s yielding a bitter vintage," he said. "Light is lacking.
But--but there will be sun enough another year."

"Yes."

"_B'en oui!_ The sun must shine again," muttered old Anne, "but not in the
Woods of Aulnes. _Non pas._ There is no sunlight in the Woods of Aulnes
where all is dim and still; where the Blessed walk at dawn with Our Lady
of Aulnes in shining vestments all----"

"She has seen thin mists rising there," whispered the Countess in his ear.

"In shining robes of grace--_oui-da_!--the martyrs and the acolytes of
God. It is I who tell you, _beau jeune homme_--I, Anne of Faeouette. I saw
them pass where, on my two knees, I gathered orange mushrooms by the
brook! I heard them singing prettily and loud, hymns of our blessed
Lady----"

"She heard a throstle singing by the brook," whispered the chatelaine of
Aulnes. Her breath was delicately fragrant on his cheek.

Against the grey dusk at the window she looked to him like a slim spirit
returned to haunt the halls of Aulnes--some graceful shade come back out
of the hazy and forgotten years of gallantry and courts and battles--the
exquisite apparation of that golden time before the Vendee drowned and
washed it out in blood.

"I am so glad you came," she said. "I have not felt so calm, so confident,
in months."

Old Anne of Faeouette laid them fresh napkins and set two crystal bowls
beside them and filled the bowls with fresh water from the moat.

"_Ho fois!_" she said, "love and the heart may change, but not the Woods
of Aulnes; they never change--they never change.... The golden people of
Ker-Ys come out of the sea to walk among the trees."

The Countess whispered: "She has seen the sunbeams slanting through the
trees."

"_Vrai, c'est moi, Anne Le Bihan, qui vous dites cela, mon Capitaine!_
And, in the Woods of Aulnes the werewolf prowls. I have seen him, gallant
gentleman. He walks upright, and, in his head, he has only eyes; no mouth,
no teeth, no nostrils, and no hair--the Loup-Garou!--O Lady of Aulnes,
adored and blessed, protect us from the Loup-Barou!"

The Countess said again to him: "I have not felt so confident, so content,
so full of faith in months----"

A far faint clamour came to their ears; high in the fading sky above the
forest vast clouds of wild fowl rose like smoke, whirling, circling,
swinging wide, drifting against the dying light of day, southward toward
the sea.

"There is something wrong there," he said, under his breath.

Minu