet exchanged a ceremonious hand-shake with the new +proprietor of the chateau. The scant costume and tight gaiters of the +huntsman's attire, displayed more than ever the height and slimness of +the country magistrate. By his side, the registrar Seurrot, his legs +encased in blue linen spatterdashes, his back bent, his hands crossed +comfortably over his "corporation," sat roasting himself at the flame, +while grumbling when the wind blew the smoke in his eyes. Arbillot, the +notary, as agile and restless as a lizard, kept going from one to the +other with an air of mysterious importance. He came up to Claudet, drew +him aside, and showed him a little figure in a case. + +"Look here!" whispered he, "we shall have some fun; as I passed by the +Abbe Pernot's this morning, I stole one of his stuffed squirrels." + +He stooped down, and with an air of great mystery poured into his ear the +rest of the communication, at the close of which his small black eyes +twinkled maliciously, and he passed the end of his tongue over his frozen +moustache. + +"Come with me," continued he; "it will be a good joke on the collector." + +He drew Claudet and Hutinet toward one of the trenches, where the fog hid +them from sight. + +During this colloquy, Boucheseiche the collector, against whom they were +thus plotting, had seized upon Julien de Buxieres, and was putting him +through a course of hunting lore. Justin Boucheseiche was a man of +remarkable ugliness; big, bony, freckled, with red hair, hairy hands, and +a loud, rough voice. + +He wore a perfectly new hunting costume, cap and gaiters of leather, a +havana-colored waistcoat, and had a complete assortment of pockets of all +sizes for the cartridges. He pretended to be a great authority on all +matters relating to the chase, although he was, in fact, the worst shot +in the whole canton; and when he had the good luck to meet with a +newcomer, he launched forth on the recital of his imaginary prowess, +without any pity for the hearer. So that, having once got hold of +Julien, he kept by his side when they sat down to breakfast. + +All these country huntsmen were blessed with healthy appetites. They ate +heartily, and drank in the same fashion, especially the collector +Boucheseiche, who justified his name by pouring out numerous bumpers of +white wine. During the first quarter of an hour nothing could be heard +but the noise of jaws masticating, glasses and forks clinking; but when +the savory pastries, the cold game and the hams had disappeared, and had +been replaced by goblets of hot Burgundy and boiling coffee, then tongues +became loosened. Julien, to his infinite disgust, was forced again to be +present at a conversation similar to the one at the time of the raising +of the seals, the coarseness of which had so astonished and shocked him. +After the anecdotes of the chase were exhausted, the guests began to +relate their experiences among the fair sex, losing nothing of the point +from the effect of the numerous empty bottles around. All the scandalous +cases in the courts of justice, all the coarse jokes and adventures of +the district, were related over again. Each tried to surpass his +neighbor. To hear these men of position boast of their gallantries with +all classes, one would have thought that the entire canton underwent +periodical changes and became one vast Saturnalia, where rustic satyrs +courted their favorite nymphs. But nothing came of it, after all; once +the feast was digested, and they had returned to the conjugal abode, all +these terrible gay Lotharios became once more chaste and worthy fathers +of families. Nevertheless, Julien, who was unaccustomed to such bibulous +festivals and such unbridled license of language, took it all literally, +and reproached himself more than ever with having yielded to Claudet's +entreaties. + +At last the table was deserted, and the marking of the limits of the hunt +began. + +As they were following the course of the trenches, the notary stopped +suddenly at the foot of an ash-tree, and took the arm of the collector, +who was gently humming out of tune. + +"Hush! Collector," he whispered, "do you see that fellow up there, on +the fork of the tree? He seems to be jeering at us." + +At the same time he pointed out a squirrel, sitting perched upon a +branch, about halfway up the tree. The animal's tail stood up behind +like a plume, his ears were upright, and he had his front paws in his +mouth, as if cracking a nut. + +"A squirrel!" cried the impetuous Boucheseiche, immediately falling into +the snare; "let no one touch him, gentlemen--I will settle his account +for him." + +The rest of the hunters had drawn back in a circle, and were exchanging +sly glances. The collector loaded his gun, shouldered it, covered the +squirrel, and then let go. + +"Hit!" exclaimed he, triumphantly, as soon as the smoke had dispersed. + +In fact, the animal had slid down the branch, head first, but, somehow, +he did not fall to the ground. + +"He has caught hold of something," said the notary, facetiously. + +"Ah! you will hold on, you rascal, will you?" shouted Boucheseiche, +beside himself with excitement, and the next moment he sent a second +shot, which sent the hair flying in all directions. + +The creature remained in the same position. Then there was a general +roar. + +"He is quite obstinate!" remarked the clerk, slyly. + +Boucheseiche, astonished, looked attentively at the tree, then at the +laughing crowd, and could not understand the situation. + +"If I were in your place, Collector," said Claudet, in an insinuating +manner, "I should climb up there, to see--" + +But Justin Boucheseiche was not a climber. He called a youngster, who +followed the hunt as beater-up. + +"I will give you ten sous," said he; "to mount that tree and bring me my +squirrel!" + +The young imp did not need to be told twice. In the twinkling of an eye +he threw his arms around the tree, and reached the fork. When there, he +uttered an exclamation. + +"Well?" cried the collector; impatiently, "throw him down!" + +"I can't, Monsieur," replied the boy, "the squirrel is fastened by a +wire." Then the laughter burst forth more boisterously than before. + +"A wire, you young rascal! Are you making fun of me?" shouted +Boucheseiche, "come down this moment!" + +"Here he is, Monsieur," replied the lad, throwing himself down with the +squirrel which he tossed at the collector's feet. + +When Boucheseiche verified the fact that the squirrel was a stuffed +specimen, he gave a resounding oath. + +"In the name of ---! who is the miscreant that has perpetrated this +joke?" + +No one could reply for laughing. Then ironical cheers burst forth from +all sides. + +"Brave Boucheseiche! That's a kind of game one doesn't often get +hold of !" + +"We never shall see any more of that kind!" + +"Let us carry Boucheseiche in triumph!" + +And so they went on, marching around the tree. Arbillot seized a slip of +ivy and crowned Boucheseiche, while all the others clapped their hands +and capered in front of the collector, who, at last, being a good fellow +at heart, joined in the laugh at his own expense. + +Julien de Buxieres alone could not share the general hilarity. The +uproar caused by this simple joke did not even chase the frown from his +brow. He was provoked at not being able to bring himself within the +diapason of this somewhat vulgar gayety: he was aware that his melancholy +countenance, his black clothes, his want of sympathy jarred unpleasantly +on the other jovial guests. He did not intend any longer to play the +part of a killjoy. Without saying anything to Claudet, therefore, he +waited until the huntsmen had scattered in the brushwood, and then, +diving into a trench, in an opposite direction, he gave them all the +slip, and turned in the direction of Planche-au-Vacher. + +As he walked slowly, treading under foot the dry frosty leaves, he +reflected how the monotonous crackling of this foliage, once so full of +life, now withered and rendered brittle by the frost, seemed to represent +his own deterioration of feeling. It was a sad and suitable +accompaniment of his own gloomy thoughts. + +He was deeply mortified at the sorry figure he had presented at the +breakfast-table. He acknowledged sorrowfully to himself that, at twenty- +eight years of age, he was less young and less really alive than all +these country squires, although all, except Claudet, had passed their +fortieth year. Having missed his season of childhood, was he also doomed +to have no youth? Others found delight in the most ordinary amusements, +why, to him, did life seem so insipid and colorless? + +Why was he so unfortunately constituted that all human joys lost their +sweetness as soon as he opened his heart to them? Nothing made any +powerful impression on him; everything that happened seemed to be a +perpetual reiteration, a song sung for the hundredth time, a story a +hundred times related. + +He was like a new vase, cracked before it had served its use, and he felt +thoroughly ashamed of the weakness and infirmity of his inner self. Thus +pondering, he traversed much ground, hardly knowing where he was going. +The fog, which now filled the air and which almost hid the trenches with +its thin bluish veil, made it impossible to discover his bearings. At +last he reached the border of some pastureland, which he crossed, and +then he perceived, not many steps away, some buildings with tiled roofs, +which had something familiar to him in their aspect. After he had gone a +few feet farther he recognized the court and facade of La Thuiliere; and, +as he looked over the outer wall, a sight altogether novel and unexpected +presented itself. + +Standing in the centre of the courtyard, her outline showing in dark +relief against the light "sugar-frosting," stood Reine Vincart, her back +turned to Julien. She held up a corner of her apron with one hand, and +with the other took out handfuls of grain, which she scattered among the +birds fluttering around her. At each moment the little band was +augmented by a new arrival. All these little creatures were of species +which do not emigrate, but pass the winter in the shelter of the wooded +dells. There were blackbirds with yellow bills, who advanced boldly over +the snow up to the very feet of the distributing fairy; robin redbreasts, +nearly as tame, hopping gayly over the stones, bobbing their heads and +puffing out their red breasts; and tomtits, prudently watching awhile +from the tops of neighboring trees, then suddenly taking flight, and with +quick, sharp cries, seizing the grain on the wing. It was charming to +see all these little hungry creatures career around Reine's head, with a +joyous fluttering of wings. When the supply was exhausted, the young +girl shook her apron, turned around, and recognized Julien. + +"Were you there, Monsieur de Buxieres?" she exclaimed; "come inside the +courtyard! Don't be afraid; they have finished their meal. Those are my +boarders," she added, pointing to the birds, which, one by one, were +taking their flight across the fields. "Ever since the first fall of +snow, I have been distributing grain to them once a day. I think they +must tell one another under the trees there, for every day their number +increases. But I don't complain of that. Just think, these are not +birds of passage; they do not leave us at the first cold blast, to find a +warmer climate; the least we can do is to recompense them by feeding them +when the weather is too severe! Several know me already, and are very +tame. There is a blackbird in particular, and a blue tomtit, that are +both extremely saucy!" + +These remarks were of a nature to please Julien. They went straight to +the heart of the young mystic; they recalled to his mind St. Francis of +Assisi, preaching to the fish and conversing with the birds, and he felt +an increase of sympathy for this singular young girl. He would have +liked to find a pretext for remaining longer with her, but his natural +timidity in the presence of women paralyzed his tongue, and, already, +fearing he should be thought intruding, he had raised his hat to take +leave, when Reine addressed him: + +"I do not ask you to come into the house, because I am obliged to go to +the sale of the Ronces woods, in order to speak to the men who are +cultivating the little lot that we have bought. I wager, Monsieur de +Buxieres, that you are not yet acquainted with our woods?" + +"That is true," he replied, smiling. + +"Very well, if you will accompany me, I will show you the canton they are +about to develop. It will not be time lost, for it will be a good thing +for the people who are working for you to know that you are interested in +their labors." + +Julien replied that he should be happy to be under her guidance. + +"In that case," said Reine, "wait for me here. I shall be back in a +moment." + +She reappeared a few minutes later, wearing a white hood with a cape, and +a knitted woolen shawl over her shoulders. + +"This way!" said she, showing a path that led across the pasture-lands. + +They walked along silently at first. The sky was clear, the wind had +freshened. Suddenly, as if by enchantment, the fog, which had hung over +the forest, became converted into needles of ice. Each tree was powdered +over with frozen snow, and on the hillsides overshadowing the valley the +massive tufts of forest were veiled in a bluish-white vapor. + +Never had Julien de Buxieres been so long in tete-a-tete with a young +woman. The extreme solitude, the surrounding silence, rendered this dual +promenade more intimate and also more embarrassing to a young man who was +alarmed at the very thought of a female countenance. His ecclesiastical +education had imbued Julien with very rigorous ideas as to the careful +and reserved behavior which should be maintained between the sexes, and +his intercourse with the world had been too infrequent for the idea to +have been modified in any appreciable degree. It was natural, therefore, +that this walk across the fields in the company of Reine should assume an +exaggerated importance in his eyes. He felt himself troubled and yet +happy in the chance afforded him to become more closely acquainted with +this young girl, toward whom a secret sympathy drew him more and more. +But he did not know how to begin conversation, and the more he cudgelled +his brains to find a way of opening the attack, the more he found himself +at sea. Once more Reine came to his assistance. + +"Well, Monsieur de Buxieres," said she, "do matters go more to your +liking now? You have acted most generously toward Claudet, and he ought +to be pleased." + +"Has he spoken to you, then?" + +"No; not himself, but good news, like bad, flies fast, and all the +villagers are singing your praises." + +"I only did a very simple and just thing," replied Julien. + +"Precisely, but those are the very things that are the hardest to do. +And according as they are done well or ill, so is the person that does +them judged by others." + +"You have thought favorably of me then, Mademoiselle Vincart," he +ventured, with a timid smile. + +"Yes; but my opinion is of little importance. You must be pleased with +yourself--that is more essential. I am sure that it must be pleasanter +now for you to live at Vivey?" + +"Hm!--more bearable, certainly." + +The conversation languished again. As they approached the confines of +the farm they heard distant barking, and then the voices of human beings. +Finally two gunshots broke on the air. + +"Ha, ha!" exclaimed Reine, listening, "the Auberive Society is following +the hounds, and Claudet must be one of the party. How is it you were not +with them?" + +"Claudet took me there, and I was at the breakfast--but, Mademoiselle, +I confess that that kind of amusement is not very tempting to me. At the +first opportunity I made my escape, and left the party to themselves." + +"Well, now, to be frank with you, you were wrong. Those gentlemen will +feel aggrieved, for they are very sensitive. You see, when one has to +live with people, one must yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh +their amusements." + +"You are saying exactly what Claudet said last night." + +"Claudet was right." + +"What am I to do? The chase has no meaning for me. I can not feel any +interest in the butchery of miserable animals that are afterward sent +back to their quarters." + +"I can understand that you do not care for the chase for its own sake; +but the ride in the open air, in the open forest? Our forests are so +beautiful--look there, now! does not that sight appeal to you?" + +From the height they had now gained, they could see all over the valley, +illuminated at intervals by the pale rays of the winter sun. Wherever +its light touched the brushwood, the frosty leaves quivered like +diamonds, while a milky cloud enveloped the parts left in shadow. Now +and then, a slight breeze stirred the branches, causing a shower of +sparkling atoms to rise in the air, like miniature rainbows. The entire +forest seemed clothed in the pure, fairy-like robes of a virgin bride. + +"Yes, that is beautiful," admitted Julien, hesitatingly; "I do not think +I ever saw anything similar: at any rate, it is you who have caused me to +notice it for the first time. But," continued he, "as the sun rises +higher, all this phantasmagoria will melt and vanish. The beauty of +created things lasts only a moment, and serves as a warning for us not to +set our hearts on things that perish." + +Reine gazed at him with astonishment. + +"Do you really think so?" exclaimed she: "that is very sad, and I do not +know enough to give an opinion. All I know is, that if God has created +such beautiful things it is in order that we may enjoy them. And that is +the reason why I worship these woods with all my heart. Ah! if you could +only see them in the month of June, when the foliage is at its fulness. +Flowers everywhere--yellow, blue, crimson! Music also everywhere--the +song of birds, the murmuring of waters, and the balmy scents in the air. +Then there are the lime-trees, the wild cherry, and the hedges red with +strawberries--it is intoxicating. And, whatever you may say, Monsieur de +Buxieres, I assure you that the beauty of the forest is not a thing to be +despised. Every season it is renewed: in autumn, when the wild fruits +and tinted leaves contribute their wealth of color; in winter, with its +vast carpets of snow, from which the tall ash springs to such a stately +height-look, now! up there!" + +They were in the depths of the forest. Before them were colonnades of +slim, graceful trees, rising in one unbroken line toward the skies, their +slender branches forming a dark network overhead, and their lofty +proportions lessening in the distance, until lost in the solemn gloom +beyond. A religious silence prevailed, broken only by the occasional +chirp of the wren, or the soft pattering of some smaller fourfooted race. + +"How beautiful!" exclaimed Reine, with animation; "one might imagine +one's self in a cathedral! Oh! how I love the forest; a feeling of awe +and devotion comes over me, and makes me want to kneel down and pray!" + +Julien looked at her with an uneasy kind of admiration. She was walking +slowly now, grave and thoughtful, as if in church. Her white hood had +fallen on her shoulders, and her hair, slightly stirred by the wind, +floated like a dark aureole around her pale face. Her luminous eyes +gleamed between the double fringes of her eyelids, and her mobile +nostrils quivered with suppressed emotion. As she passed along, the +brambles from the wayside, intermixed with ivy, and other hardy plants, +caught on the hem of her dress and formed a verdant train, giving her the +appearance of the high-priestess of some mysterious temple of Nature. +At this moment, she identified herself so perfectly with her nickname, +"queen of the woods," that Julien, already powerfully affected by her +peculiar and striking style of beauty, began to experience a +superstitious dread of her influence. His Catholic scruples, or the +remembrance of certain pious lectures administered in his childhood, +rendered him distrustful, and he reproached himself for the interest he +took in the conversation of this seductive creature. He recalled the +legends of temptations to which the Evil One used to subject the +anchorites of old, by causing to appear before them the attractive but +illusive forms of the heathen deities. He wondered whether he were not +becoming the sport of the same baleful influence; if, like the Lamias and +Dryads of antiquity, this queen of the woods were not some spirit of the +elements, incarnated in human form and sent to him for the purpose of +dragging his soul down to perdition. + +In this frame of mind he followed in her footsteps, cautiously, and at a +distance, when she suddenly turned, as if waiting for him to rejoin her. +He then perceived that they had reached the end of the copse, and before +them lay an open space, on which the cut lumber lay in cords, forming +dark heaps on the frosty ground. Here and there were allotments of +chosen trees and poles, among which a thin spiral of smoke indicated the +encampment of the cutters. Reine made straight for them, and immediately +presented the new owner of the chateau to the workmen. They made their +awkward obeisances, scrutinizing him in the mistrustful manner customary +with the peasants of mountainous regions when they meet strangers. The +master workman then turned to Reine, replying to her remarks in a +respectful but familiar tone: + +"Make yourself easy, mamselle, we shall do our best and rush things in +order to get through with the work. Besides, if you will come this way +with me, you will see that there is no idling; we are just now going to +fell an oak, and before a quarter of an hour is over it will be lying on +the ground, cut off as neatly as if with a razor." + +They drew near the spot where the first strokes of the axe were already +resounding. The giant tree did not seem affected by them, but remained +haughty and immovable. Then the blows redoubled until the trunk began to +tremble from the base to the summit, like a living thing. The steel had +made the bark, the sapwood, and even the core of the tree, fly in +shivers; but the oak had resumed its impassive attitude, and bore +stoically the assaults of the workmen. Looking upward, as it reared its +proud and stately head, one would have affirmed that it never could fall. +Suddenly the woodsmen fell back; there was a moment of solemn and +terrible suspense; then the enormous trunk heaved and plunged down among +the brushwood with an alarming crash of breaking branches. A sound as of +lamentation rumbled through the icy forest, and then all was still. + +The men, with unconscious emotion, stood contemplating the monarch oak +lying prostrate on the ground. Reine had turned pale; her dark eyes +glistened with tears. + +"Let us go," murmured she to Julien; "this death of a tree affects me as +if it were that of a Christian." + +They took leave of the woodsmen, and reentered the forest. Reine kept +silence and her companion was at a loss to resume the conversation; so +they journeyed along together quietly until they reached a border line, +whence they could perceive the smoke from the roofs of Vivey. + +"You have only to go straight down the hill to reach your home," said +she, briefly; "au revoir, Monsieur de Buxieres." + +Thus they quitted each other, and, looking back, he saw that she +slackened her speed and went dreamily on in the direction of Planche-au- +Vacher. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LOVE'S INDISCRETION + +In the mountainous region of Langres, spring can hardly be said to appear +before the end of May. Until that time the cold weather holds its own; +the white frosts, and the sharp, sleety April showers, as well as the +sudden windstorms due to the malign influence of the ice-gods, arrest +vegetation, and only a few of the more hardy plants venture to put forth +their trembling shoots until later. But, as June approaches and the +earth becomes warmed through by the sun, a sudden metamorphosis is +effected. Sometimes a single night is sufficient for the floral spring +to burst forth in all its plenitude. The hedges are alive with lilies +and woodruffs; the blue columbines shake their foolscap-like blossoms +along the green side-paths; the milky spikes of the Virgin plant rise +slender and tall among the bizarre and many-colored orchids. Mile after +mile, the forest unwinds its fairy show of changing scenes. Sometimes +one comes upon a spot of perfect verdure; at other times one wanders in +almost complete darkness under the thick interlacing boughs of the +ashtrees, through which occasional gleams of light fall on the dark soil +or on the spreading ferns. Now the wanderer emerges upon an open space +so full of sunshine that the strawberries are already ripening; near them +are stacked the tender young trees, ready for spacing, and the billets of +wood piled up and half covered with thistle and burdock leaves; and a +little farther away, half hidden by tall weeds, teeming with insects, +rises the peaked top of the woodsman's hut. Here one walks beside deep, +grassy trenches, which appear to continue without end, along the forest +level; farther, the wild mint and the centaurea perfume the shady nooks, +the oaks and lime-trees arch their spreading branches, and the +honeysuckle twines itself round the knotty shoots of the hornbeam, whence +the thrush gives forth her joyous, sonorous notes. + +Not only in the forest, but also in the park belonging to the chateau, +and in the village orchards, spring had donned a holiday costume. +Through the open windows, between the massive bunches of lilacs, +hawthorn, and laburnum blossoms, Julien de Buxieres caught glimpses of +rolling meadows and softly tinted vistas. The gentle twittering of the +birds and the mysterious call of the cuckoo, mingled with the perfume of +flowers, stole into his study, and produced a sense of enjoyment as novel +to him as it was delightful. Having until the present time lived a +sedentary life in cities, he had had no opportunity of experiencing this +impression of nature in her awakening and luxuriant aspect; never had he +felt so completely under the seductive influence of the goddess Maia than +at this season when the abundant sap exudes in a white foam from the +trunk of the willow; when between the plant world and ourselves a +magnetic current seems to exist, which seeks to wed their fraternizing +emanations with our own personality. He was oppressed by the vividness +of the verdure, intoxicated with the odor of vegetation, agitated by the +confused music of the birds, and in this May fever of excitement, his +thoughts wandered with secret delight to Reine Vincart, to this queen of +the woods, who was the personification of all the witchery of the forest. +Since their January promenade in the glades of Charbonniere, he had seen +her at a distance, sometimes on Sundays in the little church at Vivey, +sometimes like a fugitive apparition at the turn of a road. They had +also exchanged formal salutations, but had not spoken to each other. +More than once, after the night had fallen, Julien had stopped in front +of the courtyard of La Thuiliere, and watched the lamps being lighted +inside. But he had not ventured to knock at the door of the house; a +foolish timidity had prevented him; so he had returned to the chateau, +dissatisfied and reproaching himself for allowing his awkward shyness to +interpose, as it were, a wall of ice between himself and the only person +whose acquaintance seemed to him desirable. + +At other times he would become alarmed at the large place a woman +occupied in his thoughts, and he congratulated himself on having resisted +the dangerous temptation of seeing Mademoiselle Vincart again. He +acknowledged that this singular girl had for him an attraction against +which he ought to be on his guard. Reine might be said to live alone at +La Thuiliere, for her father could hardly be regarded seriously as a +protector. Julien's visits might have compromised her, and the young +man's severe principles of rectitude forbade him to cause scandal which +he could not repair. He was not thinking of marriage, and even had his +thoughts inclined that way, the proprieties and usages of society which +he had always in some degree respected, would not allow him to wed a +peasant girl. It was evident, therefore, that both prudence and +uprightness would enjoin him to carry on any future relations with +Mademoiselle Vincart with the greatest possible reserve. + +Nevertheless, and in spite of these sage reflections, the enchanting +image of Reine haunted him more than was at all reasonable. Often, +during his hours of watchfulness, he would see her threading the avenues +of the forest, her dark hair half floating in the breeze, and wearing her +white hood and her skirt bordered with ivy. Since the spring had +returned, she had become associated in his mind with all the magical +effects of nature's renewal. He discovered the liquid light of her dark +eyes in the rippling darkness of the streams; the lilies recalled the +faintly tinted paleness of her cheeks; the silene roses, scattered +throughout the hedges, called forth the remembrance of the young maiden's +rosy lips, and the vernal odor of the leaves appeared to him like an +emanation of her graceful and wholesome nature. + +This state of feeling began to act like an obsession, a sort of +witchcraft, which alarmed him. What was she really, this strange +creature? A peasant indeed, apparently; but there was also something +more refined and cultivated about her, due, doubtless, to her having +received her education in a city school. She both felt and expressed +herself differently from ordinary country girls, although retaining the +frankness and untutored charm of rustic natures. She exercised an uneasy +fascination over Julien, and at times he returned to the superstitious +impression made upon him by Reine's behavior and discourse in the forest. +He again questioned with himself whether this female form, in its untamed +beauty, did not enfold some spirit of temptation, some insidious fairy, +similar to the Melusine, who appeared to Count Raymond in the forest of +Poitiers. + +Most of the time he would himself laugh at this extravagant supposition, +but, while endeavoring to make light of his own cowardice, the idea still +haunted and tormented him. Sometimes, in the effort to rid himself of +the persistence of his own imagination, he would try to exorcise the +demon who had got hold of him, and this exorcism consisted in despoiling +the image of his temptress of the veil of virginal purity with which his +admiration had first invested her. Who could assure him, after all, that +this girl, with her independent ways, living alone at her farm, running +through the woods at all hours, was as irreproachable as he had imagined? +In the village, certainly, she was respected by all; but people were very +tolerant--very easy, in fact--on the question of morals in this district, +where the gallantries of Claude de Buxieres were thought quite natural, +where the illegitimacy of Claudet offended no one's sense of the +proprieties, and where the after-dinner conversations, among the class +considered respectable, were such as Julien had listened to with +repugnance. Nevertheless, even in his most suspicious moods, Julien had +never dared broach the subject to Claudet. + +Every time that the name of Reine Vincart had come to his lips, a feeling +of bashfulness, in addition to his ordinary timidity, had prevented him +from interrogating Claudet concerning the character of this mysterious +queen of the woods. Like all novices in love-affairs Julien dreaded that +his feelings should be divined, at the mere mention of the young girl's +name. He preferred to remain isolated, concentrating in himself his +desires, his trouble and his doubts. + +Yet, whatever efforts he made, and however firmly he adhered to his +resolution of silence, the hypochondria from which he suffered could not +escape the notice of the 'grand chasserot'. He was not clear-sighted +enough to discern the causes, but he could observe the effects. It +provoked him to find that all his efforts to enliven his cousin had +proved futile. He had cudgelled his brains to comprehend whence came +these fits of terrible melancholy, and, judging Julien by himself, came +to the conclusion that his ennui proceeded from an excess of strictness +and good behavior. + +"Monsieur de Buxieres," said he, one evening when they were walking +silently, side by side, in the avenues of the park, which resounded with +the song of the nightingales, "there is one thing that troubles me, and +that is that you do not confide in me." + +"What makes you think so, Claudet?" demanded Julien, with surprise. + +"Paybleu! the way you act. You are, if I may say so, too secretive. +When you wanted to make amends for Claude de Buxieres's negligence, and +proposed that I should live here with you, I accepted without any +ceremony. I hoped that in giving me a place at your fire and your table, +you would also give me one in your affections, and that you would allow +me to share your sorrows, like a true brother comrade--" + +"I assure you, my dear fellow, that you are mistaken. If I had any +serious trouble on my mind, you should be the first to know it." + +"Oh! that's all very well to say; but you are unhappy all the same--one +can see it in your mien, and shall I tell you the reason? It is that you +are too sedate, Monsieur de Buxieres; you have need of a sweetheart to +brighten up your days." + +"Ho, ho!" replied Julien, coloring, "do you wish to have me married, +Claudet?" + +"Ah! that's another affair. No; but still I should like to see you take +some interest in a woman--some gay young person who would rouse you up +and make you have a good time. There is no lack of such in the district, +and you would only have the trouble of choosing." + +M. de Buxieres's color deepened, and he was visibly annoyed. + +"That is a singular proposition," exclaimed he, after awhile; "do you +take me for a libertine?" + +"Don't get on your high horse, Monsieur de Buxieres! There would be no +one hurt. The girls I allude to are not so difficult to approach." + +"That has nothing to do with it, Claudet; I do not enjoy that kind of +amusement." + +"It is the kind that young men of our age indulge in, all the same. +Perhaps you think there would be difficulties in the way. They would not +be insurmountable, I can assure you; those matters go smoothly enough +here. You slip your arm round her waist, give her a good, sounding +salute, and the acquaintance is begun. You have only to improve it!" + +"Enough of this," interrupted Julien, harshly, "we never can agree on +such topics!" + +"As you please, Monsieur de Buxieres; since you do not like the subject, +we will not bring it up again. If I mentioned it at all, it was that I +saw you were not interested in either hunting or fishing, and thought you +might prefer some other kind of game. I do wish I knew what to propose +that would give you a little pleasure," continued Claudet, who was +profoundly mortified at the ill-success of his overtures. "Now! I have +it. Will you come with me to-morrow, to the Ronces woods? The charcoal- +dealers who are constructing their furnaces for the sale, will complete +their dwellings this evening and expect to celebrate in the morning. +They call it watering the bouquet, and it is the occasion of a little +festival, to which we, as well at the presiding officials of the cutting, +are invited. Naturally, the guests pay their share in bottles of wine. +You can hardly be excused from showing yourself among these good people. +It is one of the customs of the country. I have promised to be there, +and it is certain that Reine Vincart, who has bought the Ronces property, +will not fail to be present at the ceremony." + +Julien had already the words on his lips for declining Claudet's offer, +when the name of Reine Vincart produced an immediate change in his +resolution. It just crossed his mind that perhaps Claudet had thrown out +her name as a bait and an argument in favor of his theories on the +facility of love-affairs in the country. However that might be, the +allusion to the probable presence of Mademoiselle Vincart at the coming +fete, rendered young Buxieres more tractable, and he made no further +difficulties about accompanying his cousin. + +The next morning, after partaking hastily of breakfast, they started on +their way toward the cutting. The charcoal-dealers had located +themselves on the border of the forest, not far from the spot where, +in the month of January, Reine and Julien had visited the wood cutters. +Under the sheltering branches of a great ash tree, the newly erected but +raised its peaked roof covered with clods of turf, and two furnaces, just +completed, occupied the ground lately prepared. One of them, ready for +use, was covered with the black earth called 'frazil', which is extracted +from the site of old charcoal works; the other, in course of +construction, showed the successive layers of logs ranged in circles +inside, ready for the fire. The workmen moved around, going and coming; +first, the head-man or patron, a man of middle age, of hairy chest, +embrowned visage, and small beady eyes under bushy eyebrows; his wife, a +little, shrivelled, elderly woman; their daughter, a thin awkward girl of +seventeen, with fluffy hair and a cunning, hard expression; and finally, +their three boys, robust young fellows, serving their apprenticeship at +the trade. This party was reenforced by one or two more single men, and +some of the daughters of the woodchoppers, attracted by the prospect of a +day of dancing and joyous feasting. + +These persons were sauntering in and out under the trees, waiting for the +dinner, which was to be furnished mainly by the guests, the contribution +of the charcoal-men being limited to a huge pot of potatoes which the +patroness was cooking over the fire, kindled in front of the hut. + +The arrival of Julien and Claudet, attended by the small cowboy, puffing +and blowing under a load of provisions, was hailed with exclamations of +gladness and welcome. While one of the assistants was carefully +unrolling the big loaves of white bread, the enormous meat pastry, and +the bottles encased in straw, Reine Vincart appeared suddenly on the +scene, accompanied by one of the farm-hands, who was also tottering under +the weight of a huge basket, from the corners of which peeped the ends of +bottles, and the brown knuckle of a smoked ham. At sight of the young +proprietress of La Thuiliere, the hurrahs burst forth again, with +redoubled and more sustained energy. As she stood there smiling, under +the greenish shadow cast by the ashtrees, Reine appeared to Julien even +more seductive than among the frosty surroundings of the previous +occasion. Her simple and rustic spring costume was marvellously +becoming: a short blue-and-yellow striped skirt, a tight jacket of light- +colored material, fitted closely to the waist, a flat linen collar tied +with a narrow blue ribbon, and a bouquet of woodruff at her bosom. She +wore stout leather boots, and a large straw hat, which she threw +carelessly down on entering the hut. Among so many faces of a different +type, all somewhat disfigured by hardships of exposure, this lovely face +with its olive complexion, lustrous black eyes, and smiling red lips, +framed in dark, soft, wavy hair resting on her plump shoulders, seemed to +spread a sunshiny glow over the scene. It was a veritable portrayal of +the "queen of the woods," appearing triumphant among her rustic subjects. +As an emblem of her royal prerogative, she held in her hand an enormous +bouquet of flowers she had gathered on her way: honeysuckles, columbine, +all sorts of grasses with shivering spikelets, black alder blossoms with +their white centres, and a profusion of scarlet poppies. Each of these +exhaled its own salubrious springlike perfume, and a light cloud of +pollen, which covered the eyelashes and hair of the young girl with a +delicate white powder. + +"Here, Pere Theotime," said she, handing her collection over to the +master charcoal-dealer, "I gathered these for you to ornament the roof of +your dwelling." + +She then drew near to Claudet; gave him her hand in comrade fashion, and +saluted Julien: + +"Good-morning, Monsieur de Buxieres, I am very glad to see you here. +Was it Claudet who brought you, or did you come of your own accord?" + +While Julien, dazed and bewildered, was seeking a reply, she passed +quickly to the next group, going from one to another, and watching with +interest the placing of the bouquet on the summit of the hut. One of the +men brought a ladder and fastened the flowers to a spike. When they were +securely attached and began to nod in the air, he waved his hat and +shouted: "Hou, houp!" This was the signal for going to table. + +The food had been spread on the tablecloth under the shade of the ash- +trees, and all the guests sat around on sacks of charcoal; for Reine and +Julien alone they had reserved two stools, made by the master, and thus +they found themselves seated side by side. Soon a profound, almost +religious, silence indicated that the attack was about to begin; after +which, and when the first fury of their appetites had been appeased, the +tongues began to be loosened: jokes and anecdotes, seasoned with loud +bursts of laughter, were bandied to and fro under the spreading branches, +and presently the wine lent its aid to raise the spirits of the company +to an exuberant pitch. But there was a certain degree of restraint +observed by these country folk. Was it owing to Reine's presence? +Julien noticed that the remarks of the working-people were in a very much +better tone than those of the Auberive gentry, with whom he had +breakfasted; the gayety of these children of the woods, although of a +common kind, was always kept within decent limits, and he never once had +occasion to feel ashamed. He felt more at ease among them than among the +notables of the borough, and he did not regret having accepted Claudet's +invitation. + +"I am glad I came," murmured he in Reine's ear, "and I never have eaten +with so much enjoyment!" + +"Ah! I am glad of it," replied the young girl, gayly, "perhaps now you +will begin to like our woods." + +When nothing was left on the table but bones and empty bottles, Pere +Theotime took a bottle of sealed wine, drew the cork, and filled the +glasses. + +"Now," said he, "before christening our bouquet, we will drink to +Monsieur de Buxieres, who has brought us his good wine, and to our sweet +lady, Mademoiselle Vincart." + +The glasses clinked, and the toasts were drunk with fervor. + +"Mamselle Reine," resumed Pere Theotime, with a certain amount of +solemnity, "you can see, the hut is built; it will be occupied to-night, +and I trust good work will be done. You can perceive from here our first +furnace, all decorated and ready to be set alight. But, in order that +good luck shall attend us, you yourself must set light to the fire. I +ask you, therefore, to ascend to the top of the chimney and throw in the +first embers; may I ask this of your good-nature?" + +"Why, certainly!" replied Reine, "come, Monsieur de Buxieres, you must +see how we light a charcoal furnace." + +All the guests jumped from their seats; one of the men took the ladder +and leaned it against the sloping side of the furnace. Meanwhile, Pere +Theotime was bringing an earthen vase full of burning embers. Reine +skipped lightly up the steps, and when she reached the top, stood erect +near the orifice of the furnace. + +Her graceful outline came out in strong relief against the clear sky; one +by one, she took the embers handed her by the charcoal-dealer, and threw +them into the opening in the middle of the furnace. Soon there was a +crackling inside, followed by a dull rumbling; the chips and rubbish +collected at the bottom had caught fire, and the air-holes left at the +base of the structure facilitated the passage of the current, and +hastened the kindling of the wood. + +"Bravo; we've got it!" exclaimed Pere Theotime. + +"Bravo!" repeated the young people, as much exhilarated with the open +air as with the two or three glasses of white wine they had drunk. Lads +and lasses joined hands and leaped impetuously around the furnace. + +"A song, Reine! Sing us a song!" cried the young girls. + +She stood at the foot of the ladder, and, without further solicitation, +intoned, in her clear and sympathetic voice, a popular song, with a +rhythmical refrain: + + My father bid me + Go sell my wheat. + To the market we drove + "Good-morrow, my sweet! + How much, can you say, + Will its value prove?" + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove. + + + "A hundred francs + Will its value prove." + "When you sell your wheat, + Do you sell your love?" + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove! + + + "My heart, Monsieur, + Will never rove, + I have promised it + To my own true love." + + The embroidered rose + Lies on my glove. + + + "For me he braves + The wind and the rain; + For me he weaves + A silver chain." + + On my 'broidered glove. + Lies the rose again. + + +Repeating the refrain in chorus, boys and girls danced and leaped in the +sunlight. Julien leaned against the trunk of a tree, listening to the +sonorous voice of Reine, and could not take his eyes off the singer. +When she had ended her song, Reine turned in another direction; but the +dancers had got into the spirit of it and could not stand still; one of +the men came forward, and started another popular air, which all the rest +repeated in unison: + + Up in the woods + Sleeps the fairy to-day: + The king, her lover, + Has strolled that way! + Will those who are young + Be married or nay? + Yea, yea! + + +Carried away by the rhythm, and the pleasure of treading the soft grass +under their feet, the dancers quickened their pace. The chain of young +folks disconnected for a moment, was reformed, and twisted in and out +among the trees; sometimes in light, sometimes in shadow, until they +disappeared, singing, into the very heart of the forest. With the +exception of Pere Theotime and his wife, who had gone to superintend the +furnace, all the guests, including Claudet, had joined the gay throng. +Reine and Julien, the only ones remaining behind, stood in the shade near +the borderline of the forest. It was high noon, and the sun's rays, +shooting perpendicularly down, made the shade desirable. Reine proposed +to her companion to enter the hut and rest, while waiting for the return +of the dancers. Julien accepted readily; but not without being surprised +that the young girl should be the first to suggest a tete-a-tete in the +obscurity of a remote hut. Although more than ever fascinated by the +unusual beauty of Mademoiselle Vincart, he was astonished, and +occasionally shocked, by the audacity and openness of her action toward +him. Once more the spirit of doubt took possession of him, and he +questioned whether this freedom of manners was to be attributed to +innocence or effrontery. After the pleasant friendliness of the midday +repast, and the enlivening effect of the dance round the furnace, he was +both glad and troubled to find himself alone with Reine. He longed to +let her know what tender admiration she excited in his mind; but he did +not know how to set about it, nor in what style to address a girl of so +strange and unusual a disposition. So he contented himself with fixing +an enamored gaze upon her, while she stood leaning against one of the +inner posts, and twisted mechanically between her fingers a branch of +wild honeysuckle. Annoyed at his taciturnity, she at last broke the +silence: + +"You are not saying anything, Monsieur de Buxieres; do you regret having +come to this fete?" + +"Regret it, Mademoiselle?" returned he; "it is a long time since I have +had so pleasant a day, and I thank you, for it is to you I owe it." + +"To me? You are joking. It is the good-humor of the people, the spring +sunshine, and the pure air of the forest that you must thank. I have no +part in it." + +"You are everything in it, on the contrary," said he, tenderly. "Before +I knew you, I had met with country people, seen the sun and trees, and so +on, and nothing made any impression on me. But, just now, when you were +singing over there, I felt gladdened and inspired; I felt the beauty of +the woods, I sympathized with these good people, and these grand trees, +all these things among which you live so happily. It is you who have +worked this miracle. Ah! you are well named. You are truly the fairy of +the feast, the queen of the woods!" + +Astonished at the enthusiasm of her companion, Reine looked at him +sidewise, half closing her eyes, and perceived that he was altogether +transformed. He appeared to have suddenly thawed. He was no longer the +awkward, sickly youth, whose every movement was paralyzed by timidity, +and whose words froze on his tongue; his slender frame had become supple, +his blue eyes enlarged and illuminated; his delicate features expressed +refinement, tenderness, and passion. The young girl was moved and won by +so much emotion, the first that Julien had ever manifested toward her. +Far from being offended at this species of declaration, she replied, +gayly: + +"As to the queen of the woods working miracles, I know none so powerful +as these flowers." + +She unfastened the bouquet of white starry woodruff from her corsage, and +handed them over to him in their envelope of green leaves. + +"Do you know them?" said she; "see how sweet they smell! And the odor +increases as they wither." + +Julien had carried the bouquet to his lips, and was inhaling slowly the +delicate perfume. + +"Our woodsmen," she continued, "make with this plant a broth which cures +from ill effects of either cold or heat as if by enchantment; they also +infuse it into white wine, and convert it into a beverage which they call +May wine, and which is very intoxicating." + +Julien was no longer listening to these details. He kept his eyes +steadily fixed on Mademoiselle Vincart, and continued to inhale +rapturously the bouquet, and to experience a kind of intoxication. + +"Let me keep these flowers," he implored, in a choking voice. + +"Certainly," replied she, gayly; "keep them, if it will give you +pleasure." + +"Thank you," he murmured, hiding them in his bosom. + +Reine was surprised at his attaching such exaggerated importance to so +slight a favor, and a sudden flush overspread her cheeks. She almost +repented having given him the flowers when she saw what a tender +reception he had given them, so she replied, suggestively: + +"Do not thank me; the gift is not significant. Thousands of similar +flowers grow in the forest, and one has only to stoop and gather them." + +He dared not reply that this bouquet, having been worn by her, was worth +much more to him than any other, but he thought it, and the thought +aroused in his mind a series of new ideas. As Reine had so readily +granted this first favor, was she not tacitly encouraging him to ask for +others? Was he dealing with a simple, innocent girl, or a village +coquette, accustomed to be courted? And on this last supposition should +he not pass for a simpleton in the eyes of this experienced girl, if he +kept himself at too great a distance. He remembered the advice of +Claudet concerning the method of conducting love-affairs smoothly with +certain women of the country. Whether she was a coquette or not, Reine +had bewitched him. The charm had worked more powerfully still since he +had been alone with her in this obscure hut, where the cooing of the wild +pigeons faintly reached their ears, and the penetrating odors of the +forest pervaded their nostrils. Julien's gaze rested lovingly on Reine's +wavy locks, falling heavily over her neck, on her half-covered eyes with +their luminous pupils full of golden specks of light, on her red lips, +on the two little brown moles spotting her somewhat decollete neck. +He thought her adorable, and was dying to tell her so; but when he +endeavored to formulate his declaration, the words stuck fast in his +throat, his veins swelled, his throat became dry, his head swam. In this +disorder of his faculties he brought to mind the recommendation of +Claudet: "One arm round the waist, two sounding kisses, and the thing is +done." He rose abruptly, and went up to the young girl: + +"Since you have given me these flowers," he began, in a husky voice, +"will you also, in sign of friendship, give me your hand, as you gave it +to Claudet?" + +After a moment's hesitation, she held out her hand; but, hardly had he +touched it when he completely lost control of himself, and slipping the +arm which remained free around Reine's waist, he drew her toward him and +lightly touched with his lips her neck, the beauty of which had so +magnetized him. + +The young girl was stronger than he; in the twinkling of an eye she tore +herself from his audacious clasp, threw him violently backward, and with +one bound reached the door of the hut. She stood there a moment, pale, +indignant, her eyes blazing, and then exclaimed, in a hollow voice: + +"If you come a step nearer, I will call the charcoalmen!" + +But Julien had no desire to renew the attack; already sobered, cowed, and +repentant, he had retreated to the most obscure corner of the dwelling. + +"Are you mad?" she continued, with vehemence, "or has the wine got into +your head? It is rather early for you to be adopting the ways of your +deceased cousin! I give you notice that they will not succeed with me! +"And, at the same moment, tears of humiliation filled her eyes. "I did +not expect this of you, Monsieur de Buxieres!" + +"Forgive me!" faltered Julien, whose heart smote him at the sight of her +tears; "I have behaved like a miserable sinner and a brute! It was a +moment of madness--forget it and forgive me!" + +"Nobody ever treated me with disrespect before," returned the young girl, +in a suffocated voice; "I was wrong to allow you any familiarity, that is +all. It shall not happen to me again!" + +Julien remained mute, overpowered with shame and remorse. Suddenly, in +the stillness around, rose the voices of the dancers returning and +singing the refrain of the rondelay: + + I had a rose-- + On my heart it lay + Will those who are young + Be married, or nay? + Yea, yea! + +"There are our people," said Reine, softly, "I am going to them; adieu-- +do not follow me!" She left the but and hastened toward the furnace, +while Julien, stunned with the rapidity with which this unfortunate scene +had been enacted, sat down on one of the benches, a prey to confused +feelings of shame and angry mortification. No, certainly, he did not +intend to follow her! He had no desire to show himself in public with +this young girl whom he had so stupidly insulted, and in whose face he +never should be able to look again. Decidedly, he did not understand +women, since he could not even tell a virtuous girl from a frivolous +coquette! Why had he not been able to see that the good-natured, simple +familiarity of Reine Vincart had nothing in common with the enticing +allurements of those who, to use Claudet's words, had "thrown their caps +over the wall." How was it that he had not read, in those eyes, pure as +the fountain's source, the candor and uprightness of a maiden heart which +had nothing to