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+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
+
+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
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