that revelation had suddenly called up,
recollections at once charming and perplexing, perhaps, also, that look
which the servant had cast on me at the announcement of my
departure--all these things, mixed up and combined, put me now in an
excited bodily state, with the tickling sensation of kisses on my lips,
and in my veins something which urged me on to commit some folly.

"Night having come on, casting its dark shadows under the trees, I
descried Celeste, who had gone to shut the hen-coops, at the other end
of the inclosure. I darted toward her, running so noiselessly that she
heard nothing, and as she got up from closing the small traps by which
the chickens went in and out, I clasped her in my arms and rained on
her coarse, fat face a shower of kisses. She made a struggle, laughing
all the same, as she was accustomed to do in such circumstances. What
made me suddenly loose my grip of her? Why did I at once experience a
shock? What was it that I heard behind me?

"It was Miss Harriet who had come upon us, who had seen us, and who
stood in front of us, as motionless as a specter. Then she disappeared
in the darkness.

"I was ashamed, embarrassed, more annoyed at having been surprised by
her than if she had caught me committing some criminal act.

"I slept badly that night; I was worried and haunted by sad thoughts. I
seemed to hear loud weeping; but in this I was no doubt deceived.
Moreover, I thought several times that I heard some one walking up and
down in the house, and that some one opened my door from the outside.

"Toward morning, I was overcome by fatigue, and sleep seized on me. I
got up late and did not go downstairs until breakfast time, being still
in a bewildered state, not knowing what kind of face to put on.

"No one had seen Miss Harriet. We waited for her at table, but she did
not appear. At length, Mother Lecacheur went to her room. The
English-woman had gone out. She must have set out at break of day, as
she was wont to do, in order to see the sun rise.

"Nobody seemed astonished at this and we began to eat in silence.

"The weather was hot, very hot, one of those still sultry days when not
a leaf stirs. The table had been placed out of doors, under an
apple-tree; and from time to time Sapeur had gone to the cellar to draw
a jug of cider, everybody was so thirsty. Celeste brought the dishes
from the kitchen, a ragout of mutton with potatoes, a cold rabbit, and
a salad. Afterward she placed