conceal. This cruel evidence of his inability to conduct +himself properly in the affairs of life exasperated and humiliated him, +and at the same time that he felt his self-love most deeply wounded, +he was conscious of being more hopelessly enamored of Reine Vincart. +Never had she appeared so beautiful as during the indignant movement +which had separated her from him. Her look of mingled anger and sadness, +the expression of her firm, set lips, the quivering nostrils, the heaving +of her bosom, he recalled it all, and the image of her proud beauty +redoubled his grief and despair. + +He remained a long time concealed in the shadow of the hut. Finally, +when he heard the voices dying away in different directions, and was +satisfied that the charcoal-men were attending to their furnace work, +he made up his mind to come out. But, as he did not wish to meet any +one, instead of crossing through the cutting he plunged into the wood, +taking no heed in what direction he went, and being desirous of walking +alone as long as possible, without meeting a single human visage. + +As he wandered aimlessly through the deepening shadows of the forest, +crossed here and there by golden bars of light from the slanting rays of +the setting sun, he pondered over the probable results of his unfortunate +behavior. Reine would certainly keep silence on the affront she had +received, but would she be indulgent enough to forget or forgive the +insult? The most evident result of the affair would be that henceforth +all friendly relations between them must cease. She certainly would +maintain a severe attitude toward the person who had so grossly insulted +her, but would she be altogether pitiless in her anger? All through his +dismal feelings of self-reproach, a faint hope of reconciliation kept him +from utter despair. As he reviewed the details of the shameful +occurrence, he remembered that the expression of her countenance had been +one more of sorrow than of anger. The tone of melancholy reproach in +which she had uttered the words: "I did not expect this from you, +Monsieur de Buxieres!" seemed to convey the hope that he might, one day, +be forgiven. At the same time, the poignancy of his regret showed him +how much hold the young girl had taken upon his affections, and how +cheerless and insipid his life would be if he were obliged to continue on +unfriendly terms with the woodland queen. + +He had come to this conclusion in his melancholy reflections, when he +reached the outskirts of the forest. + +He stood above the calm, narrow valley of Vivey; on the right, over the +tall ash-trees, peeped the pointed turrets of the chateau; on the left, +and a little farther behind, was visible a whitish line, contrasting with +the surrounding verdure, the winding path to La Thuiliere, through the +meadow-land of Planche-au-Vacher. Suddenly, the sound of voices reached +his ears, and, looking more closely, he perceived Reine and Claudet +walking side by side down the narrow path. The evening air softened the +resonance of the voices, so that the words themselves were not audible, +but the intonation of the alternate speakers, and their confidential and +friendly gestures, evinced a very animated, if not tender, exchange of +sentiments. At times the conversation was enlivened by Claudet's bursts +of laughter, or an amicable gesture from Reine. At one moment, Julien +saw the young girl lay her hand familiarly on the shoulder of the 'grand +chssserot', and immediately a pang of intense jealousy shot through his +heart. At last the young pair arrived at the banks of a stream, which +traversed the path and had become swollen by the recent heavy rains. +Claudet took Reine by the waist and lifted her in his vigorous arms, +while he picked his way across the stream; then they resumed their way +toward the bottom of the pass, and the tall brushwood hid their +retreating forms from Julien's eager gaze, although it was long before +the vibrations of their sonorous voices ceased echoing in his ears. + +"Ah!" thought he, quite overcome by this new development, "she stands +less on ceremony with him than with me! How close they kept to each +other in that lonely path! With what animation they conversed! with +what abandon she allowed herself to be carried in his arms! All that +indicates an intimacy of long standing, and explains a good many things!" + +He recalled Reine's visit to the chateau, and how cleverly she had +managed to inform him of the parentage existing between Claudet and the +deceased Claude de Buxieres; how she had by her conversation raised a +feeling of pity in his mind for Claudet; and a desire to repair the +negligence of the deceased. + +"How could I be so blind!" thought Julien, with secret scorn of himself; +"I did not see anything, I comprehended none of their artifices! They +love each other, that is sure, and I have been playing throughout the +part of a dupe. I do not blame him. He was in love, and allowed himself +to be persuaded. But she! whom I thought so open, so true, so loyal! +Ah! she is no better than others of her class, and she was coquetting +with me in order to insure her lover a position! Well! one more +illusion is destroyed. Ecclesiastes was right. 'Inveni amarivrem morte +mulierem', 'woman is more bitter than death'!" + +Twilight had come, and it was already dark in the forest. Slowly and +reluctantly, Julien descended the slope leading to the chateau, and the +gloom of the woods entered his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LOVE BY PROXY + +Jealousy is a maleficent deity of the harpy tribe; she embitters +everything she touches. + +Ever since the evening that Julien had witnessed the crossing of the +brook by Reine and Claudet, a secret poison had run through his veins, +and embittered every moment of his life. Neither the glowing sun of +June, nor the glorious development of the woods had any charm for him. +In vain did the fields display their golden treasures of ripening corn; +in vain did the pale barley and the silvery oats wave their luxuriant +growth against the dark background of the woods; all these fairylike +effects of summer suggested only prosaic and misanthropic reflections in +Julien's mind. He thought of the tricks, the envy and hatred that the +possession of these little squares of ground brought forth among their +rapacious owners. The prolific exuberance of forest vegetation was an +exemplification of the fierce and destructive activity of the blind +forces of Nature. All the earth was a hateful theatre for the continual +enactment of bloody and monotonous dramas; the worm consuming the plant; +the bird mangling the insect, the deer fighting among themselves, +and man, in his turn, pursuing all kinds of game. He identified nature +with woman, both possessing in his eyes an equally deceiving appearance, +the same beguiling beauty, and the same spirit of ambuscade and perfidy. +The people around him inspired him only with mistrust and suspicion. +In every peasant he met he recognized an enemy, prepared to cheat him +with wheedling words and hypocritical lamentations. Although during the +few months he had experienced the delightful influence of Reine Vincart, +he had been drawn out of his former prejudices, and had imagined he was +rising above the littleness of every-day worries; he now fell back into +hard reality; his feet were again embedded in the muddy ground of village +politics, and consequently village life was a burden to him. + +He never went out, fearing to meet Reine Vincart. He fancied that the +sight of her might aggravate the malady from which he suffered and for +which he eagerly sought a remedy. + +But, notwithstanding the cloistered retirement to which he had condemned +himself, his wound remained open. Instead of solitude having a healing +effect, it seemed to make his sufferings greater. When, in the evening, +as he sat moodily at his window, he would hear Claudet whistle to his +dog, and hurry off in the direction of La Thuiliere, he would say to +himself: "He is going to keep an appointment with Reine." Then a feeling +of blind rage would overpower him; he felt tempted to leave his room and +follow his rival secretly--a moment afterward he would be ashamed of his +meanness. Was it not enough that he had once, although involuntarily, +played the degrading part of a spy! What satisfaction could he derive +from such a course? Would he be much benefited when he returned home +with rage in his heart and senses, after watching a love-scene between +the young pair? This consideration kept him in his seat, but his +imagination ran riot instead; it went galloping at the heels of Claudet, +and accompanied him down the winding paths, moistened by the evening dew. +As the moon rose above the trees, illuminating the foliage with her mild +bluish rays, he pictured to himself the meeting of the two lovers on the +flowery turf bathed in the silvery light. His brain seemed on fire. +He saw Reine in white advancing like a moonbeam, and Claudet passing his +arm around the yielding waist of the maiden. He tried to substitute +himself in idea, and to imagine the delight of the first words of +welcome, and the ecstasy of the prolonged embrace. A shiver ran through +his whole body; a sharp pain transfixed his heart; his throat closed +convulsively; half fainting, he leaned against the window-frame, his eyes +closed, his ears stopped, to shut out all sights or sounds, longing only +for oblivion and complete torpor of body and mind. + +He did not realize his longing. The enchanting image of the woodland +queen, as he had beheld her in the dusky light of the charcoal-man's hut, +was ever before him. He put his hands over his eyes. She was there +still, with her deep, dark eyes and her enticing cherry lips. Even the +odor of the honeysuckle arising from the garden assisted the reality of +the vision, by recalling the sprig of the same flower which Reine was +twisting round her fingers at their last interview. This sweet breath +of flowers in the night seemed like an emanation from the young girl +herself, and was as fleeting and intangible as the remembrance of +vanished happiness. Again and again did his morbid nature return to past +events, and make his present position more unbearable. + +"Why," thought he, "did I ever entertain so wild a hope? This wood- +nymph, with her robust yet graceful figure, her clear-headedness, her +energy and will-power, could she ever have loved a being so weak and +unstable as myself? No, indeed; she needs a lover full of life and +vigor; a huntsman, with a strong arm, able to protect her. What figure +should I cut by the side of so hearty and well-balanced a fellow?" + +In these fits of jealousy, he was not so angry with Claudet for being +loved by Reine as for having so carefully concealed his feelings. And +yet, while inwardly blaming him for this want of frankness, he did not +realize that he himself was open to a similar accusation, by hiding from +Claudet what was troubling him so grievously. + +Since the evening of the inauguration festival, he had become sullen and +taciturn. Like all timid persons, he took refuge in a moody silence, +which could not but irritate his cousin. They met every day at the same +table; to all appearance their intimacy was as great as ever, but, in +reality, there was no mutual exchange of feeling. Julien's continued +ill-humor was a source of anxiety to Claudet, who turned his brain almost +inside out in endeavoring to discover its cause. He knew he had done +nothing to provoke any coolness; on the contrary, he had set his wits to +work to show his gratitude by all sorts of kindly offices. + +By dint of thinking the matter over, Claudet came to the conclusion that +perhaps Julien was beginning to repent of his generosity, and that +possibly this coolness was a roundabout way of manifesting his change of +feeling. This seemed to be the only plausible solution of his cousin's +behavior. "He is probably tired," thought he, "of keeping us here at the +chateau, my mother and myself." + +Claudet's pride and self-respect revolted at this idea. He did not +intend to be an incumbrance on any one, and became offended in his turn +at the mute reproach which he imagined he could read in his cousin's +troubled countenance. This misconception, confirmed by the obstinate +silence of both parties, and aggravated by its own continuance, at last +produced a crisis. + +It happened one night, after they had taken supper together, and Julien's +ill-humor had been more evident than usual. Provoked at his persistent +taciturnity, and more than ever convinced that it was his presence that +young de Buxieres objected to, Claudet resolved to force an explanation. +Instead, therefore, of quitting the dining-room after dessert, and +whistling to his dog to accompany him in his habitual promenade, the +'grand chasserot' remained seated, poured out a small glass of brandy, +and slowly filled his pipe. Surprised to see that he was remaining at +home, Julien rose and began to pace the floor, wondering what could be +the reason of this unexpected change. As suspicious people are usually +prone to attribute complicated motives for the most simple actions, +he imagined that Claudet, becoming aware of the jealous feeling he had +excited, had given up his promenade solely to mislead and avert +suspicion. This idea irritated him still more, and halting suddenly in +his walk, he went up to Claudet and said, brusquely: + +"You are not going out, then?" + +"No;" replied Claudet, "if you will permit me, I will stay and keep you +company. Shall I annoy you?" + +"Not in the least; only, as you are accustomed to walk every evening, I +should not wish you to inconvenience yourself on my account. I am not +afraid of being alone, and I am not selfish enough to deprive you of +society more agreeable than mine." + +"What do you mean by that?" cried Claudet, pricking up his ears. + +"Nothing," muttered Julien, between his set teeth, "except that your +fancied obligation of keeping me company ought not to prevent you missing +a pleasant engagement, or keeping a rendezvous." + +"A rendezvous," replied his interlocutor, with a forced laugh, "so you +think, when I go out after supper, I go to seek amusement. A rendezvous! +And with whom, if you please?" + +"With your mistress, of course," replied Julien, sarcastically, "from +what you said to me, there is no scarcity here of girls inclined to be +good-natured, and you have only the trouble of choosing among them. +I supposed you were courting some woodman's young daughter, or some +pretty farmer girl, like--like Reine Vincart." + +"Refine Vincart!" repeated Claudet, sternly, "what business have you to +mix up her name with those creatures to whom you refer? Mademoiselle +Vincart," added he, "has nothing in common with that class, and you have +no right, Monsieur de Buxieres, to use her name so lightly!" + +The allusion to Reine Vincart had agitated Claudet to such a degree that +he did not notice that Julien, as he pronounced her name, was as much +moved as himself. + +The vehemence with which Claudet resented the insinuation increased young +de Buxieres's irritation. + +"Ha, ha!" said he, laughing scornfully, "Reine Vincart is an exceedingly +pretty girl!" + +"She is not only pretty, she is good and virtuous, and deserves to be +respected." + +"How you uphold her! One can see that you are interested in her." + +"I uphold her because you are unjust toward her. But I wish you to +understand that she has no need of any one standing up for her--her good +name is sufficient to protect her. Ask any one in the village--there is +but one voice on that question." + +"Come," said Julien, huskily, "confess that you are in love with her." + +"Well! suppose I am," said Claudet, angrily, "yes, I love her! There, +are you satisfied now?" + +Although de Buxieres knew what he had to expect, he was not the less +affected by so open an avowal thrust at him, as it were. He stood for a +moment, silent; then, with a fresh burst of rage: + +"You love her, do you? Why did you not tell me before? Why were you not +more frank with me?" + +As he spoke, gesticulating furiously, in front of the open window, the +deep red glow of the setting sun, piercing through the boughs of the ash- +trees, threw its bright reflections on his blazing eyeballs and convulsed +features. His interlocutor, leaning against the opposite corner of the +window-frame, noticed, with some anxiety, the extreme agitation of his +behavior, and wondered what could be the cause of such emotion. + +"I? Not frank with you! Ah, that is a good joke, Monsieur de Buxieres! +Naturally, I should not go proclaiming on the housetops that I have a +tender feeling for Mademoiselle Vincart, but, all the same, I should have +told you had you asked me sooner. I am not reserved; but, you must +excuse my saying it, you are walled in like a subterranean passage. One +can not get at the color of your thoughts. I never for a moment imagined +that you were interested in Reine, and you never have made me +sufficiently at home to entertain the idea of confiding in you on that +subject." + +Julien remained silent. He had reseated himself at the table, where, +leaning his head in his hands, he pondered over what Claudet had said. +He placed his hand so as to screen his eyes, and bit his lips as if a +painful struggle was going on within him. The splendors of the setting +sun had merged into the dusky twilight, and the last piping notes of the +birds sounded faintly among the sombre trees. A fresh breeze had sprung +up, and filled the darkening room with the odor of honeysuckle. + +Under the soothing influence of the falling night, Julien slowly raised +his head, and addressing Claudet in a low and measured voice like a +father confessor interrogating a penitent, said: + +"Does Reine know that you love her?" + +"I think she must suspect it," replied Claudet, "although I never have +ventured to declare myself squarely. But girls are very quick, Reine +especially. They soon begin to suspect there is some love at bottom, +when a young man begins to hang around them too frequently." + +"You see her often, then?" + +"Not as often as I should like. But, you know, when one lives in the +same district, one has opportunities of meeting--at the beech harvest, +in the woods, at the church door. And when you meet, you talk but +little, making the most of your time. Still, you must not suppose, +as I think you did, that we have rendezvous in the evening. Reine +respects herself too much to go about at night with a young man as +escort, and besides, she has other fish to fry. She has a great deal to +do at the farm, since her father has become an invalid." + +"Well, do you think she loves you?" said Julien, with a movement of +nervous irritation. + +"I can not tell," replied Claudet shrugging his shoulders, "she has +confidence in me, and shows me some marks of friendship, but I never have +ventured to ask her whether she feels anything more than friendship for +me. Look here, now. I have good reasons for keeping back; she is rich +and I am poor. You can understand that I would not, for any +consideration, allow her to think that I am courting her for her money--" + +"Still, you desire to marry her, and you hope that she will not say no-- +you acknowledge that!" cried Julien, vociferously. + +Claudet, struck with the violence and bitterness of tone of his +companion, came up to him. + +"How angrily you say that, Monsieur de Buxieres!" exclaimed he in his +turn; "upon my word, one might suppose the affair is very displeasing to +you. Will you let me tell you frankly an idea that has already entered +my head several times these last two or three days, and which has come +again now, while I have been listening to you? It is that perhaps you, +yourself, are also in love with Reine?" + +"I!" protested Julien. He felt humiliated at Claudet's perspicacity; +but he had too much pride and selfrespect to let his preferred rival know +of his unfortunate passion. He waited a moment to swallow something in +his throat that seemed to be choking him, and then, trying in vain to +steady his voice, he added: + +"You know that I have an aversion for women; and for that matter, I think +they return it with interest. But, at all events, I am not foolish +enough to expose myself to their rebuffs. Rest assured, I shall not +follow at your heels!" + +Claudet shook his head incredulously. + +"You doubt it," continued de Buxieres; "well, I will prove it to you. +You can not declare your wishes because Reine is rich and you are poor? +I will take charge of the whole matter." + +"I--I do not understand you," faltered Claudet, bewildered at the strange +turn the conversation was taking. + +"You will understand-soon," asserted Julien, with a gesture of both +decision and resignation. + +The truth was, he had made one of those resolutions which seem illogical +and foolish at first sight, but are natural to minds at once timid and +exalted. The suffering caused by Claudet's revelations had become so +acute that he was alarmed. He recognized with dismay the disastrous +effects of this hopeless love, and determined to employ a heroic remedy +to arrest its further ravages. This was nothing less than killing his +love, by immediately getting Claudet married to Reine Vincart. +Sacrifices like this are easier to souls that have been subjected since +their infancy to Christian discipline, and accustomed to consider the +renunciation of mundane joys as a means of securing eternal salvation. +As soon as this idea had developed in Julien's brain, he seized upon it +with the precipitation of a drowning man, who distractedly lays hold of +the first object that seems to offer him a means of safety, whether it be +a dead branch or a reed. + +"Listen," he resumed; "at the very first explanation that we had +together, I told you I did not intend to deprive you of your right to a +portion of your natural father's inheritance. Until now, you have taken +my word for it, and we have lived at the chateau like two brothers. +But now that a miserable question of money alone prevents you from +marrying the woman you love, it is important that you should be legally +provided for. We will go to-morrow to Monsieur Arbillot, and ask him to +draw up the deed, making over to you from me one half of the fortune of +Claude de Buxieres. You will then be, by law, and in the eyes of all, +one of the desirable matches of the canton, and you can demand the hand +of Mademoiselle Vincart, without any fear of being thought presumptuous +or mercenary." + +Claudet, to whom this conclusion was wholly unexpected, was +thunderstruck. His emotion was so great that it prevented him from +speaking. In the obscurity of the room his deep-set eyes seemed larger, +and shone with the tears he could not repress. + +"Monsieur Julien," said he, falteringly, "I can not find words to thank +you. I am like an idiot. And to think that only a little while ago I +suspected you of being tired of me, and regretting your benefits toward +me! What an animal I am! I measure others by myself. Well! can you +forgive me? If I do not express myself well, I feel deeply, and all I +can say is that you have made me very happy!" He sighed heavily. +"The question is now," continued he, "whether Reine will have me! You +may not believe me, Monsieur de Buxieres, but though I may seem very bold +and resolute, I feel like a wet hen when I get near her. I have a +dreadful panic that she will send me away as I came. I don't know +whether I can ever find courage to ask her." + +"Why should she refuse you?" said Julien, sadly, "she knows that you +love her. Do you suppose she loves any one else?" + +"That I don't know. Although Reine is very frank, she does not let every +one know what is passing in her mind, and with these young girls, I tell +you, one is never sure of anything. That is just what I fear may be +possible." + +"If you fear the ordeal," said de Buxieres, with a visible effort, "would +you like me to present the matter for you?" + +"I should be very glad. It would be doing me a great service. It would +be adding one more kindness to those I have already received, and some +day I hope to make it all up to you." + +The next morning, according to agreement, Julien accompanied Claudet to +Auberive, where Maitre Arbillot drew up the deed of gift, and had it at +once signed and recorded. Afterward the young men adjourned to breakfast +at the inn. The meal was brief and silent. Neither seemed to have any +appetite. As soon as they had drunk their coffee, they turned back on +the Vivey road; but, when they had got as far as the great limetree, +standing at the entrance to the forest, Julien touched Claudet lightly on +the shoulder. + +"Here," said he, "we must part company. You will return to Vivey, and I +shall go across the fields to La Thuiliere. I shall return as soon as I +have had an interview with Mademoiselle Vincart. Wait for me at the +chateau." + +"The time will seem dreadfully long to me," sighed Claudet; "I shall not +know how to dispose of my body until you return." + +"Your affair will be all settled within two or three hours from now. +Stay near the window of my room, and you will catch first sight of me +coming along in the distance. If I wave my hat, it will be a sign that I +bring a favorable answer." + +Claudet pressed his hand; they separated, and Julien descended the newly +mown meadow, along which he walked under the shade of trees scattered +along the border line of the forest. + +The heat of the midday sun was tempered by a breeze from the east, which +threw across the fields and woods the shadows of the white fleecy clouds. +The young man, pale and agitated, strode with feverish haste over the +short-cropped grass, while the little brooklet at his side seemed to +murmur a flute-like, soothing accompaniment to the tumultuous beatings of +his heart. He was both elated and depressed at the prospect of +submitting his already torn and lacerated feelings to so severe a trial. +The thought of beholding Reine again, and of sounding her feelings, gave +him a certain amount of cruel enjoyment. He would speak to her of love-- +love for another, certainly--but he would throw into the declaration he +was making, in behalf of another, some of his own tenderness; he would +have the supreme and torturing satisfaction of watching her countenance, +of anticipating her blushes, of gathering the faltering avowal from her +lips. He would once more drink of the intoxication of her beauty, and +then he would go and shut himself up at Vivey, after burying at La +Thuiliere all his dreams and profane desires. But, even while the +courage of this immolation of his youthful love was strong within him, +he could not prevent a dim feeling of hope from crossing his mind. +Claudet was not certain that he was beloved; and possibly Reine's answer +would be a refusal. Then he should have a free field. + +By a very human, but very illogical impulse, Julien de Buxieres had +hardly concluded the arrangement with Claudet which was to strike the +fatal blow to his own happiness when he began to forestall the +possibilities which the future might have in store for him. The odor of +the wild mint and meadow-sweet, dotting the banks of the stream, again +awoke vague, happy anticipations. Longing to reach Reine Vincart's +presence, he hastened his steps, then stopped suddenly, seized with an +overpowering panic. He had not seen her since the painful episode in the +hut, and it must have left with her a very sorry impression. What could +he do, if she refused to receive him or listen to him? + +While revolting these conflicting thoughts in his mind, he came to the +fields leading directly to La Thuiliere, and just beyond, across a waving +mass of oats and rye, the shining tops of the farm-buildings came in +sight. A few minutes later, he pushed aside a gate and entered the yard. + +The shutters were closed, the outer gate was closed inside, and the house +seemed deserted. Julien began to think that the young girl he was +seeking had gone into the fields with the farm-hands, and stood uncertain +and disappointed in the middle of the courtyard. At this sudden +intrusion into their domain, a brood of chickens, who had been clucking +sedately around, and picking up nourishment at the same time, scattered +screaming in every direction, heads down, feet sprawling, until by +unanimous consent they made a beeline for a half-open door, leading to +the orchard. Through this manoeuvre, the young man's attention was +brought to the fact that through this opening he could reach the rear +facade of the building. He therefore entered a grassy lane, winding +round a group of stones draped with ivy; and leaving the orchard on his +left, he pushed on toward the garden itself--a real country garden with +square beds bordered by mossy clumps alternating with currant-bushes, +rows of raspberry-trees, lettuce and cabbage beds, beans and runners +climbing up their slender supports, and, here and there, bunches of red +carnations and peasant roses. + +Suddenly, at the end of a long avenue, he discovered Reine Vincart, +seated on the steps before an arched door, communicating with the +kitchen. A plum-tree, loaded with its violet fruit, spread its light +shadow over the young girl's head, as she sat shelling fresh-gathered +peas and piling the faint green heaps of color around her. The sound of +approaching steps on the grassy soil caused her to raise her head, but +she did not stir. In his intense emotion, Julien thought the alley never +would come to an end. He would fain have cleared it with a single bound, +so as to be at once in the presence of Mademoiselle Vincart, whose +immovable attitude rendered his approach still more difficult. +Nevertheless, he had to get over the ground somehow at a reasonable pace, +under penalty of making himself ridiculous, and he therefore found plenty +of time to examine Reine, who continued her work with imperturbable +gravity, throwing the peas as she shelled them into an ash-wood pail at +her feet. + +She was bareheaded, and wore a striped skirt and a white jacket fitted to +her waist. The checkered shadows cast by the tree made spots of light +and darkness over her face and her uncovered neck, the top button of her +camisole being unfastened on account of the heat. De Buxieres had been +perfectly well recognized by her, but an emotion, at least equal to that +experienced by the young man, had transfixed her to the spot, and a +subtle feminine instinct had urged her to continue her employment, in +order to hide the sudden trembling of her fingers. During the last +month, ever since the adventure in the hut, she had thought often of +Julien; and the remembrance of the audacious kiss which the young de +Buxieres had so impetuously stolen from her neck, invariably brought the +flush of shame to her brow. But, although she was very indignant at the +fiery nature of his caress, as implying a want of respect little in +harmony with Julien's habitual reserve, she was astonished at herself for +not being still more angry. At first, the affront put upon her had +roused a feeling of indignation, but now, when she thought of it, +she felt only a gentle embarrassment, and a soft beating of the heart. +She began to reflect that to have thus broken loose from all restraint +before her, this timid youth must have been carried away by an +irresistible burst of passion, and any woman, however high-minded she may +be, will forgive such violent homage rendered to the sovereign power of +her beauty. Besides his feeding of her vanity, another independent and +more powerful motive predisposed her to indulgence: she felt a tender and +secret attraction toward Monsieur de Buxieres. This healthy and +energetic girl had been fascinated by the delicate charm of a nature so +unlike her own in its sensitiveness and disposition to self-blame. +Julien's melancholy blue eyes had, unknown to himself, exerted a magnetic +influence on Reine's dark, liquid orbs, and, without endeavoring to +analyze the sympathy that drew her toward a nature refined and tender +even to weakness, without asking herself where this unreflecting instinct +might lead her, she was conscious of a growing sentiment toward him, +which was not very much unlike love itself. + +Julien de Buxieres's mood was not sufficiently calm to observe anything, +or he would immediately have perceived the impression that his sudden +appearance had produced upon Reine Vincart. As soon as he found himself +within a few steps of the young girl, he saluted her awkwardly, and she +returned his bow with marked coldness. Extremely disconcerted at this +reception, he endeavored to excuse himself for having invaded her +dwelling in so unceremonious a manner. + +"I am all the more troubled," added he, humbly, "that after what has +happened, my visit must appear to you indiscreet, if not improper." + +Reine, who had more quickly recovered her self-possession, pretended not +to understand the unwise allusion that had escaped the lips of her +visitor. She rose, pushed away with her foot the stalks and pods, which +encumbered the passage, and replied, very shortly: + +"You are excused, Monsieur. There is no need of an introduction to enter +La Thuiliere. Besides, I suppose that the motive which has brought you +here can only be a proper one." + +While thus speaking, she shook her skirt down, and without any +affectation buttoned up her camisole. + +"Certainly, Mademoiselle," faltered Julien, "it is a most serious and +respectable motive that causes me to wish for an interview, and--if--I do +not disturb you--" + +"Not in the least, Monsieur; but, if you wish to speak with me, it is +unnecessary for you to remain standing. Allow me to fetch you a chair." + +She went into the house, leaving the young man overwhelmed with the +coolness of his reception; a few minutes later she reappeared, bringing a +chair, which she placed under the tree. "Sit here, you will be in the +shade." + +She seated herself on the same step as before, leaning her back against +the wall, and her head on her hand. + +"I am ready to listen to you," she said. + +Julien, much less under his own control than she, discovered that his +mission was more difficult than he had imagined it would be; he +experienced a singular amount of embarrassment in unfolding his subject; +and was obliged to have recourse to prolonged inquiries concerning the +health of Monsieur Vincart. + +"He is still in the same condition," said Reine, "neither better nor +worse, and, with the illness which afflicts him, the best I can hope for +is that he may remain in that condition. But," continued she, with a +slight inflection of irony; "doubtless it is not for the purpose of +inquiring after my father's health that you have come all the way from +Vivey?" + +"That is true, Mademoiselle," replied he, coloring. "What I have to +speak to you about is a very delicate matter. You will excuse me, +therefore, if I am somewhat embarrassed. I beg of you, Mademoiselle, to +listen to me with indulgence." + +"What can he be coming to?" thought Reine, wondering why he made so many +preambles before beginning. And, at the same time, her heart began to +beat violently. + +Julien took the course taken by all timid people after meditating for a +long while on the best way to prepare the young girl for the +communication he had taken upon himself to make--he lost his head and +inquired abruptly: + +"Mademoiselle Reine, do you not intend to marry?" + +Reine started, and gazed at him with a frightened air. + +"I!" exclaimed she, "Oh, I have time enough and I am not in a hurry." +Then, dropping her eyes: "Why do you ask that?" + +"Because I know of some one who loves you and who would be glad to marry +you." + +She became very pale, took up one of the empty pods, twisted it nervously +around her finger without speaking. + +"Some one belonging to our neighborhood?" she faltered, after a few +moments' silence. + +"Yes; some one whom you know, and who is not a recent arrival here. +Some one who possesses, I believe, sterling qualities sufficient to make +a good husband, and means enough to do credit to the woman who will wed +him. Doubtless you have already guessed to whom I refer?" + +She sat motionless, her lips tightly closed, her features rigid, but the +nervous twitching of her fingers as she bent the green stem back and +forth, betrayed her inward agitation. + +"No; I can not tell," she replied at last, in an almost inaudible voice. + +"Truly?" he exclaimed, with an expression of astonishment, in which was +a certain amount of secret satisfaction; "you can not tell whom I mean? +You have never thought of the person of whom I am speaking in that +light?" + +"No; who is that person?" + +She had raised her eyes toward his, and they shone with a deep, +mysterious light. + +"It is Claudet Sejournant," replied Julien, very gently; and in an +altered tone. + +The glow that had illumined the dark orbs of the young girl faded away, +her eyelids dropped, and her countenance became as rigid as before; but +Julien did not notice anything. The words he had just uttered had cost +him too much agony, and he dared not look at his companion, lest he +should behold her joyful surprise, and thereby aggravate his suffering. + +"Ah!" said Reine, coldly, "in that case, why did not Claudet come +himself and state his own case?" + +"His courage failed him at the last moment--and so--" + +"And so," continued she, with sarcastic bitterness of tone, "you took +upon yourself to speak for him?" + +"Yes; I promised him I would plead his cause. I was sure, moreover, that +I should not have much difficulty in gaining the suit. Claudet has loved +you for a long time. He is good-hearted, and a fine fellow to look at. +And as to worldly advantages, his position is now equal to your own. +I have made over to him, by legal contract, the half of his father's +estate. What answer am I to take back?" + +He spoke with difficulty in broken sentences, without turning his eyes +toward Mademoiselle Vincart. The silence that followed his last question +seemed to him unbearable, and the contrasting chirping of the noisy +grasshoppers, and the buzzing of the flies in the quiet sunny garden, +resounded unpleasantly in his ears. + +Reine remained speechless. She was disconcerted and well-nigh +overpowered by the unexpected announcement, and her brain seemed unable +to bear the crowd of tumultuous and conflicting emotions which presented +themselves. Certainly, she had already suspected that Claudet had a +secret liking for her, but she never had thought of encouraging the +feeling. The avowal of his hopes neither surprised nor hurt her; that +which pained her was the intervention of Julien, who had taken in hand +the cause of his relative. Was it possible that this same M. de +Buxieres, who had made so audacious a display of his tender feeling in +the hut, could now come forward as Claudet's advocate, as if it were the +most natural thing in the world for him to do? In that case, his +astonishing behavior at the fete, which had caused her so much pain, +and which she had endeavored to excuse in her own mind as the untutored +outbreak of his pentup love, that fiery caress, was only the insulting +manifestation of a brutal caprice? The transgressor thought so little of +her, she was of such small importance in his eyes, that he had no +hesitation in proposing that she marry Claudet? She beheld herself +scorned, humiliated, insulted by the only man in whom she ever had felt +interested. In the excess of her indignation she felt herself becoming +hardhearted and violent; a profound discouragement, a stony indifference +to all things, impelled her to extreme measures, and, not being able at +the moment to find any one on whom she could put them in operation, she +was almost tempted to lay violent hands on herself. + +"What shall I say to Claudet?" repeated Julien, endeavoring to conceal +the suffering which was devouring his heart by an assumption of outward +frigidity. + +She turned slowly round, fixed her searching eyes, which had become as +dark as waters reflecting a stormy sky, upon his face, and demanded, in +icy tones: + +"What do you advise me to say?" + +Now, if Julien had been less of a novice, he would have understood that a +girl who loves never addresses such a question; but the feminine heart +was a book in which he was a very poor speller. He imagined that Reine +was only asking him as a matter of form, and that it was from a feeling +of maidenly reserve that she adopted this passive method of escaping from +openly declaring her wishes. She no doubt desired his friendly aid in +the matter, and he felt as if he ought to grant her that satisfaction. + +"I have the conviction," stammered he, "that Claudet will make a good +husband, and you will do well to accept him." + +Reine bit her lip, and her paleness increased so as to set off still more +the fervid lustre of her eyes. The two little brown moles stood out more +visibly on her white neck, and added to her attractions. + +"So be it!" exclaimed she, "tell Claudet that I consent, and that he +will be welcome at La Thuiliere." + +"I will tell him immediately." He bent gravely and sadly before Reine, +who remained standing and motionless against the door. "Adieu, +Mademoiselle!" + +He turned away abruptly; plunged into the first avenue he came to, lost +his way twice and finally reached the courtyard, and thence escaped at +breakneck speed across the fields. + +Reine maintained her statue-like pose as long as the young man's +footsteps resounded on the stony paths; but when they died gradually away +in the distance, when nothing could be heard save the monotonous trill of +the grasshoppers basking in the sun, she threw herself down on the green +heap of rubbish; she covered her face with her hands and gave way to a +passionate outburst of tears and sobs. + +In the meanwhile, Julien de Buxieres, angry with himself, irritated by +the speedy success of his mission, was losing his way among the +pasturages, and getting entangled in the thickets. All the details of +the interview presented themselves before his mind with remorseless +clearness. He seemed more lonely, more unfortunate, more disgusted with +himself and with all else than he ever had been before. Ashamed of the +wretched part he had just been enacting, he felt almost childish +repugnance to returning to Vivey, and tried to pick out the paths that +would take him there by the longest way. But he was not sufficiently +accustomed to laying out a route for himself, and when he thought he had +a league farther to go, and had just leaped over an intervening hedge, +the pointed roofs of the chateau appeared before him at a distance of not +more than a hundred feet, and at one of the windows on the first floor he +could distinguish Claudet, leaning for ward, as if to interrogate him. + +He remembered then the promise he had made the young huntsman; and +faithful to his word, although with rage and bitterness in his heart, +he raised his hat, and with effort, waved it three times above his head. +At this signal, the forerunner of good news, Claudet replied by a +triumphant shout, and disappeared from the window. A moment later, +Julien heard the noise of furious galloping down the enclosures of the +park. It was the lover, hastening to learn the particulars of the +interview. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +I measure others by myself +Like all timid persons, he took refuge in a moody silence +Others found delight in the most ordinary amusements +Sensitiveness and disposition to self-blame +Women: they are more bitter than death +Yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh their amusements +You must be pleased with yourself--that is more essential + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of A Woodland Queen, v2 +by Andre Theuriet + + + + + + +A WOODLAND QUEEN +('Reine des Bois') + +By ANDRE THEURIET + + + +BOOK 3. + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE STRANGE, DARK SECRET + +Julien had once entertained the hope that Claudet's marriage with Reine +would act as a kind of heroic remedy for the cure of his unfortunate +passion, he very soon perceived that he had been wofully mistaken. As +soon as he had informed the grand chasserot of the success of his +undertaking, he became aware that his own burden was considerably +heavier. Certainly it had been easier for him to bear uncertainty than +the boisterous rapture evinced by his fortunate rival. His jealousy rose +against it, and that was all. Now that he had torn from Reine the avowal +of her love for Claudet, he was more than ever oppressed by his hopeless +passion, and plunged into a condition of complete moral and physical +disintegration. It mingled with his blood, his nerves, his thoughts, and +possessed him altogether, dwelling within him like an adored and +tyrannical mistress. Reine appeared constantly before him as he had +contemplated her on the outside steps of the farmhouse, in her never-to- +be-forgotten negligee of the short skirt and the half-open bodice. He +again beheld the silken treasure of her tresses, gliding playfully around +her shoulders, the clear, honest look of her limpid eyes, the expressive +smile of her enchanting lips, and with a sudden revulsion of feeling he +reflected that perhaps before a month was over, all these charms would +belong to Claudct. Then, almost at the same moment, like a swallow, +which, with one rapid turn of its wing, changes its course, his thoughts +went in the opposite direction, and he began to imagine what would have +happened if, instead of replying in the affirmative, Reine had objected +to marrying Claudet. He could picture himself kneeling before her as +before the Madonna, and in a low voice confessing his love. He would +have taken her hands so respectfully, and pleaded so eloquently, that she +would have allowed herself to be convinced. The little, hands would have +remained prisoners in his own; he would have lifted her tenderly, +devotedly, in his arms, and under the influence of this feverish dream, +he fancied he could feel the beating heart of the young girl against his +own bosom. Suddenly he would wake up out of his illusions, and bite his +lips with rage on finding himself in the dull reality of his own +dwelling. + +One day he heard footsteps on the gravel; a sonorous and jovial voice met +his ear. It was Claudet, starting for La Thuiliere. Julien bent forward +to see him, and ground his teeth as he watched his joyous departure. The +sharp sting of jealousy entered his soul, and he rebelled against the +evident injustice of Fate. How had he deserved that life should present +so dismal and forbidding an aspect to him? He had had none of the joys +of infancy; his youth had been spent wearily under the peevish discipline +of a cloister; he had entered on his young manhood with all the +awkwardness and timidity of a night-bird that is made to fly in the day. +Up to the age of twenty-seven years, he had known neither love nor +friendship; his time had been given entirely to earning his daily bread, +and to the cultivation of religious exercises, which consoled him in some +measure for his apparently useless way of living. Latterly, it is true, +Fortune had seemed to smile upon him, by giving him a little more money +and liberty, but this smile was a mere mockery, and a snare more hurtful +than the pettinesses and privations of his past life. The fickle +goddess, continuing her part of mystifier, had opened to his enraptured +sight a magic window through which she had shown him a charming vision of +possible happiness; but while he was still gazing, she had closed it +abruptly in his face, laughing scornfully at his discomfiture. What +sense was there in this perversion of justice, this perpetual mockery of +Fate? At times the influence of his early education would resume its +sway, and he would ask himself whether all this apparent contradiction +were not a secret admonition from on high, warning him that he had not +been created to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of this world, and ought, +therefore, to turn his attention toward things eternal, and renounce the +perishable delights of the flesh? + +"If so," thought he, irreverently, "the warning comes rather late, and it +would have answered the purpose better had I been allowed to continue in +the narrow way of obscure poverty!" Now that the enervating influence of +a more prosperous atmosphere had weakened his courage, and cooled the +ardor of his piety, his faith began to totter like an old wall. His +religious beliefs seemed to have been wrecked by the same storm which had +destroyed his passionate hopes of love, and left him stranded and forlorn +without either haven or pilot, blown hither and thither solely by the +violence of his passion. + +By degrees he took an aversion to his home, and would spend entire days +in the woods. Their secluded haunts, already colored by the breath of +autumn, became more attractive to him as other refuge failed him. They +were his consolation; his doubts, weakness, and amorous regrets, found +sympathy and indulgence under their silent shelter. He felt less lonely, +less humiliated, less prosaic among these great forest depths, these +lofty ash-trees, raising their verdant branches to heaven. He found he +could more easily evoke the seductive image of Reine Vincart in these +calm solitudes, where the recollections of the previous springtime +mingled with the phantoms of his heated imagination and clothed +themselves with almost living forms. He seemed to see the young girl +rising from the mists of the distant valleys. The least fluttering of +the leaves heralded her fancied approach. At times the hallucination was +so complete that he could see, in the interlacing of the branches, the +undulations of her supple form, and the graceful outlines of her profile. +Then he would be seized by an insane desire to reach the fugitive and +speak to her once more, and would go tearing along the brushwood for that +purpose. Now and then, in the half light formed by the hanging boughs, +he would see rays of golden light, coming straight down to the ground, +and resting there lightly like diaphanous apparitions. Sometimes the +rustling of birds taking flight, would sound in his ears like the timid +frou-frou of a skirt, and Julien, fascinated by the mysterious charm of +these indefinite objects, and following the impulse of their mystical +suggestions, would fling himself impetuously into the jungle, repeating +to him self the words of the "Canticle of Canticles": "I hear the voice +of my beloved; behold! she cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping +upon the hills." He would continue to press forward in pursuit of the +intangible apparition, until he sank with exhaustion near some stream or +fountain. Under the influence of the fever, which was consuming his +brain, he would imagine the trickling water to be the song of a feminine +voice. He would wind his arms around the young saplings, he would tear +the berries from the bushes, pressing them against his thirsty lips, and +imagining their odoriferous sweetness to be a fond caress from the loved +one. + +He would return from these expeditions exhausted but not appeased. +Sometimes he would come across Claudet, also returning home from paying +his court to Reine Vincart; and the unhappy Julien would scrutinize his +rival's countenance, seeking eagerly for some trace of the impressions he +had received during the loving interview. His curiosity was nearly +always baffled; for Claudet seemed to have left all his gayety and +conversational powers at La Thuiliere. During their tete-a-tete meals, +he hardly spoke at all, maintaining a reserved attitude and a taciturn +countenance. Julien, provoked at this unexpected sobriety, privately +accused his cousin of dissimulation, and of trying to conceal his +happiness. His jealousy so blinded him that he considered the silence of +Claudet as pure hypocrisy not recognizing that it was assumed for the +purpose of concealing some unpleasantness rather than satisfaction. + +The fact was that Claudet, although rejoicing at the turn matters had +taken, was verifying the poet's saying: "Never is perfect happiness our +lot." When Julien brought him the good news, and he had flown so +joyfully to La Thuiliere, he had certainly been cordially received by +Reine, but, nevertheless, he had noticed with surprise an absent and +dreamy look in her eyes, which did not agree with his idea of a first +interview of lovers. When he wished to express his affection in the +vivacious and significant manner ordinarily employed among the peasantry, +that is to say, by vigorous embracing and resounding kisses, he met with +unexpected resistance. + +"Keep quiet!" was the order, "and let us talk rationally!" + +He obeyed, although not agreeing in her view of the reserve to be +maintained between lovers; but, he made up his mind to return to the +charge and triumph over her bashful scruples. In fact, he began again +the very next day, and his impetuous ardor encountered the same refusal +in the same firm, though affectionate manner. He ventured to complain, +telling Reine that she did not love him as she ought. + +"If I did not feel friendly toward you," replied the young girl, +laconically, "should I have allowed you to talk to me of marriage?" + +Then, seeing that he looked vexed and worried, and realizing that she was +perhaps treating him too roughly, she continued, more gently: + +"Remember, Claudet, that I am living all alone at the farm. That obliges +me to have more reserve than a girl whose mother is with her. So you +must not be offended if I do not behave exactly as others might, and rest +assured that it will not prevent me from being a good wife to you, when +we are married." + +"Well, now," thought Claudet, as he was returning despondently to Vivey: +"I can't help thinking that a little caress now and then wouldn't hurt +any one!" + +Under these conditions it is not to be supposed he was in a mood to +relate any of the details of such meagre lovemaking. His self-love was +wounded by Reine's coldness. Having always been "cock-of-the-walk," he +could not understand why he had such poor success with the only one about +whom he was in earnest. He kept quiet, therefore, hiding his anxiety +under the mask of careless indifference. Moreover, a certain primitive +instinct of prudence made him circumspect. In his innermost soul, he +still entertained doubts of Julien's sincerity. Sometimes he doubted +whether his cousin's conduct had not been dictated by the bitterness of +rejected love, rather than a generous impulse of affection, and he did +not care to reveal Reine's repulse to one whom he vaguely suspected of +being a former lover. His simple, ardent nature could not put up with +opposition, and he thought only of hastening the day when Reine would +belong to him altogether. But, when he broached this subject, he had the +mortification to find that she was less impatient than himself. + +"There is no hurry," she replied, "our affairs are not in order, our +harvests are not housed, and it would be better to wait till the dull +season." + +In his first moments of joy and effervescence, Claudet had evinced the +desire to announce immediately the betrothal throughout the village. +This Reine had opposed; she thought they should avoid awakening public +curiosity so long beforehand, and she extracted from Claudet a promise to +say nothing until the date of the marriage should be settled. He had +unwillingly consented, and thus, during the last month, the matter had +been dragging on indefinitely: + +With Julien de Buxieres, this interminable delay, these incessant comings +and goings from the chateau to the farm, as well as the mysterious +conduct of the bridegroom-elect, became a subject of serious irritation, +amounting almost to obsession. He would have wished the affair hurried +up, and the sacrifice consummated without hindrance. He believed that +when once the newly-married pair had taken up their quarters at La +Thuiliere, the very certainty that Reine belonged in future to another +would suffice to effect a radical cure in him, and chase away the +deceptive phantoms by which he was pursued. + +One evening, as Claudet was returning home, more out of humor and silent +than usual, Julien asked him, abruptly: + +"Well! how are you getting along? When is the wedding?" + +"Nothing is decided yet," replied Claudet, "we have time enough!" + +"You think so?" exclaimed de Buxieres, sarcastically; "you have +considerable patience for a lover!" + +The remark and the tone provoked Claudet. + +"The delay is not of my making," returned he. + +"Ah!" replied the other, quickly, "then it comes from Mademoiselle +Vincart?" And a sudden gleam came into his eyes, as if Claudet's +assertion had kindled a spark of hope in his breast. The latter noticed +the momentary brightness in his cousin's usually stormy countenance, and +hastened to reply: + +"Nay, nay; we both think it better to postpone the wedding until the +harvest is in." + +"You are wrong. A wedding should not be postponed. Besides, this +prolonged love-making, these daily visits to the farm--all that is not +very proper. It is compromising for Mademoiselle Vincart!" + +Julien shot out these remarks with a degree of fierceness and violence +that astonished Claudet. + +"You think, then," said he, "that we ought to rush matters, and have the +wedding before winter?" + +"Undoubtedly!" + +The next day, at La Thuiliere, the grand chasserot, as he stood in the +orchard, watching Reine spread linen on the grass, entered bravely on the +subject. + +"Reine," said he, coaxingly, "I think we shall have to decide upon a day +for our wedding." + +She set down the watering-pot with which she was wetting the linen, and +looked anxiously at her betrothed. + +"I thought we had agreed to wait until the later season. Why do you wish +to change that arrangement?" + +"That is true; I promised not to hurry you, Reine, but it is beyond me to +wait--you must not be vexed with me if I find the time long. Besides, +they know nothing, around the village, of our intentions, and my coming +here every day might cause gossip and make it unpleasant for you. At any +rate, that is the opinion of Monsieur de Buxieres, with whom I was +conferring only yesterday evening." + +At the name of Julien, Reine frowned and bit her lip. + +"Aha!" said she, "it is he who has been advising you?" + +"Yes; he says the sooner we are married, the better it will be." + +"Why does he interfere in what does not concern him?" said she, angrily, +turning her head away. She stood a moment in thought, absently pushing +forward the roll of linen with her foot. Then, shrugging her shoulders +and raising her head, she said slowly, while still avoiding Claudet's +eyes: + +"Perhaps you are right--both of you. Well, let it be so! I authorize +you to go to Monsieur le Cure and arrange the day with him." + +"Oh, thanks, Reine!" exclaimed Claudet, rapturously; "you make me very +happy!" + +He pressed her hands in his, but though absorbed in his own joyful +feelings, he could not help remarking that the young girl was trembling +in his grasp. He even fancied that there was a suspicious, tearful +glitter in her brilliant eyes. + +He left her, however, and repaired at once to the cure's house, which +stood near the chateau, a little behind the church. + +The servant showed him into a small garden separated by a low wall from +the cemetery. He found the Abbe Pernot seated on a stone bench, +sheltered by a trellised vine. He was occupied in cutting up pieces of +hazel-nuts to make traps for small birds. + +"Good-evening, Claudet!" said the cure, without moving from his work; +"you find me busy preparing my nets; if you will permit me, I will +continue, for I should like to have my two hundred traps finished by this +evening. The season is advancing, you know! The birds will begin their +migrations, and I should be greatly provoked if I were not equipped in +time for the opportune moment. And how is Monsieur de Buxieres? I trust +he will not be less good-natured than his deceased cousin, and that he +will allow me to spread my snares on the border hedge of his woods. +But," added he, as he noticed the flurried, impatient countenance of his +visitor, "I forgot to ask you, my dear young fellow, to what happy chance +I owe your visit? Excuse my neglect!" + +"Don't mention it, Monsieur le Cure. You have guessed rightly. It is a +very happy circumstance which brings me. I am about to marry." + +"Aha!" laughed the Abbe, "I congratulate you, my dear young friend. +This is really delightful news. It is not good for man to be alone, and +I am glad to know you must give up the perilous life of a bachelor. +Well, tell me quickly the name of your betrothed. Do I know her?" + +"Of course you do, Monsieur le Cure; there are few you know so well. It +is Mademoiselle Vincart." + +"Reine?" + +The Abbe flung away the pruning-knife and branch that he was cutting, and +gazed at Claudet with a stupefied air. At the same time, his jovial face +became shadowed, and his mouth assumed an expression of consternation. + +"Yes, indeed, Reine Vincart," repeated Claudet, somewhat vexed at the +startled manner of his reverence; "are you surprised at my choice?" + +"Excuse me-and-is it all settled?" stammered the Abbe, with +bewilderment, "and--and do you really love each other?" + +"Certainly; we agree on that point; and I have come here to arrange with +you about having the banns published." + +"What! already?" murmured the cure, buttoning and unbuttoning the top +of his coat in his agitation, "you seem to be in a great hurry to go to +work. The union of the man and the woman--ahem--is a serious matter, +which ought not to be undertaken without due consideration. That is the +reason why the Church has instituted the sacrament of marriage. Hast +thou well considered, my son?" + +"Why, certainly, I have reflected," exclaimed Claudet with some +irritation, "and my mind is quite made up. Once more, I ask you, +Monsieur le Cure, are you displeased with my choice, or have you anything +to say against Mademoiselle Vincart?" + +"I? no, absolutely nothing. Reine is an exceedingly good girl." + +"Well, then?" + +"Well, my friend, I will go over to-morrow and see your fiancee, and we +will talk matters over. I shall act for the best, in the interests of +both of you, be assured of that. In the meantime, you will both be +united this evening in my prayers; but, for to-day, we shall have to stop +where we are. Good-evening, Claudet! I will see you again." + +With these enigmatic words, he dismissed the young lover, who returned to +the chateau, vexed and disturbed by his strange reception. + +The moment the door of the presbytery had closed behind Claudet, the Abbe +Pernot, flinging to one side all his preparations, began to pace +nervously up and down the principal garden-walk. He appeared completely +unhinged. His features were drawn, through an unusual tension of ideas +forced upon him. He had hurriedly caught his skullcap from his head, as +if he feared the heat of his meditation might cause a rush of blood to +the head. He quickened his steps, then stopped suddenly, folded his arms +with great energy, then opened them again abruptly to thrust his hands +into the pockets of his gown, searching through them with feverish +anxiety, as if he expected to find something which might solve obscure +and embarrassing questions. + +"Good Lord! Good Lord! What a dreadful piece of business; and right in +the bird season, too! But I can say nothing to Claudet. It is a secret +that does not belong to me. How can I get out of it? Tutt! tutt! tutt!" + +These monosyllabic ejaculations broke forth like the vexed clucking of a +frightened blackbird; after which relief, the Abbe resumed his fitful +striding up and down the box-bordered alley. This lasted until the hour +of twilight, when Augustine, the servant, as soon as the Angelus had +sounded, went to inform her master that they were waiting prayers for him +in the church. He obeyed the summons, although in a somewhat absent +mood, and hurried over the services in a manner which did not contribute +to the edification of the assistants. As soon as he got home, he ate his +Supper without appetite, mumbled his prayers, and shut himself up in the +room he used as a study and workshop. He remained there until the night +was far advanced, searching through his scanty library to find two dusty +volumes treating of "cases of conscience," which he looked eagerly over +by the feeble light of his study lamp. During this laborious search he +emitted frequent sighs, and only left off reading occasionally in order +to dose himself plentifully with snuff. At last, as he felt that his +eyes were becoming inflamed, his ideas conflicting in his brain, and as +his lamp was getting low, he decided to go to bed. But he slept badly, +turned over at least twenty times, and was up with the first streak of +day to say his mass in the chapel. He officiated with more dignity and +piety than was his wont; and after reading the second gospel he remained +for a long while kneeling on one of the steps of the altar. After he had +returned to the sacristy, he divested himself quickly of his sacerdotal +robes, reached his room by a passage of communication, breakfasted +hurriedly, and putting on his three-cornered hat, and seizing his knotty, +cherry-wood cane, he shot out of doors as if he had been summoned to a +fire. + +Augustine, amazed at his precipitate departure, went up to the attic, +and, from behind the shelter of the skylight, perceived her master +striding rapidly along the road to Planche-au-Vacher. There she lost +sight of him--the underwood was too thick. But, after a few minutes, the +gaze of the inquisitive woman was rewarded by the appearance of a dark +object emerging from the copse, and defining itself on the bright pasture +land beyond. "Monsieur le Cure is going to La Thuiliere," thought she, +and with this half-satisfaction she descended to her daily occupations. + +It was true, the Abbe Pernot was walking, as fast as he could, to the +Vincart farm, as unmindful of the dew that tarnished his shoe-buckles as +of the thorns which attacked his calves. He had that within him which +spurred him on, and rendered him unconscious of the accidents on his +path. Never, during his twenty-five years of priestly office, had a more +difficult question embarrassed his conscience. The case was a grave one, +and moreover, so urgent that the Abbe was quite at a loss how to proceed. +How was it that he never had foreseen that such a combination of +circumstances might occur? A priest of a more fervent spirit, who had +the salvation of his flock more at heart, could not have been taken so +unprepared. Yes; that was surely the cause! The profane occupations in +which he had allowed himself to take so much enjoyment, had distracted +his watchfulness and obscured his perspicacity. Providence was now +punishing him for his lukewarmness, by interposing across his path this +stumbling-block, which was probably sent to him as a salutary warning, +but which he saw no way of getting over. + +While he was thus meditating and reproaching himself, the thrushes were +calling to one another from the branches of their favorite trees; whole +flights of yellowhammers burst forth from the hedges red with haws; but +he took no heed of them and did not even give a single thought to his +neglected nests and snares. + +He went straight on, stumbling over the juniper bushes, and wondering +what he should say when he reached the farm, and how he should begin. +Sometimes he addressed himself, thus: "Have I the right to speak? What a +revelation! And to a young girl! Oh, Lord, lead me in the straight way +of thy truth, and instruct me in the right path!" + +As he continued piously repeating this verse of the Psalmist, in order to +gain spiritual strength, the gray roofs of La Thuiliere rose before him; +he could hear the crowing of the cocks and the lowing of the cows in the +stable. Five minutes after, he had pushed open the door of the kitchen +where La Guite was arranging the bowls for breakfast. + +"Good-morning, Guitiote," said he, in a choking voice; "is Mademoiselle +Vincart up?" + +"Holy Virgin! Monsieur le Cure! Why, certainly Mademoiselle is up. +She was on foot before any of us, and now she is trotting around the +orchard. I will go fetch her." + +"No, do not stir. I know the way, and I will go and find her myself." + +She was in the orchard, was she? The Abbe preferred it should be so; he +thought the interview would be less painful, and that the surrounding +trees would give him ideas. He walked across the kitchen, descended the +steps leading from the ground floor to the garden, and ascended the slope +in search of Reine, whom he soon perceived in the midst of a bower formed +by clustering filbert-trees. + +At sight of the cure, Reine turned pale; he had doubtless come to tell +her the result of his interview with Claudet, and what day had been +definitely chosen for the nuptial celebration. She had been troubled all +night by the reflection that her fate would soon be irrevocably scaled; +she had wept, and her eyes betrayed it. Only the day before, she had +looked upon this project of marriage, which she had entertained in a +moment of anger and injured feeling, as a vague thing, a vaporous +eventuality of which the realization was doubtful; now, all was arranged, +settled, cruelly certain; there was no way of escaping from a promise +which Claudet, alas! was bound to consider a serious one. These +thoughts traversed her mind, while the cure was slowly approaching the +filbert-trees; she felt her heart throb, and her eyes again filled with +tears. Yet her pride would not allow that the Abbe should witness her +irresolution and weeping; she made an effort, overcame the momentary +weakness, and addressed the priest in an almost cheerful voice: + +"Monsieur le Cure, I am sorry that they have made you come up this hill +to find me. Let us go back to the farm, and I will offer you a cup of +coffee." + +"No, my child," replied the Abbe, motioning with his hand that she should +stay where she was, "no, thank you! I will not take anything. Remain +where you are. + +"I wish to talk to you, and we shall be less liable to be disturbed here." + +There were two rustic seats under the nut-trees; the cure took one and +asked Reine to take the other, opposite to him. There they were, under +the thick, verdant branches, hidden from indiscreet passers-by, +surrounded by silence, installed as in a confessional. + +The morning quiet, the solitude, the half light, all invited meditation +and confidence; nevertheless the young girl and the priest sat +motionless; both agitated and embarrassed and watching each other without +uttering a sound. It was Reine who first broke the silence. + +"You have seen Claudet, Monsieur le Cure?" + +"Yes, yes!" replied the Abbe, sighing deeply. + +"He--spoke to you of our-plans," continued the young girl, in a quavering +voice, "and you fixed the day?" + +"No, my child, we settled nothing. I wanted to see you first, and +converse with you about something very important." + +The Abbe hesitated, rubbed a spot of mud off his soutane, raised his +shoulders like a man lifting a heavy burden, then gave a deep cough. + +"My dear child," continued he at length, prudently dropping his voice a +tone lower, "I will begin by repeating to you what I said yesterday to +Claudet Sejournant: the marriage, that is to say, the indissoluble union, +of man and woman before God, is one of the most solemn and serious acts +of life. The Church has constituted it a sacrament, which she +administers only on certain formal conditions. Before entering into this +bond, one ought, as we are taught by Holy Writ, to sound the heart, +subject the very inmost of the soul to searching examinations. I beg of +you, therefore, answer my questions freely, without false shame, just as +if you were at the tribunal of repentance. Do you love Claudet?" + +Reine trembled. This appeal to her sincerity renewed all her +perplexities and scruples. She raised her full, glistening eyes to the +cure, and replied, after a slight hesitation: + +"I have a sincere affection for Claudet-and-much esteem." + +"I understand that," replied the priest, compressing his lips, "but-- +excuse me if I press the matter--has the engagement you have made with +him been determined simply by considerations of affection and +suitableness, or by more interior and deeper feelings?" + +"Pardon, Monsieur le Cure," returned Reine, coloring, "it seems to me +that a sentiment of friendship, joined to a firm determination to prove a +faithful and devoted wife, should be, in your eyes as they are in mine, a +sufficient assurance that--" + +"Certainly, certainly, my dear child; and many husbands would be +contented with less. However, it is not only a question of Claudet's +happiness, but of yours also. Come now! let me ask you: is your +affection for young Sejournant so powerful that in the event of any +unforeseen circumstance happening, to break off the marriage, you would +be forever unhappy?" + +"Ah!" replied Reine, more embarrassed than ever, "you ask too grave a +question, Monsieur le Cure! If it were broken off without my having to +reproach myself for it, it is probable that I should find consolation in +time." + +"Very good! Consequently, you do not love Claudet, if I may take the +word love in the sense understood by people of the world. You only like, +you do not love him? Tell me. Answer frankly." + +"Frankly, Monsieur le Cure, no!" + +"Thanks be to God! We are saved!" exclaimed the Abbe, drawing a long +breath, while Reine, amazed, gazed at him with wondering eves. + +"I do not understand you," faltered she; "what is it?" + +"It is this: the marriage can not take place." + +"Can not? why?" + +"It is impossible, both in the eyes of the Church and in those of the +world." + +The young girl looked at him with increasing amazement. + +"You alarm me!" cried she. "What has happened? What reasons hinder me +from marrying Claudet?" + +"Very powerful reasons, my dear child. I do not feel at liberty to +reveal them to you, but you must know that I am not speaking without +authority, and that you may rely on the statement I have made." + +Reine remained thoughtful, her brows knit, her countenance troubled. + +"I have every confidence in you, Monsieur le Cure, but--" + +"But you hesitate about believing me," interrupted the Abbe, piqued at +not finding in one of his flock the blind obedience on which he had +reckoned. "You must know, nevertheless, that your pastor has no interest +in deceiving you, and that when he seeks to influence you, he has in view +only your well-being in this world and in the next." + +"I do not doubt your good intentions," replied Reine, with firmness, "but +a promise can not be annulled without sufficient cause. I have given my +word to Claudet, and I am too loyal at heart to break faith with him +without letting him know the reason." + +"You will find some pretext." + +"And supposing that Claudet would be content with such a pretext, my own +conscience would not be," objected the young girl, raising her clear, +honest glance toward the priest; "your words have entered my soul, they +are troubling me now, and it will be worse when I begin to think this +matter over again. I can not bear uncertainty. I must see my way +clearly before me. I entreat you then, Monsieur le Cure, not to do +things by halves. You have thought it your duty to tell me I can not wed +with Claudet; now tell me why not?" + +"Why not? why not?" repeated the Abbe, angrily. "I distress myself in +telling you that I am not authorized to satisfy your unwise curiosity! +You must humble your intelligence and believe without arguing." + +"In matters of faith, that may be possible," urged Reine, obstinately, +"but my marriage has nothing to do with discussing the truths of our holy +religion. I therefore respectfully ask to be enlightened, Monsieur le +Cure; otherwise--" + +"Otherwise?" repeated the Abby Pernot, inquiringly, rolling his eyes +uneasily. + +"Otherwise, I shall keep my word respectably, and I shall marry Claudet." + +"You will not do that?" said he, imploringly, joining his hands as if in +supplication; "after being openly warned by me, you dare not burden your +soul with such a terrible responsibility. Come, my child, does not the +possibility of committing a mortal sin alarm your conscience as a +Christian?" + +"I can not sin if I am in ignorance, and as to my conscience, Monsieur le +Cure, do you think it is acting like a Christian to alarm without +enlightening?" + +"Is that your last word?" inquired the Abbe, completely aghast. + +"It is my last word," she replied, vehemently, moved both by a feeling of +self-respect, and a desire to force the hand of her interlocutor. + +"You are a proud, obstinate girl!" exclaimed the Abbe, rising abruptly, +"you wish to compel me to reveal this secret! Well, have your way! +I will tell you. May the harm which may result from it fall lightly upon +you, and do not hereafter reproach me for the pain I am about to inflict +upon you." + +He checked himself for a moment, again joined his hands, and raising his +eyes toward heaven ejaculated fervently, as if repeating his devotions in +the oratory: "O Lord, thou knowest I would have spared her this bitter +cup, but, between two evils, I have avoided the greater. If I forfeit my +solemn promise, consider, O Lord, I pray thee, that I do it to avoid +disgrace and exposure for her, and deign to forgive thy servant!" + +He seated himself again, placed one of his hands before his eyes, and +began, in a hollow voice, Reine, all the while gazing nervously at him: + +"My child, you are forcing me to violate a secret which has been solemnly +confided to me. It concerns a matter not usually talked about before +young girls, but you are, I believe, already a woman in heart and +understanding, and you will hear resignedly what I have to tell you, +however much the recital may trouble you. I have already informed you +that your marriage with Claudet is impossible. I now declare that it +would be criminal, for the reason that incest is an abomination." + +"Incest!" repeated Reine, pale and trembling, "what do you mean?" + +"I mean," sighed the cure, "that you are Claudet's sister, not having the +same mother, but the same father: Claude-Odouart de Buxieres." + +"Oh! you are mistaken! that cannot be!" + +"I am stating facts. It grieves me to the heart, my dear child, that in +speaking of your deceased mother, I should have to reveal an error over +which she lamented, like David, with tears of blood. She confessed her +sin, not to the priest, but to a friend, a few days before her death. +In justice to her memory, I ought to add that, like most of the +unfortunates seduced by this untamable de Buxieres, she succumbed to his +wily misrepresentations. She was a victim rather than an accomplice. +The man himself acknowledged as much in a note entrusted to my care, +which I have here." + +And the Abbe' drew from his pocket an old, worn letter, the writing +yellow with age, and placed it before Reine. In this letter, written in +Claude de Buxieres's coarse, sprawling hand, doubtless in reply to a +reproachful appeal from his mistress, he endeavored to offer some kind of +honorable amends for the violence he had used, and to calm Madame +Vincart's remorse by promising, as was his custom, to watch over the +future of the child which should be born to her. + +"That child was yourself, my poor girl," continued the Abbe, picking up +the letter which Reine had thrown down, after reading it, with a gesture +of sickened disgust. + +She appeared not to hear him. She had buried her face in her hands, to +hide the flushing of her cheeks, and sat motionless, altogether crushed +beneath the shameful revelation; convulsive sobs and tremblings +occasionally agitating her frame. + +"You can now understand," continued the priest, "how the announcement of +this projected marriage stunned and terrified me. I could not confide to +Claudet the reason for my stupefaction, and I should have been thankful +if you could have understood so that I could have spared you this cruel +mortification, but you would not take any intimation from me. And now, +forgive me for inflicting this cross upon you, and bear it with courage, +with Christian fortitude." + +"You have acted as was your duty," murmured Reine, sadly, "and I thank +you, Monsieur le Cure!" + +"And will you promise me to dismiss Claudet at once--today?" + +"I promise you." + +The Abbe Pernot advanced to take her hand, and administer some words of +consolation; but she evaded, with a stern gesture, the good man's pious +sympathy, and escaped toward the dwelling. + +The spacious kitchen was empty when she entered. The shutters had been +closed against the sun, and it had become cool and pleasant. Here and +there, among the copper utensils, and wherever a chance ray made a gleam +of light, the magpie was hopping about, uttering short, piercing cries. +In the recess of the niche containing the colored prints, sat the old man +Vincart, dozing, in his usual supine attitude, his hands spread out, his +eyelids drooping, his mouth half open. At the sound of the door, his +eyes opened wide. He rather guessed at, than saw, the entrance of the +young girl, and his pallid lips began their accustomed refrain: "Reine! +Rei-eine!" + +Reine flew impetuously toward the paralytic old man, threw herself on her +knees before him, sobbing bitterly, and covered his hands with kisses. +Her caresses were given in a more respectful, humble, contrite manner +than ever before. + +"Oh! father--father!" faltered she; "I loved you always, I shall love +you now with all my heart and soul!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LOVE'S SAD ENDING + +The kitchen was bright with sunshine, and the industrious bees were +buzzing around the flowers on the window-sills, while Reine was +listlessly attending to culinary duties, and preparing her father's meal. +The humiliating disclosures made by the Abbe Pernot weighed heavily upon +her mind. She foresaw that Claudet would shortly be at La Thuiliere in +order to hear the result of the cure's visit; but she did not feel +sufficiently mistress of herself to have a decisive interview with him at +such short notice, and resolved to gain at least one day by absenting +herself from the farm. It seemed to her necessary that she should have +that length of time to arrange her ideas, and evolve some way of +separating Claudet and herself without his suspecting the real motive of +rupture. So, telling La Guite to say that unexpected business had called +her away, she set out for the woods of Maigrefontaine. + +Whenever she had felt the need of taking counsel with herself before +deciding on any important matter, the forest had been her refuge and her +inspiration. The refreshing solitude of the valleys, watered by living +streams, acted as a strengthening balm to her irresolute will; her soul +inhaled the profound peace of these leafy retreats. By the time she had +reached the inmost shade of the forest her mind had become calmer, and +better able to unravel the confusion of thoughts that surged like +troubled waters through her brain. The dominant idea was, that her self- +respect had been wounded; the shock to her maidenly modesty, and the +shame attendant upon the fact, affected her physically, as if she had +been belittled and degraded by a personal stain; and this downfall caused +her deep humiliation. By slow degrees, however, and notwithstanding this +state of abject despair, she felt, cropping up somewhere in her heart, a +faint germ of gladness, and, by close examination, discovered its origin: +she was now loosed from her obligations toward Claudet, and the prospect +of being once more free afforded her immediate consolation. + +She had so much regretted, during the last few weeks, the feeling of +outraged pride which had incited her to consent to this marriage; her +loyal, sincere nature had revolted at the constraint she had imposed upon +herself; her nerves had been so severely taxed by having to receive her +fiance with sufficient warmth to satisfy his expectations, and yet not +afford any encouragement to his demonstrative tendencies, that the +certainty of her newly acquired freedom created a sensation of relief and +well-being. But, hardly had she analyzed and acknowledged this sensation +when she reproached herself for harboring it when she was about to cause +Claudet such affliction. + +Poor Claudet! what a cruel blow was in store for him! He was so +guilelessly in love, and had such unbounded confidence in the success of +his projects! Reine was overcome by tender reminiscences. She had +always experienced, as if divining by instinct the natural bonds which +united them, a sisterly affection for Claudet. Since their earliest +infancy, at the age when they learned their catechism under the church +porch, they had been united in a bond of friendly fellowship. With +Reine, this tender feeling had always remained one of friendship, but, +with Claudet, it had ripened into love; and now, after allowing the poor +young fellow to believe that his love was reciprocated, she was forced to +disabuse him. It was useless for her to try to find some way of +softening the blow; there was none. Claudet was too much in love to +remain satisfied with empty words; he would require solid reasons; and +the only conclusive one which would convince him, without wounding his +self-love, was exactly the one which the young girl could not give him. +She was, therefore, doomed to send Claudet away with the impression that +he had been jilted by a heartless and unprincipled coquette. And yet +something must be done. The grand chasserot had been too long already in +the toils; there was something barbarously cruel in not freeing him from +his illusions. + +In this troubled state of mind, Reine gazed appealingly at the silent +witnesses of her distress. She heard a voice within her saying to the +tall, vaulted ash, "Inspire me!" to the little rose-colored centaurea of +the wayside, "Teach me a charm to cure the harm I have done!" But the +woods, which in former days had been her advisers and instructors, +remained deaf to her invocation. For the first time, she felt herself +isolated and abandoned to her own resources, even in the midst of her +beloved forest. + +It is when we experience these violent mental crises, that we become +suddenly conscious of Nature's cold indifference to our sufferings. She +really is nothing more than the reflex of our own sensations, and can +only give us back what we lend her. Beautiful but selfish, she allows +herself to be courted by novices, but presents a freezing, emotionless +aspect to those who have outlived their illusions. + +Reine did not reach home until the day had begun to wane. La Guite +informed her that Claudet had waited for her during part of the +afternoon, and that he would come again the next day at nine o'clock. +Notwithstanding her bodily fatigue, she slept uneasily, and her sleep was +troubled by feverish dreams. Every time she closed her eyes, she fancied +herself conversing with Claudet, and woke with a start at the sound of +his angry voice. + +She arose at dawn, descended at once to the lower floor, to get through +her morning tasks, and as soon as the big kitchen clock struck nine, she +left the house and took the path by which Claudet would come. A feeling +of delicate consideration toward her lover had impelled her to choose for +her explanation any other place than the one where she had first received +his declaration of love, and consented to the marriage. Very soon he +came in sight, his stalwart figure outlined against the gray landscape. +He was walking rapidly; her heart smote her, her hands became like ice, +but she summoned all her fortitude, and went bravely forward to meet him. + +When he came within forty or fifty feet, he recognized Reine, and took a +short cut across the stubble studded with cobwebs glistening with dew. + +"Aha! my Reine, my queen, good-morning!" cried he, joyously, "it is +sweet of you to come to meet me!" + +"Good-morning, Claudet. I came to meet you because I wish to speak with +you on matters of importance, and I preferred not to have the +conversation take place in our house. Shall we walk as far as the +Planche-au-Vacher?" + +He stopped short, astonished at the proposal and also at the sad and +resolute attitude of his betrothed. He examined her more closely, +noticed her deep-set eyes, her cheeks, whiter than usual. + +"Why, what is the matter, Reine?" he inquired; "you are not yourself; do +you not feel well?" + +"Yes, and no. I have passed a bad night, thinking over matters that are +troubling me, and I think that has produced some fever." + +"What matters? Any that concern us?" + +"Yes;" replied she, laconically. + +Claudet opened his eyes. The young girl's continued gravity began to +alarm him; but, seeing that she walked quickly forward, with an absent +air, her face lowered, her brows bent, her mouth compressed, he lost +courage and refrained from asking her any questions. They walked on thus +in silence, until they came to the open level covered with juniper- +bushes, from which solitary place, surrounded by hawthorn hedges, they +could trace the narrow defile leading to Vivey, and the faint mist +beyond. + +"Let us stop here," said Reine, seating herself on a flat, mossy stone, +"we can talk here without fear of being disturbed." + +"No fear of that," remarked Claudet, with a forced smile, "with the +exception of the shepherd of Vivey, who comes here sometimes with his +cattle, we shall not see many passers-by. It must be a secret that you +have to tell me, Reine?" he added. + +"No;" she returned, "but I foresee that my words will give you pain, my +poor Claudet, and I prefer you should hear them without being annoyed by +the farm-people passing to and fro." + +"Explain yourself!" he exclaimed, impetuously. "For heaven's sake, +don't keep me in suspense!" + +"Listen, Claudet. When you asked my hand in marriage, I answered yes, +without taking time to reflect. But, since I have been thinking over our +plans, I have had scruples. My father is becoming every day more of an +invalid, and in his present state I really have no right to live for any +one but him. One would think he was aware of our intentions, for since +you have been visiting at the farm, he is more agitated and suffers more. +I think that any change in his way of living would bring on a stroke, and +I never should forgive myself if I thought I had shortened his life. +That is the reason why, as long as I have him with me, I do not see that +it will be possible for me to dispose of myself. On the other hand, I do +not wish to abuse your patience. I therefore ask you to take back your +liberty and give me back my promise." + +"That is to say, you won't have me!" he exclaimed. + +"No; my poor friend, it means only that I shall not marry so long as my +father is living, and that I can not ask you to wait until I am perfectly +free. Forgive me for having entered into the engagement too carelessly, +and do not on that account take your friendship from me." + +"Reine," interrupted Claudet, angrily, "don't turn your brain inside out +to make me believe that night is broad day. I am not a child, and I see +very well that your father's health is only a pretext. You don't want +me, that's all, and, with all due respect, you have changed your mind +very quickly! Only the day before yesterday you authorized me to arrange +about the day for the ceremony with the Abbe Pernot. Now that you have +had a visit from the cure, you want to put the affair off until the week +when two Sundays come together! I am a little curious to know what that +confounded old abbe has been babbling about me, to turn you inside out +like a glove in such a short time." + +Claudet's conscience reminded him of several rare frolics, chance love- +affairs, meetings in the woods, and so on, and he feared the priest might +have told Reine some unfavorable stories about him. "Ah!" he continued, +clenching his fists, "if this old poacher in a cassock has done me an ill +turn with you, he will not have much of a chance for paradise!" + +"Undeceive yourself," said Reine, quickly, "Monsieur le Cure is your +friend, like myself; he esteems you highly, and never has said anything +but good of you." + +"Oh, indeed!" sneered the young man, "as you are both so fond of me, how +does it happen that you have given me my dismissal the very day after +your interview with the cure?" + +Reine, knowing Claudet's violent disposition, and wishing to avoid +trouble for the cure, thought it advisable to have recourse to evasion. + +"Monsieur le Cure," said she, "has had no part in my decision. He has +not spoken against you, and deserves no reproaches from you." + +"In that case, why do you send me away?" + +"I repeat again, the comfort and peace of my father are paramount with +me, and I do not intend to marry so long as he may have need of me." + +"Well," said Claudet, persistently, "I love you, and I will wait." + +"It can not be." + +"Why?" + +"Because," replied she, sharply, "because it would be kind neither to +you, nor to my father, nor to me. Because marriages that drag along in +that way are never good for anything!" + +"Those are bad reasons!" he muttered, gloomily. + +"Good or bad," replied the young girl, "they appear valid to me, and I +hold to them." + +"Reine," said he, drawing near to her and looking straight into her eyes, +"can you swear, by the head of your father, that you have given me the +true reason for your rejecting me?" + +She became embarrassed, and remained silent. + +"See!" he exclaimed, "you dare not take the oath!" + +"My word should suffice," she faltered. + +"No; it does not suffice. But your silence says a great deal, I tell +you! You are too frank, Reine, and you don't know how to lie. I read it +in your eyes, I do. The true reason is that you do not love me." + +She shrugged her shoulders and turned away her head. + +"No, you do not love me. If you had any love for me, instead of +discouraging me, you would hold out some hope to me, and advise me to +have patience. You never have loved me, confess now!" + +By dint of this persistence, Reine by degrees lost her self-confidence. +She could realize how much Claudet was suffering, and she reproached +herself for the torture she was inflicting upon him. Driven into a +corner, and recognizing that the avowal he was asking for was the only +one that would drive him away, she hesitated no longer. + +"Alas!" she murmured, lowering her eyes, "since you force me to tell you +some truths that I would rather have kept from you, I confess you have +guessed. I have a sincere friendship for you, but that is all. I have +concluded that to marry a person one ought to love him differently, more +than everything else in the world, and I feel that my heart is not turned +altogether toward you." + +"No," said Claudet, bitterly, "it is turned elsewhere." + +"What do you mean? I do not understand you." + +"I mean that you love some one else." + +"That is not true," she protested. + +"You are blushing--a proof that I have hit the nail!" + +"Enough of this!" cried she, imperiously. + +"You are right. Now that you have said you don't want me any longer, I +have no right to ask anything further. Adieu!" + +He turned quickly on his heel. Reine was conscious of having been too +hard with him, and not wishing him to go away with such a grief in his +heart, she sought to retain him by placing her hand upon his arm. + +"Come, Claudet," said she, entreatingly, "do not let us part in anger. +It pains me to see you suffer, and I am sorry if I have said anything +unkind to you. Give me your hand in good fellowship, will you?" + +But Claudet drew back with a fierce gesture, and glancing angrily at +Reine, he replied, rudely: + +"Thanks for your regrets and your pity; I have no use for them." She +understood that he was deeply hurt; gave up entreating, and turned away +with eyes full of tears. + +He remained motionless, his arms crossed, in the middle of the road. +After some minutes, he turned his head. Reine was already nothing more +than a dark speck against the gray of the increasing fog. Then he went +off, haphazard, across the pasture-lands. The fog was rising slowly, and +the sun, shorn of its beams, showed its pale face faintly through it. To +the right and the left, the woods were half hidden by moving white +billows, and Claudet walked between fluid walls of vapor. This hidden +sky, these veiled surroundings, harmonized with his mental condition. It +was easier for him to hide his chagrin. "Some one else! Yes; that's it. +She loves some other fellow! how was it I did not find that out the very +first day?" Then he recalled how Reine shrank from him when he solicited +a caress; how she insisted on their betrothal being kept secret, and how +many times she had postponed the date of the wedding. It was evident +that she had received him only in self-defence, and on the pleading of +Julien de Buxieres. Julien! the name threw a gleam of light across his +brain, hitherto as foggy as the country around him. Might not Julien be +the fortunate rival on whom Reine's affections were so obstinately set? +Still, if she had always loved Monsieur de Buxieres, in what spirit of +perversity or thoughtlessness had she suffered the advances of another +suitor? + +Reine was no coquette, and such a course of action would be repugnant to +her frank, open nature. It was a profound enigma, which Claudet, who had +plenty of good common sense, but not much insight, was unable to solve. +But grief has, among its other advantages, the power of rendering our +perceptions more acute; and by dint of revolving the question in his +mind, Claudet at last became enlightened. Had not Reine simply followed +the impulse of her wounded feelings? She was very proud, and when the +man whom she secretly loved had come coolly forward to plead the cause of +one who was indifferent to her, would not her self-respect be lowered, +and would she not, in a spirit of bravado, accept the proposition, in +order that he might never guess the sufferings of her spurned affections? +There was no doubt, that, later, recognizing that the task was beyond her +strength, she had felt ashamed of deceiving Claudet any longer, and, +acting on the advice of the Abbe Pernot, had made up her mind to break +off a union that was repugnant to her. + +"Yes;" he repeated, mournfully to himself, "that must have been the way +it happened." And with this kind of explanation of Reine's actions, his +irritation seemed to lessen. Not that his grief was less poignant, but +the first burst of rage had spent itself like a great wind-storm, which +becomes lulled after a heavy fall of rain; the bitterness was toned down, +and he was enabled to reason more clearly. + +Julien--well, what was the part of Julien in all this disturbance? "If +what I imagine is true," thought he, "Monsieur de Buxieres knows that +Reine loves him, but has he any reciprocal feeling for her? With a man +as mysterious as my cousin, it is not easy to find out what is going on +in his heart. Anyhow, I have no right to complain of him; as soon as he +discovered my love for Reine, did he not, besides ignoring his own claim, +offer spontaneously to take my message? Still, there is something queer +at the bottom of it all, and whatever it costs me, I am going to find it +out." + +At this moment, through the misty air, he heard faintly the village clock +strike eleven. "Already so late! how the time flies, even when one is +suffering!" He bent his course toward the chateau, and, breathless and +excited, without replying to Manette's inquiries, he burst into the hall +where his cousin was pacing up and down, waiting for breakfast. At this +sudden intrusion Julien started, and noted Claudet's quick breathing and +disordered state. + +"Ho, ho!" exclaimed he, in his usual, sarcastic tone, "what a hurry you +are in! I suppose you have come to say the wedding-day is fixed at +last?" + +"No!" replied Claudet, briefly, "there will be no wedding." + +Julien tottered, and turned to face his cousin. + +"What's that? Are you joking?" + +"I am in no mood for joking. Reine will not have me; she has taken back +her promise." + +While pronouncing these words, he scrutinized attentively his cousin's +countenance, full in the light from the opposite window. He saw his +features relax, and his eyes glow with the same expression which he had +noticed a few days previous, when he had referred to the fact that Reine +had again postponed the marriage. + +"Whence comes this singular change?" stammered de Buxieres, visibly +agitated; "what reasons does Mademoiselle Vincart give in explanation?" + +"Idle words: her father's health, disinclination to leave him. You may +suppose I take such excuses for what they are worth. The real cause of +her refusal is more serious and more mortifying." + +"You know it, then?" exclaimed Julien, eagerly. + +"I know it, because I forced Reine to confess it." + +"And the reason is?" + +"That she does not love me." + +"Reine--does not love you!" + +Again a gleam of light irradiated the young man's large, blue eyes. +Claudet was leaning against the table, in front of his cousin; he +continued slowly, looking him steadily in the face: + +"That is not all. Not only does Reine not love me, but she loves some +one else." + +Julien changed color; the blood coursed over his cheeks, his forehead, +his ears; he drooped his head. + +"Did she tell you so?" he murmured, at last, feebly. + +"She did not, but I guessed it. Her heart is won, and I think I know by +whom." + +Claudet had uttered these last words slowly and with a painful effort, at +the same time studying Julien's countenance with renewed inquiry. The +latter became more and more troubled, and his physiognomy expressed both +anxiety and embarrassment. + +"Whom do you suspect?" he stammered. + +"Oh!" replied Claudet, employing a simple artifice to sound the obscure +depth of his cousin's heart, "it is useless to name the person; you do +not know him." + +"A stranger?" + +Julien's countenance had again changed. His hands were twitching +nervously, his lips compressed, and his dilated pupils were blazing with +anger, instead of triumph, as before. + +"Yes; a stranger, a clerk in the iron-works at Grancey, I think." + +"You think!--you think!" cried Julien, fiercely, "why don't you have +more definite information before you accuse Mademoiselle Vincart of such +treachery?" + +He resumed pacing the hall, while his interlocutor, motionless, remained +silent, and kept his eyes steadily upon him. + +"It is not possible," resumed Julien, "Reine can not have played us such +a trick! When I spoke to her for you, it was so easy to say she was +already betrothed!" + +"Perhaps," objected Claudet, shaking his head, "she had reasons for not +letting you know all that was in her mind." + +"What reasons?" + +"She doubtless believed at that time that the man she preferred did not +care for her. There are some people who, when they are vexed, act in +direct contradiction to their own wishes. I have the idea that Reine +accepted me only for want of some one better, and afterward, being too +openhearted to dissimulate for any length of time, she thought better of +it, and sent me about my business." + +"And you," interrupted Julien, sarcastically, "you, who had been accepted +as her betrothed, did not know better how to defend your rights than to +suffer yourself to be ejected by a rival, whose intentions, even, you +have not clearly ascertained!" + +"By Jove! how could I help it? A fellow that takes an unwilling bride +is playing for too high stakes. The moment I found there was another she +preferred, I had but one course before me--to take myself off." + +"And you call that loving!" shouted de Buxieres, "you call that losing +your heart! God in heaven! if I had been in your place, how differently +I should have acted! Instead of leaving, with piteous protestations, +I should have stayed near Reine, I should have surrounded her with +tenderness. I should have expressed my passion with so much force that +its flame should pass from my burning soul to hers, and she would have +been forced to love me! Ah! If I had only thought! if I had dared! +how different it would have been!" + +He jerked out his sentences with unrestrained frenzy. He seemed hardly +to know what he was saying, or that he had a listener. Claudet stood +contemplating him in sullen silence: "Aha!" thought he, with bitter +resignation; "I have sounded you at last. I know what is in the bottom +of your heart." + +Manette, bringing in the breakfast, interrupted their colloquy, and both +assumed an air of indifference, according to a tacit understanding that a +prudent amount of caution should be observed in her presence. They ate +hurriedly, and as soon as the cloth was removed, and they were again +alone, Julien, glancing with an indefinable expression at Claudet, +muttered savagely: + +"Well! what do you decide?" + +"I will tell you later," responded the other, briefly. + +He quitted the room abruptly, told Manette that he would not be home +until late, and strode out across the fields, his dog following. He had +taken his gun as a blind, but it was useless for Montagnard to raise his +bark; Claudet allowed the hares to scamper away with out sending a single +shot after them. He was busy inwardly recalling the details of the +conversation he had had with his cousin. The situation now was +simplified Julien was in love with Reine, and was vainly combating his +overpowering passion. What reason had he for concealing his love? What +motive or reasoning had induced him, when he was already secretly +enamored of the girl, to push Claudet in front and interfere to procure +her acceptance of him as a fiance? This point alone remained obscure. +Was Julien carrying out certain theories of the respect due his position +in society, and did he fear to contract a misalliance by marrying a mere +farmer's daughter? Or did he, with his usual timidity and distrust of +himself, dread being refused by Reine, and, half through pride, half +through backward ness, keep away for fear of a humiliating rejection? +With de Buxieres's proud and suspicious nature, each of these +suppositions was equally likely. The conclusion most undeniable was, +that notwithstanding his set ideas and his moral cowardice, Julien had an +ardent and over powering love for Mademoiselle Vincart. As to Reine +herself, Claudet was more than ever convinced that she had a secret +inclination toward somebody, although she had denied the charge. But for +whom was her preference? Claudet knew the neighborhood too well to +believe the existence of any rival worth talking about, other than his +cousin de Buxieres. None of the boys of the village or the surrounding +towns had ever come courting old Father Vincart's daughter, and de +Buxieres himself possessed sufficient qualities to attract Reine. +Certainly, if he were a girl, he never should fix upon Julien for a +lover; but women often have tastes that men can not comprehend, and +Julien's refinement of nature, his bashfulness, and even his reserve, +might easily have fascinated a girl of such strong will and somewhat +peculiar notions. It was probable, therefore, that she liked him, +and perhaps had done so for a long time; but, being clear-sighted and +impartial, she could see that he never would marry her, because her +condition in life was not equal to his own. Afterward, when the man she +loved had flaunted his indifference so far as to plead the cause of +another, her pride had revolted, and in the blind agony of her wounded +feelings, she had thrown herself into the arms of the first comer, as if +to punish herself for entertaining loving thoughts of a man who could so +disdain her affection. + +So, by means of that lucid intuition which the heart alone can furnish, +Claudet at last succeeded in evolving the naked truth. But the fatiguing +labor of so much thinking, to which his brain was little accustomed, +and the sadness which continued to oppress him, overcame him to such an +extent that he was obliged to sit down and rest on a clump of brushwood. +He gazed over the woods and the clearings, which he had so often +traversed light of heart and of foot, and felt mortally unhappy. These +sheltering lanes and growing thickets, where he had so frequently +encountered Reine, the beautiful hunting-grounds in which he had taken +such delight, only awakened painful sensations, and he felt as if he +should grow to hate them all if he were obliged to pass the rest of his +days in their midst. As the day waned, the sinuosities of the forest +became more blended; the depth of the valleys was lost in thick vapors. +The wind had risen. The first falling leaves of the season rose and fell +like wounded birds; heavy clouds gathered in the sky, and the night was +coming on apace. Claudet was grateful for the sudden darkness, which +would blot out a view now so distasteful to him. Shortly, on the +Auberive side, along the winding Aubette, feeble lights became visible, +as if inviting the young man to profit by their guidance. He arose, +took the path indicated, and went to supper, or rather, to a pretence of +supper, in the same inn where he had breakfasted with Julien, whence the +latter had gone on his mission to Reine. This remembrance alone would +have sufficed to destroy his appetite. + +He did not remain long at table; he could not, in fact, stay many minutes +in one place, and so, notwithstanding the urgent insistence of the +hostess, he started on the way back to Vivey, feeling his way through the +profound darkness. When he reached the chateau, every one was in bed. +Noiselessly, his dog creeping after him, he slipped into his room, and, +overcome with fatigue, fell into a heavy slumber. + +The next morning his first visit was to Julien. He found him in a +nervous and feverish condition, having passed a sleepless night. +Claudet's revelations had entirely upset his intentions, and planted +fresh thorns of jealousy in his heart. On first hearing that the +marriage was broken off, his heart had leaped for joy, and hope had +revived within him; but the subsequent information that Mademoiselle +Vincart was probably interested in some lover, as yet unknown, had +grievously sobered him. He was indignant at Reine's duplicity, and +Claudet's cowardly resignation. The agony caused by Claudet's betrothal +was a matter of course, but this love-for-a-stranger episode was an +unexpected and mortal wound. He was seized with violent fits of rage; he +was sometimes tempted to go and reproach the young girl with what he +called her breach of faith, and then go and throw himself at her feet and +avow his own passion. + +But the mistrust he had of himself, and his incurable bashfulness, +invariably prevented these heroic resolutions from being carried out. +He had so long cultivated a habit of minute, fatiguing criticism upon +every inward emotion that he had almost incapacitated himself for +vigorous action. + +He was in this condition when Claudet came in upon him. At the noise of +the opening door, Julien raised his head, and looked dolefully at his +cousin. + +"Well?" said he, languidly. + +"Well!" retorted Claudet, bravely, "on thinking over what has been +happening during the last month, I have made sure of one thing of which I +was doubtful." + +"Of what were you doubtful?" returned de Buxieres, quite ready to take +offence at the answer. + +"I am about to tell you. Do you remember the first conversation we had +together concerning Reine? You spoke of her with so much earnestness +that I then suspected you of being in love with her." + +"I--I--hardly remember," faltered Julien, coloring. + +"In that case, my memory is better than yours, Monsieur de Buxieres. +To-day, my suspicions have become certainties. You are in love with +Reine Vincart!" + +"I?" faintly protested his cousin. + +"Don't deny it, but rather, give me your confidence; you will not be +sorry for it. You love Reine, and have loved her for a long while. +You have succeeded in hiding it from me because it is hard for you to +unbosom yourself; but, yesterday, I saw it quite plainly. You dare not +affirm the contrary!" + +Julien, greatly agitated, had hidden his face in his hands. After a +moment's silence, he replied, defiantly: "Well, and supposing it is so? +What is the use of talking about it, since Reine's affections are placed +elsewhere?" + +"Oh! that's another matter. Reine has declined to have me, and I really +think she has some other affair in her head. Yet, to confess the truth, +the clerk at the iron-works was a lover of my own imagining; she never +thought of him." + +"Then why did you tell such a lie?" cried Julien, impetuously. + +"Because I thought I would plead the lie to get at the truth. Forgive +me for having made use of this old trick to put you on the right track. +It wasn't such a bad idea, for I succeeded in finding out what you took +so much pains to hide from me." + +"To hide from you? Yes, I did wish to hide it from you. Wasn't that +right, since I was convinced that Reine loved you?" exclaimed Julien, in +an almost stifled voice, as if the avowal were choking him. "I have +always thought it idle to parade one's feelings before those who do not +care about them." + +"You were wrong," returned poor Claudet, sighing deeply, "if you had +spoken for yourself, I have an idea you would have been better received, +and you would have spared me a terrible heart-breaking." + +He said it with such profound sadness that Julien, notwithstanding the +absorbing nature of his own thoughts, was quite overcome, and almost on +the point of confessing, openly, the intensity of his feeling toward +Reine Vincart. But, accustomed as he was, by long habit, to concentrate +every emotion within himself, he found it impossible to become, all at +once, communicative; he felt an invincible and almost maidenly +bashfulness at the idea of revealing the secret sentiments of his soul, +and contented himself with saying, in a low voice: + +"Do you not love her any more, then?" + +"I? oh, yes, indeed! But to be refused by the only girl I ever wished to +marry takes all the spirit out of me. I am so discouraged, I feel like +leaving the country. If I were to go, it would perhaps be doing you a +service, and that would comfort me a little. You have treated me as a +friend, and that is a thing one doesn't forget. I have not the means to +pay you back for your kindness, but I think I should be less sorry to go +if my departure would leave the way more free for you to return to La +Thuiliere." + +"You surely would not leave on my account?" exclaimed Julien, in alarm. + +"Not solely on your account, rest assured. If Reine had loved me, it +never would have entered my head to make such a sacrifice for you, but +she will not have me. I am good for nothing here. I am only in your +way." + +"But that is a wild idea! Where would you go?" + +"Oh! there would be no difficulty about that. One plan would be to go +as a soldier. Why not? I am hardy, a good walker, a good shot, can +stand fatigue; I have everything needed for military life. It is an +occupation that I should like, and I could earn my epaulets as well as my +neighbor. So that perhaps, Monsieur de Buxieres, matters might in that +way be arranged to suit everybody." + +"Claudet!" stammered Julien, his voice thick with sobs, "you are a better +man than I! Yes; you are a better man than I!" + +And, for the first time, yielding to an imperious longing for expansion, +he sprang toward the grand chasserot, clasped him in his arms, and +embraced him fraternally. + +"I will not let you expatriate yourself on my account," he continued; +"do not act rashly, I entreat!" + +"Don't worry," replied Claudet, laconically, "if I so decide, it will not +be without deliberation." + +In fact, during the whole of the ensuing week, he debated in his mind +this question of going away. Each day his position at Vivey seemed more +unbearable. Without informing any one, he had been to Langres and +consulted an officer of his acquaintance on the subject of the +formalities required previous to enrolment. + +At last, one morning he resolved to go over to the military division and +sign his engagement. But he was not willing to consummate this sacrifice +without seeing Reine Vincart for the last time. He was nursing, down in +the bottom of his heart, a vague hope, which, frail and slender as the +filament of a plant, was yet strong enough to keep him on his native +soil. Instead of taking the path to Vivey, he made a turn in the +direction of La Thuiliere, and soon reached the open elevation whence the +roofs of the farm-buildings and the turrets of the chateau could both +alike be seen. There he faltered, with a piteous sinking of the heart. +Only a few steps between himself and the house, yet he hesitated about +entering; not that he feared a want of welcome, but because he dreaded +lest the reawakening of his tenderness should cause him to lose a portion +of the courage he should need to enable him to leave. He leaned against +the trunk of an old pear-tree and surveyed the forest site on which the +farm was built. + +The landscape retained its usual placidity. In the distance, over the +waste lands, the shepherd Tringuesse was following his flock of sheep, +which occasionally scattered over the fields, and then, under the dog's +harassing watchfulness, reformed in a compact group, previous to +descending the narrow hill-slope. One thing struck Claudet: the pastures +and the woods bore exactly the same aspect, presented the same play of +light and shade as on that afternoon of the preceding year, when he had +met Reine in the Ronces woods, a few days before the arrival of Julien. +The same bright yet tender tint reddened the crab-apple and the wild- +cherry; the tomtits and the robins chirped as before, among the bushes, +and, as in the previous year, one heard the sound of the beechnuts and +acorns dropping on the rocky paths. Autumn went through her tranquil +rites and familiar operations, always with the same punctual regularity; +and all this would go on just the same when Claudet was no longer there. +There would only be one lad the less in the village streets, one hunter +failing to answer the call when they were surrounding the woods of +Charbonniere. This dim perception of how small a space man occupies on +the earth, and of the ease with which he is forgotten, aided Claudet +unconsciously in his effort to be resigned, and he determined to enter +the house. As he opened the gate of the courtyard, he found himself face +to face with Reine, who was coming out. + +The young girl immediately supposed he had come to make a last assault, +in the hope of inducing her to yield to his wishes. She feared a renewal +of the painful scene which had closed their last interview, and her first +impulse was to put herself on her guard. Her countenance darkened, and +she fixed a cold, questioning gaze upon Claudet, as if to keep him at a +distance. But, when she noted the sadness of her young relative's +expression, she was seized with pity. Making an effort, however, to +disguise her emotion, she pretended to accost him with the calm and +cordial friendship of former times. + +"Why, good-morning, Claudet," said she, "you come just in time. +A quarter of an hour later you would not have found me. Will you come +in and rest a moment?" + +"Thanks, Reine," said he, "I will not hinder you in your work. But I +wanted to say, I am sorry I got angry the other day; you were right, we +must not leave each other with ill-feeling, and, as I am going away for a +long time, I desire first to take your hand in friendship." + +"You are going away?" + +"Yes; I am going now to Langres to enroll myself as a soldier. And true +it is, one knows when one goes away, but it is hard to know when one will +come back. That is why I wanted to say good-by to you, and make peace, +so as not to go away with too great a load on my heart." + +All Reine's coldness melted away. This young fellow, who was leaving his +country on her account, was the companion of her infancy, more than that, +her nearest relative. Her throat swelled, her eyes filled with tears. +She turned away her head, that he might not perceive her emotion, and +opened the kitchen-door. + +"Come in, Claudet," said she, "we shall be more comfortable in the +dining-room. We can talk there, and you will have some refreshment +before you go, will you not?" + +He obeyed, and followed her into the house. She went herself into the +cellar, to seek a bottle of old wine, brought two glasses, and filled +them with a trembling hand. + +"Shall you remain long in the service?" asked she. + +"I shall engage for seven years." + +"It is a hard life that you are choosing." + +"What am I to do?" replied he, "I could not stay here doing nothing." + +Reine went in and out of the room in a bewildered fashion. Claudet, too +much excited to perceive that the young girl's impassiveness was only on +the surface, said to himself: "It is all over; she accepts my departure +as an event perfectly natural; she treats me as she would Theotime, the +coal-dealer, or the tax-collector Boucheseiche. A glass of wine, two or +three unimportant questions, and then, good-by-a pleasant journey, and +take care of yourself!" + +Then he made a show of taking an airy, insouciant tone. + +"Oh, well!" he exclaimed, "I've always been drawn toward that kind of +life. A musket will be a little heavier than a gun, that's all; then I +shall see different countries, and that will change my ideas." He tried +to appear facetious, poking around the kitchen, and teasing the magpie, +which was following his footsteps with inquisitive anxiety. Finally, he +went up to the old man Vincart, who was lying stretched out in his +picture-lined niche. He took the flabby hand of the paralytic old man, +pressed it gently and endeavored to get up a little conversation with +him, but he had it all to himself, the invalid staring at him all the +time with uneasy, wide-open eyes. Returning to Reine, he lifted his +glass. + +"To your health, Reine!" said he, with forced gayety, "next time we +clink glasses together, I shall be an experienced soldier--you'll see!" + +But, when he put the glass to his lips, several big tears fell in, and he +had to swallow them with his wine. + +"Well!" he sighed, turning away while he passed the back of his hand +across his eyes, "it must be time to go." + +She accompanied him to the threshold. + +"Adieu, Reine!" + +"Adieu!" she murmured, faintly. + +She stretched out both hands, overcome with pity and remorse. He +perceived her emotion, and thinking that she perhaps still loved him a +little, and repented having rejected him, threw his arms impetuously +around her. He pressed her against his bosom, and imprinted kisses, wet +with tears, upon her cheek. He could not leave her, and redoubled his +caresses with passionate ardor, with the ecstasy of a lover who suddenly +meets with a burst of tenderness on the part of the woman he has tenderly +loved, and whom he expects never to fold again in his arms. He +completely lost his self-control. His embrace became so ardent that +Reine, alarmed at the sudden outburst, was overcome with shame and +terror, notwithstanding the thought that the man, who was clasping her in +his arms with such passion, was her own brother. + +She tore herself away from him and pushed him violently back. + +"Adieu!" she cried, retreating to the kitchen, of which she hastily shut +the door. + +Claudet stood one moment, dumfounded, before the door so pitilessly shut +in his face, then, falling suddenly from his happy state of illusion to +the dead level of reality, departed precipitately down the road. + +When he turned to give a parting glance, the farm buildings were no +longer visible, and the waste lands of the forest border, gray, stony, +and barren, stretched their mute expanse before him. + +"No!" exclaimed he, between his set teeth, "she never loved me. She +thinks only of the other man! I have nothing more to do but go away and +never return!" + + + +CHAPTER IX + +LOVE HEALS THE BROKEN HEART + +In arriving at Langres, Claudet enrolled in the seventeenth battalion of +light infantry. Five days later, paying no attention to the lamentations +of Manette, he left Vivey, going, by way of Lyon, to the camp at +Lathonay, where his battalion was stationed. Julien was thus left alone +at the chateau to recover as best he might from the dazed feeling caused +by the startling events of the last few weeks. After Claudet's +departure, he felt an uneasy sensation of discomfort, and as if he +himself had lessened in value. He had never before realized how little +space he occupied in his own dwelling, and how much living heat Claudet +had infused into the house which was now so cold and empty. He felt poor +and diminished in spirit, and was ashamed of being so useless to himself +and to others. He had before him a prospect of new duties, which +frightened him. The management of the district, which Claudet had +undertaken for him, would now fall entirely on his shoulders, and just at +the time of the timber sales and the renewal of the fences. Besides all +this, he had Manette on his conscience, thinking he ought to try to +soften her grief at her son's unexpected departure. The ancient +housekeeper was like Rachel, she refused to be comforted, and her temper +was not improved by her recent trials. She filled the air with +lamentations, and seemed to consider Julien responsible for her troubles. +The latter treated her with wonderful patience and indulgence, and +exhausted his ingenuity to make her time pass more pleasantly. This was +the first real effort he had made to subdue his dislikes and his passive +tendencies, and it had the good effect of preparing him, by degrees, to +face more serious trials, and to take the initiative in matters of +greater importance. He discovered that the energy he expended in +conquering a first difficulty gave him more ability to conquer the +second, and from that result he decided that the will is like a muscle, +which shrivels in inaction and is developed by exercise; and he made up +his mind to attack courageously the work before him, although it had +formerly appeared beyond his capabilities. + +He now rose always at daybreak. Gaitered like a huntsman, and escorted +by Montagnard, who had taken a great liking to him, he would proceed to +the forest, visit the cuttings, hire fresh workmen, familiarize himself +with the woodsmen, interest himself in their labors, their joys and their +sorrows; then, when evening came, he was quite astonished to find himself +less weary, less isolated, and eating with considerable appetite the +supper prepared for him by Manette. Since he had been traversing the +forest, not as a stranger or a person of leisure, but with the +predetermination to accomplish some useful work, he had learned to +appreciate its beauties. The charms of nature and the living creatures +around no longer inspired him with the defiant scorn which he had imbibed +from his early solitary life and his priestly education; he now viewed +them with pleasure and interest. In proportion, as his sympathies +expanded and his mind became more virile, the exterior world presented a +more attractive appearance to him. + +While this work of transformation was going on within him, he was aided +and sustained by the ever dear and ever present image of Reine Vincart. +The trenches, filled with dead leaves, the rows of beech-trees, stripped +of their foliage by the rude breath of winter, the odor peculiar to +underwood during the dead season, all recalled to his mind the +impressions he had received while in company with the woodland queen. +Now that, he could better understand the young girl's adoration of the +marvellous forest world, he sought out, with loving interest, the sites +where she had gone into ecstasy, the details of the landscape which she +had pointed out to him the year before, and had made him admire. +The beauty of the scene was associated in his thoughts with Reine's love, +and he could not think of either separately. But, notwithstanding the +steadfastness and force of his love, he had not yet made any effort to +see Mademoiselle Vincart. At first, the increase of occupation caused by +Claudet's departure, the new duties devolving upon him, together with his +inexperience, had prevented Julien from entertaining the possibility of +renewing relations that had been so violently sundered. Little by +little, however; as he reviewed the situation of affairs, which his +cousin's generous sacrifice had engendered, he began to consider how +he could benefit thereby. Claudet's departure had left the field free, +but Julien felt no more confidence in himself than before. The fact that +Reine had so unaccountably refused to marry the grand chasserot did not +seem to him sufficient encouragement. Her motive was a secret, and +therefore, of doubtful interpretation. Besides, even if she were +entirely heart-whole, was that a reason why she should give Julien a +favorable reception? Could she forget the cruel insult to which he had +subjected her? And immediately after that outrageous behavior of his, +he had had the stupidity to make a proposal for Claudet. That was the +kind of affront, thought he, that a woman does not easily forgive, +and the very idea of presenting himself before her made his heart sink. +He had seen her only at a distance, at the Sunday mass, and every time +he had endeavored to catch her eye she had turned away her head. She +also avoided, in every way, any intercourse with the chateau. Whenever a +question arose, such as the apportionment of lands, or the allotment of +cuttings, which would necessitate her having recourse to M. de Buxieres, +she would abstain from writing herself, and correspond only through the +notary, Arbillot. Claudet's heroic departure, therefore, had really +accomplished nothing; everything was exactly at the same point as the day +after Julien's unlucky visit to La Thuiliere, and the same futile doubts +and fears agitated him now as then. It also occurred to him, that while +he was thus debating and keeping silence, days, weeks, and months were +slipping away; that Reine would soon reach her twenty-third year, and +that she would be thinking of marriage. It was well known that she had +some fortune, and suitors were not lacking. Even allowing that she had +no afterthought in renouncing Claudet, she could not always live alone at +the farm, and some day she would be compelled to accept a marriage of +convenience, if not of love. + +"And to think," he would say to himself, "that she is there, only a few +steps away, that I am consumed with longing, that I have only to traverse +those pastures, to throw myself at her feet, and that I positively dare +not! Miserable wretch that I am, it was last spring, while we were in +that but together, that I should have spoken of my love, instead of +terrifying her with my brutal caresses! Now it is too late! I have +wounded and humiliated her; I have driven away Claudet, who would at any +rate have made her a stalwart lover, and I have made two beings unhappy, +without counting myself. So much for my miserable shufflings and +evasion! Ah! if one could only begin life over again!" + +While thus lamenting his fate, the march of time went steadily on, with +its pitiless dropping out of seconds, minutes, and hours. The worst part +of winter was over; the March gales had dried up the forests; April was +tingeing the woods with its tender green; the song of the cuckoo was +already heard in the tufted bowers, and the festival of St. George had +passed. + +Taking advantage of an unusually clear day, Julien went to visit a farm, +belonging to him, in the plain of Anjeures, on the border of the forest +of Maigrefontaine. After breakfasting with the farmer, he took the way +home through the woods, so that he might enjoy the first varied effects +of the season. + +The forest of Maigrefontaine, situated on the slope of a hill, was full +of rocky, broken ground, interspersed with deep ravines, along which +narrow but rapid streams ran to swell the fishpond of La Thuiliere. +Julien had wandered away from the road, into the thick of the forest +where the budding vegetation was at its height, where the lilies multiply +and the early spring flowers disclose their umbelshaped clusters, full of +tiny, white stars. The sight of these blossoms, which had such a tender +meaning for him, since he had identified the name with that of Reine, +brought vividly before him the beloved image of the young girl. +He walked slowly and languidly on, heated by his feverish recollections +and desires, tormented by useless self-reproach, and physically +intoxicated by the balmy atmosphere and the odor of the flowering shrubs +at his feet. Arriving at the edge of a somewhat deep pit, he tried to +leap across with a single bound, but, whether he made a false start, or +that he was weakened and dizzy with the conflicting emotions with which +he had been battling, he missed his footing and fell, twisting his ankle, +on the side of the embankment. He rose with an effort and put his foot +to the ground, but a sharp pain obliged him to lean against the trunk of +a neighboring ash-tree. His foot felt as heavy as lead, and every time +he tried to straighten it his sufferings were intolerable. All he could +do was to drag himself along from one tree to another until he reached +the path. + +Exhausted by this effort; he sat down on the grass, unbuttoned his +gaiter, and carefully unlaced his boot. His foot had swollen +considerably. He began to fear he had sprained it badly, and wondered +how he could get back to Vivey. Should he have to wait on this lonely +road until some woodcutter passed, who would take him home? Montagnard, +his faithful companion, had seated himself in front of him, and +contemplated him with moist, troubled eyes, at the same time emitting +short, sharp whines, which seemed to say: + +"What is the matter?" and, "How are we going to get out of this?" + +Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching. He perceived a flutter of white +skirts behind the copse, and just at the moment he was blessing the lucky +chance that had sent some one in that direction, his eyes were gladdened +with a sight of the fair visage of Reine. + +She was accompanied by a little girl of the village, carrying a basket +full of primroses and freshly gathered ground ivy. Reine was quite +familiar with all the medicinal herbs of the country, and gathered them +in their season, in order to administer them as required to the people of +the farm. When she was within a few feet of Julien, she recognized him, +and her brow clouded over; but almost immediately she noticed his altered +features and that one of his feet was shoeless, and divined that +something unusual had happened. Going straight up to him, she said: + +"You seem to be suffering, Monsieur de Buxieres. What is the matter?" + +"A--a foolish accident," replied he, putting on a careless manner. "I +fell and sprained my ankle." + +The young girl knit her brows with an anxious expression; then, after a +moment's hesitation; she said: + +"Will you let me see your foot? My mother understood about bone-setting, +and I have been told that I inherit her gift of curing sprains." + +She drew from the basket an empty bottle and a handkerchief. + +"Zelie," said she to the little damsel, who was standing astonished at +the colloquy, "go quickly down to the stream, and fill this bottle." + +While she was speaking, Julien, greatly embarrassed, obeyed her +suggestions, and uncovered his foot. Reine, without any prudery or +nonsense, raised the wounded limb, and felt around cautiously. + +"I think," said she at last, "that the muscles are somewhat injured." + +Without another word, she tore the handkerchief into narrow strips, and +poured the contents of the bottle, which Zelie had filled, slowly over +the injure member, holding her hand high for that purpose. Then, with a +soft yet firm touch, she pressed the injured muscles into their places, +while Julien bit his lips and did his very utmost to prevent her seeing +how much he was suffering. After this massage treatment, the young girl +bandaged the ankle tightly with the linen bands, and fastened them +securely with pins. + +"There," said she, "now try to put on your shoe and stocking; they will +give support to the muscles. Now you, Zelie, run, fit to break your +neck, to the farm, make them harness the wagon, and tell them to bring it +here, as close to the path as possible." + +The girl picked up her basket and started on a trot. + +"Monsieur de Buxieres;" said Reine, "do you think you can walk as far as +the carriage road, by leaning on my arm?" + +"Yes;" he replied, with a grateful glance which greatly embarrassed +Mademoiselle Vincart, "you have relieved me as if by a miracle. I feel +much better and as if I could go anywhere you might lead, while leaning +on your arm!" + +She helped him to rise, and he took a few steps with her aid. + +"Why, it feels really better," sighed he. + +He was so happy in feeling himself thus tenderly supported by Reine, that +he altogether forgot his pain. + +"Let us walk slowly," continued she, "and do not be afraid to lean on me. +All you have to think of is reaching the carriage." + +"How good you are," stammered he, "and how ashamed I am!" + +"Ashamed of what?" returned Reine, hastily. "I have done nothing +extraordinary; anyone else would have acted in the same manner." + +"I entreat you," replied he, earnestly, "not to spoil my happiness. +I know very well that the first person who happened to pass would have +rendered me some charitable assistance; but the thought that it is you-- +you alone--who have helped me, fills me with delight, at: the same time +that it increases my remorse. I so little deserve that you should +interest yourself in my behalf!" + +He waited, hoping perhaps that she would ask for an explanation, but, +seeing that she did not appear to understand, he added: + +"I have offended you. I have misunderstood you, and I have been cruelly +punished for my mistake. But what avails my tardy regret in healing the +injuries I have inflicted! Ah! if one could only go backward, and +efface, with a single stroke, the hours in which one has been blind +and headstrong!" + +"Let us not speak of that!" replied she, shortly, but in a singularly +softened tone. + +In spite of herself, she was touched by this expression of repentance, +so naively acknowledged in broken, disconnected sentences, vibrating with +the ring of true sincerity. In proportion as he abased himself, her +anger diminished, and she recognized that she loved him just the same, +notwithstanding his defects, his weakness, and his want of tact and +polish. She was also profoundly touched by his revealing to her, for the +first time, a portion of his hidden feelings. + +They had become silent again, but they felt nearer to each other than +ever before; their secret thoughts seemed to be transmitted to each +other; a mute understanding was established between them. She lent him +the support of her arm with more freedom, and the young man seemed to +experience fresh delight in her firm and sympathetic assistance. + +Progressing slowly, although more quickly than they would have chosen +themselves, they reached the foot of the path, and perceived the wagon +waiting on the beaten road. Julien mounted therein with the aid of Reine +and the driver. When he was stretched on the straw, which had been +spread for him on the bottom of the wagon, he leaned forward on the side, +and his eyes met those of Reine. For a few moments their gaze seemed +riveted upon each other, and their mutual understanding was complete. +These few, brief moments contained a whole confession of love; avowals +mingled with repentance, promises of pardon, tender reconciliation! + +"Thanks!" he sighed at last, "will you give me your hand?" + +She gave it, and while he held it in his own, Reine turned toward the +driver on the seat. + +"Felix," said she, warningly, "drive slowly and avoid the ruts. Good- +night, Monsieur de Buxieres, send for the doctor as soon as you get in, +and all will be well. I will send to inquire how you are getting along." + +She turned and went pensively down the road to La Thuiliere, while the +carriage followed slowly the direction to Vivey. + +The doctor, being sent for immediately on Julien's arrival, pronounced it +a simple sprain, and declared that the preliminary treatment had been +very skilfully applied, that the patient had now only to keep perfectly +still. Two days later came La Guite from Reine, to inquire after M. de +Buxieres's health. She brought a large bunch of lilies which +Mademoiselle Vincart had sent to the patient, to console him for not +being able to go in the woods, which Julien kept for several days close +by his side. + +This accident, happening at Maigrefontaine, and providentially attended +to by Reine Vincart, the return to the chateau in the vehicle belonging +to La Thuiliere, the sending of the lilies, were all a source of great +mystification to Manette. She suspected some amorous mystery in all +these events, commented somewhat uncharitably on every minor detail, and +took care to carry her comments all over the village. Very soon the +entire parish, from the most insignificant woodchopper to the Abbe Pernot +himself, were made aware that there was something going on between M. de +Buxieres and the daughter of old M. Vincart. + +In the mean time, Julien, quite unconscious that his love for Reine was +providing conversation for all the gossips of the country, was cursing +the untoward event that kept him stretched in his invalid-chair. At +last, one day, he discovered he could put his foot down and walk a little +with the assistance of his cane; a few days after, the doctor gave him +permission to go out of doors. His first visit was to La Thuiliere. + +He went there in the afternoon and found Reine in the kitchen, seated by +the side of her paralytic father, who was asleep. She was reading a +newspaper, which she retained in her hand, while rising to receive her +visitor. After she had congratulated him on his recovery, and he had +expressed his cordial thanks for her timely aid, she showed him the +paper. + +"You find me in a state of disturbance," said she, with a slight degree +of embarrassment, "it seems that we are going to have war and that our +troops have entered Italy. Have you any news of Claudet?" + +Julien started. This was the last remark he could have expected. +Claudet's name had not been once mentioned in their interview at +Maigrefontaine, and he had nursed the hope that Reine thought no longer +about him. + +All his mistrust returned in a moment on hearing this name come from the +young girl's lips the moment he entered the house, and seeing the emotion +which the news in the paper had caused her. + +"He wrote me a few days ago," replied he. + +"Where is he?" + +"In Italy, with his battalion, which is a part of the first army corps. +His last letter is dated from Alexandria." + +Reine's eyes suddenly filled with tears, and she gazed absently at the +distant wooded horizon. + +"Poor Claudet!" murmured she, sighing, "what is he doing just now, I +wonder?" + +"Ah!" thought Julien, his visage darkening, "perhaps she loves him +still!" + +Poor Claudet! At the very time they are thus talking about him at the +farm, he is camping with his battalion near Voghera, on the banks of one +of the obscure tributaries of the river Po, in a country rich in waving +corn, interspersed with bounteous orchards and hardy vines climbing up to +the very tops of the mulberry-trees. His battalion forms the extreme end +of the advance guard, and at the approach of night, Claudet is on duty on +the banks of the stream. It is a lovely May night, irradiated by +millions of stars, which, under the limpid Italian sky, appear larger and +nearer to the watcher than they appeared in the vaporous atmosphere of +the Haute-Marne. + +Nightingales are calling to one another among the trees of the orchard, +and the entire landscape seems imbued with their amorous music. What +ecstasy to listen to them! What serenity their liquid harmonies spread +over the smiling landscape, faintly revealing its beauties in the mild +starlight. + +Who would think that preparations for deadly combat were going on through +the serenity of such a night? Occasionally a sharp exchange of musketry +with the advanced post of the enemy bursts upon the ear, and all the +nightingales keep silence. Then, when quiet is restored in the upper +air, the chorus of spring songsters begins again. Claudet leans on his +gun, and remembers that at this same hour the nightingales in the park at +Vivey, and in the garden of La Thuiliere, are pouring forth the same +melodies. He recalls the bright vision of Reine: he sees her leaning at +her window, listening to the same amorous song issuing from the coppice +woods of Maigrefontaine. His heart swells within him, and an over- +powering homesickness takes possession of him. But the next moment he is +ashamed of his weakness, he remembers his responsibility, primes his ear, +and begins investigating the dark hollows and rising hillocks where an +enemy might hide. + +The next morning, May 20th, he is awakened by a general hubbub and noise +of fighting. The battalion to which he belongs has made an attack upon +Montebello, and is sending its sharpshooters among the cornfields and +vineyards. Some of the regiments invade the rice-fields, climb the walls +of the vineyards, and charge the enemy's column-ranks. The sullen roar +of the cannon alternates with the sharp report of guns, and whole showers +of grape-shot beat the air with their piercing whistle. All through the +uproar of guns and thunder of the artillery, you can distinguish the +guttural hurrahs of the Austrians, and the broken oaths of the French +troopers. The trenches are piled with dead bodies, the trumpets sound +the attack, the survivors, obeying an irresistible impulse, spring to the +front. The ridges are crested with human masses swaying to and fro, and +the first red uniform is seen in the streets of Montebello, in relief +against the chalky facades bristling with Austrian guns, pouring forth +their ammunition on the enemy below. The soldiers burst into the houses, +the courtyards, the enclosures; every instant you hear the breaking open +of doors, the crashing of windows, and the scuffling of the terrified +inmates. The white uniforms retire in disorder. The village belongs to +the French! Not just yet, though. From the last houses on the street, +to the entrance of the cemetery, is rising ground, and just behind stands +a small hillock. The enemy has retrenched itself there, and, from its +cannons ranged in battery, is raining a terrible shower on the village +just evacuated. + +The assailants hesitate, and draw back before this hailstorm of iron; +suddenly a general appears from under the walls of a building already +crumbling under the continuous fire, spurs his horse forward, and shouts: +"Come, boys, let us carry the fort!" + +Among the first to rally to this call, one rifleman in particular, a +fine, broad-shouldered active fellow, with a brown moustache and olive +complexion, darts forward to the point indicated. It is Claudet. +Others are behind him, and soon more than a hundred men, with their +bayonets, are hurling themselves along the cemetery road; the grand +chasserot leaps across the fields, as he used formerly in pursuit of the +game in the Charbonniere forest. The soldiers are falling right and left +of him, but he hardly sees them; he continues pressing forward, +breathless, excited, scarcely stopping to think. As he is crossing one +of the meadows, however, he notices the profusion of scarlet gladiolus +and also observes that the rye and barley grow somewhat sturdier here +than in his country; these are the only definite ideas that detach +themselves clearly from his seething brain. The wall of the cemetery is +scaled; they are fighting now in the ditches, killing one another on the +side of the hill; at last, the fort is taken and they begin routing the +enemy. But, at this moment, Claudet stoops to pick up a cartridge, a +ball strikes him in the forehead, and, without a sound, he drops to the +ground, among the noisome fennels which flourish in graveyards--he drops, +thinking of the clock of his native village. + + ...................... + +"I have sad news for you," said Julien to Reine, as he entered the garden +of La Thuiliere, one June afternoon. + +He had received official notice the evening before, through the mayor, of +the decease of "Germain-Claudet Sejournant, volunteer in the seventeenth +battalion of light infantry, killed in an engagement with the enemy, May +20, 1859." + +Reine was standing between two hedges of large peasant-roses. At the +first words that fell from M. de Buxieres's lips, she felt a presentiment +of misfortune. + +"Claudet?" murmured she. + +"He is dead," replied Julien, almost inaudibly, "he fought bravely and +was killed at Montebello." + +The young girl remained motionless, and for a moment de Buxieres thought +she would be able to bear, with some degree of composure, this +announcement of the death in a foreign country of a man whom she had +refused as a husband. Suddenly she turned aside, took two or three +steps, then leaning her head and folded arms on the trunk of an adjacent +tree, she burst into a passion of tears. The convulsive movement of her +shoulders and stifled sobs denoted the violence of her emotion. M. de +Buxieres, alarmed at this outbreak, which he thought exaggerated, felt a +return of his old misgivings. He was jealous now of the dead man whom +she was so openly lamenting. Her continued weeping annoyed him; he tried +to arrest her tears by addressing some consolatory remarks to her; but, +at the very first word, she turned away, mounted precipitately the +kitchen-stairs, and disappeared, closing the door behind her. Some +minutes after, La Guite brought a message to de Buxieres that Reine +wished to be alone, and begged him to excuse her. + +He took his departure, disconcerted, downhearted, and ready to weep +himself, over the crumbling of his hopes. As he was nearing the first +outlying houses of the village, he came across the Abbe Pernot, who was +striding along at a great rate, toward the chateau. + +"Ah!" exclaimed the priest, "how are you, Monsieur de Buxieres, I was +just going over to see you. Is it true that you have received bad news?" + +Julien nodded his head affirmatively, and informed the cure of the sad +notice he had received. The Abbe's countenance lengthened, his mouth +took on a saddened expression, and during the next few minutes he +maintained an attitude of condolence. + +"Poor fellow!" he sighed, with a slight nasal intonation, "he did not +have a fair chance! To have to leave us at twenty-six years of age, and +in full health, it is very hard. And such a jolly companion; such a +clever shot!" + +Finally, not being naturally of a melancholy turn of mind, nor able to +remain long in a mournful mood, he consoled himself with one of the pious +commonplaces which he was in the habit of using for the benefit of +others: "The Lord is just in all His dealings, and holy in all His works; +He reckons the hairs of our heads, and our destinies are in His hands. +We shall celebrate a fine high mass for the repose of Claudet's soul." + +He coughed, and raised his eyes toward Julien. + +"I wished," continued he, "to see you for two reasons, Monsieur de +Buxieres: first of all, to hear about Claudet, and secondly, to speak to +you on a matter--a very delicate matter--which concerns you, but which +also affects the safety of another person and the dignity of the parish." + +Julien was gazing at him with a bewildered air. The cure pushed open the +little park gate, and passing through, added: + +"Let us go into your place; we shall be better able to talk over the +matter." + +When they were underneath the trees, the Abbe resumed: + +"Monsieur de Buxieres, do you know that you are at this present time +giving occasion for the tongues of my parishioners to wag more than is at +all reasonable? Oh!" continued he, replying to a remonstrating gesture +of his companion, "it is unpremeditated on your part, I am sure, but, all +the same, they talk about you--and about Reine." + +"About Mademoiselle Vincart?" exclaimed Julien, indignantly, "what can +they say about her?" + +"A great many things which are displeasing to me. They speak of your +having sprained your ankle while in the company of Reine Vincart; of your +return home in her wagon; of your frequent visits to La Thuiliere, and I +don't know what besides. And as mankind, especially the female portion, +is more disposed to discover evil than good, they say you are +compromising this young person. Now, Reine is living, as one may say, +alone and unprotected. It behooves me, therefore, as her pastor, +to defend her against her own weakness. That is the reason why I have +taken upon myself to beg you to be more circumspect, and not trifle with +her reputation." + +"Her reputation?" repeated Julien, with irritation. "I do not +understand you, Monsieur le Cure!" + +"You don't, hey! Why, I explain my meaning pretty clearly. Human beings +are weak; it is easy to injure a girl's reputation, when you try to make +yourself agreeable, knowing you can not marry her." + +"And why could I not marry her?" inquired Julien, coloring deeply. + +"Because she is not in your own class, and you would not love her enough +to overlook the disparity, if marriage became necessary." + +"What do you know about it?" returned Julien, with violence. "I have no +such foolish prejudices, and the obstacles would not come from my side. +But, rest easy, Monsieur," continued he, bitterly, "the danger exists +only in the imagination of your parishioners. Reine has never cared for +me! It was Claudet she loved!" + +"Hm, hm!" interjected the cure, dubiously. + +"You would not doubt it," insisted de Buxieres, provoked at the Abbe's +incredulous movements of his head, "if you had seen her, as I saw her, +melt into tears when I told her of Sejournant's death. She did not even +wait until I had turned my back before she broke out in her lamentations. +My presence was of very small account. Ah! she has but too cruelly made +me feel how little she cares for me!" + +"You love her very much, then?" demanded the Abbe, slyly, an almost +imperceptible smile curving his lips. + +"Oh, yes! I love her," exclaimed he, impetuously; then coloring and +drooping his head. "But it is very foolish of me to betray myself, +since Reine cares nothing at all for me!" + +There was a moment of silence, during which the curb took a pinch of +snuff from a tiny box of cherry wood. + +"Monsieur de Buxieres;" said he, With a particularly oracular air, +"Claudet is dead, and the dead, like the absent, are always in the wrong. +But who is to say whether you are not mistaken concerning the nature of +Reine's unhappiness? I will have that cleared up this very day. Good- +night; keep quiet and behave properly." + +Thereupon he took his departure, but, instead of returning to the +parsonage, he directed his steps hurriedly toward La Thuiliere. +Notwithstanding a vigorous opposition from La Guite, he made use of his +pastoral authority to penetrate into Reine's apartment, where he shut +himself up with her. What he said to her never was divulged outside the +small chamber where the interview took place. He must, however, have +found words sufficiently eloquent to soften her grief, for when he had +gone away the young girl descended to the garden with a soothed although +still melancholy mien. She remained a long time in meditation in the +thicket of roses, but her meditations had evidently no bitterness in +them, and a miraculous serenity seemed to have spread itself over her +heart like a beneficent balm. + +A few days afterward, during the unpleasant coolness of one of those +mornings, white with dew, which are the peculiar privilege of the +mountain-gorges in Langres, the bells of Vivey tolled for the dead, +announcing the celebration of a mass in memory of Claudet. The grand +chasserot having been a universal favorite with every one in the +neighborhood, the church was crowded. The steep descent from the high +plain overlooked the village. They came thronging in through the wooded +glens of Praslay; by the Auberive road and the forests of Charbonniere; +companions in hunting and social amusements, foresters and wearers of +sabots, campers in the woods, inmates of the farms embedded in the +forests--none failed to answer the call. The rustic, white-walled nave +was too narrow to contain them all, and the surplus flowed into the +street. Arbeltier, the village carpenter, had erected a rudimentary +catafalque, which was draped in black and bordered with wax tapers, and +placed in front of the altar steps. On the pall, embroidered with silver +tears, were arranged large bunches of wild flowers, sent from La +Thuiliere, and spreading an aromatic odor of fresh verdure around. The +Abbe Pernot, wearing his insignia of mourning, officiated. Through the +side windows were seen portions of the blue sky; the barking of the dogs +and singing of birds were heard in the distance; and even while listening +to the 'Dies irae', the curb could not help thinking of the robust and +bright young fellow who, only the year previous, had been so joyously +traversing the woods, escorted by Charbonneau and Montagnard, and who was +now lying in a foreign land, in the common pit of the little cemetery of +Montebello. + +As each verse of the funeral service was intoned, Manette Sejournant, +prostrate on her prie-dieu, interrupted the monotonous chant with +tumultuous sobs. Her grief was noisy and unrestrained, but those present +sympathized more with the quiet though profound sorrow of Reine Vincart. +The black dress of the young girl contrasted painfully with the dead +pallor of her complexion. She emitted no sighs, but, now and then, a +contraction of the lips, a trembling of the hands testified to the inward +struggle, and a single tear rolled slowly down her cheek. + +From the corner where he had chosen to stand alone, Julien de Buxieres +observed, with pain, the mute eloquence of her profound grief, and became +once more a prey to the fiercest jealousy. He could not help envying the +fate of this deceased, who was mourned in so tender a fashion. Again the +mystery of an attachment so evident and so tenacious, followed by so +strange a rupture, tormented his uneasy soul. "She must have loved +Claudet, since she is in mourning for him," he kept repeating to himself, +"and if she loved him, why this rupture, which she herself provoked, and +which drove the unhappy man to despair?" + +At the close of the absolution, all the assistants defiled close beside +Julien, who was now standing in front of the catafalque. When it came to +Reine Vincart's turn, she reached out her hand to M. de Buxieres; at the +same time, she gazed at him with such friendly sadness, and infused into +the clasp of her hand something so cordial and intimate that the young +man's ideas were again completely upset. He seemed to feel as if it were +an encouragement to speak. When the men and women had dispersed, and a +surging of the crowd brought him nearer to Reine, he resolved to follow +her, without regard to the question of what people would say, or the +curious eyes that might be watching him. + +A happy chance came in his way. Reine Vincart had gone home by the path +along the outskirts of the wood and the park enclosure. Julien went +hastily back to the chateau, crossed the gardens, and followed an +interior avenue, parallel to the exterior one, from which he was +separated only by a curtain of linden and nut trees. He could just +distinguish, between the leafy branches, Reine's black gown, as she +walked rapidly along under the ashtrees. At the end of the enclosure, +he pushed open a little gate, and came abruptly out on the forest path. + +On beholding him standing in advance of her, the young girl appeared more +surprised than displeased. After a momentary hesitation, she walked +quietly toward him. + +"Mademoiselle Reine," said he then, gently, "will you allow me to +accompany you as far as La Thuiliere?" + +"Certainly," she replied, briefly. + +She felt a presentiment that something decisive was about to take place +between her and Julien, and her voice trembled as she replied. Profiting +by the tacit permission, de Buxieres walked beside Reine; the path was so +narrow that their garments rustled against each other, yet he did not +seem in haste to speak, and the silence was interrupted only by the +occasional flight of a bird, or the crackling of some falling branches. + +"Reine," said Julien, suddenly, "you have so often and so kindly extended +to me the hand of friendship, that I have decided to speak frankly, +and open my heart to you. I love you, Reine, and have loved you for a +long time. But I have been so accustomed to hide what I think, I know so +little how to conduct myself in the varying circumstances of life, and I +have so much mistrust of myself, that I never have dared to tell you +before now. This will explain to you my stupid behavior. I am suffering +the penalty to-day, for while I was hesitating, another took my place; +although he is dead, his shadow stands between us, and I know that you +love him still." + +She listened to him with bent head and half-closed eyes, and her heart +began to beat violently. + +"I never have loved him in the way you suppose," she replied, simply. + +A gleam of light shot through Julien's melancholy blue eyes. Both +remained silent. The green pasture-lands, bathed in the full noonday +sun, were lying before them. The grasshoppers were chirping in the +bushes, and the skylarks were soaring aloft with their joyous songs. +Julien was endeavoring to extract the exact meaning from the reply he had +just heard. He was partly reassured, but some points had still to be +cleared up. + +"But still," said he, "you are lamenting his loss." + +A melancholy smile flitted for an instant over Reine's pure, rosy lips. + +"Are you jealous of my tears?" said she, softly. + +"Oh, yes!" he exclaimed, with sudden exultation, "I love you so entirely +that I can not help envying Claudet his share in your affections! If his +death causes you such poignant regret, he must have been nearer and +dearer to you than those that survive." + +"You might reasonably suppose otherwise," replied she, almost in a +whisper, "since I refused to marry him." + +He shook his head, seemingly unable to accept that positive statement. + +Then Reine began to reflect that a man of his distrustful and despondent +temperament would, unless the whole truth were revealed to him, +be forevermore tormented by morbid and injurious misgivings. She knew he +loved her, and she wished him to love her in entire faith and security. +She recalled the last injunctions she had received from the Abbe Pernot, +and, leaning toward Julien, with tearful eyes and cheeks burning with +shame, she whispered in his ear the secret of her close relationship to +Claudet. + +This painful and agitating confidence was made in so low a voice as to be +scarcely distinguished from the soft humming of the insects, or the +gentle twittering of the birds. + +The sun was shining everywhere; the woods were as full of verdure and +blossoms as on the day when the young man had manifested his passion with +such savage violence. Hardly had the last words of her avowal expired on +Reine's lips, when Julien de Buxieres threw his arms around her and +fondly kissed away the tears from her eyes. + +This time he was not repelled. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Accustomed to hide what I think +Consoled himself with one of the pious commonplaces +How small a space man occupies on the earth +More disposed to discover evil than good +Nature's cold indifference to our sufferings +Never is perfect happiness our lot +Plead the lie to get at the truth +The ease with which he is forgotten +Those who have outlived their illusions +Timidity of a night-bird that is made to fly in the day +Vexed, act in direct contradiction to their own wishes +You have considerable patience for a lover + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of A Woodland Queen, v3 +by Andre Theuriet + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS FOR THE ENTIRE WOODLAND QUEEN: + +Accustomed to hide what I think +Amusements they offered were either wearisome or repugnant +Consoled himself with one of the pious commonplaces +Dreaded the monotonous regularity of conjugal life +Fawning duplicity +Had not been spoiled by Fortune's gifts +How small a space man occupies on the earth +Hypocritical grievances +I am not in the habit of consulting the law +I measure others by myself +It does not mend matters to give way like that +Like all timid persons, he took refuge in a moody silence +More disposed to discover evil than good +Nature's cold indifference to our sufferings +Never is perfect happiness our lot +Opposing his orders with steady, irritating inertia +Others found delight in the most ordinary amusements +Plead the lie to get at the truth +Sensitiveness and disposition to self-blame +The ease with which he is forgotten +There are some men who never have had any childhood +Those who have outlived their illusions +Timidity of a night-bird that is made to fly in the day +To make a will is to put one foot into the grave +Toast and white wine (for breakfast) +Vague hope came over him that all would come right +Vexed, act in direct contradiction to their own wishes +Women: they are more bitter than death +Yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh their amusements +You have considerable patience for a lover +You must be pleased with yourself--that is more essential + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of A Woodland Queen, entire +by Andre Theuriet + diff --git a/old/im25b10.zip b/old/im25b10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..663689c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/im25b10.zip |