more reeds, no more water lilies, no more flowers on the banks. Some
cows, up to mid-leg in damp herbage, were grazing quietly.

At the bottom of a ditch, near a big willow trunk, two little girls
were huddled together under a big cloak wrapped about them. They were
watching their cows, their half bare feet in split wooden shoes and
their two little chilled faces under the large hood. From time to time
large puddles of water in which the pale sky was reflected barred the
way, and we remained for a moment beside these miniature lakes, rippling
beneath the north wind, to see the leaves float on them. They were the
last. We watched them detach themselves from the tops of the tall trees,
whirl through the air and settle in the puddles. I took my little boy in
my arms and we went through them as we could. At the boundaries of
the brown and stubble fields was an overturned plough or an abandoned
harrow. The stripped vines were level with the ground, and their damp
and knotty stakes were gathered in large piles.

I remember that one day in one of these autumnal walks, as we gained the
top of the hill by a broken road which skirts the heath and leads to
the old bridge, the wind suddenly began to blow furiously. My darling,
overwhelmed by it, caught hold of my leg and sheltered himself in the
skirt of my coat. My dog, for his part, stiffening his four legs, with
his tail between the hind ones and his ears waving in the wind, looked
up at me too. I turned, the horizon was as gloomy as the interior of a
church. Huge black clouds were sweeping toward us, and the trees were
bending and groaning on every side under the torrents of rain driven
before the squall. I only had time to catch up my little man, who was
crying with fright, and to run and squeeze myself against a hedge
which was somewhat protected by the old willows. I opened my umbrella,
crouched down behind it, and, unbuttoning my big coat, stuffed Baby
inside. He clung closely to me. My dog placed himself between my legs,
and Baby, thus sheltered by his two friends, began to smile from the
depths of his hiding-place. I looked at him and said:

"Well, little man, are you all right?"

"Yes, dear papa."

I felt his two arms clasp round my waist--I was much thinner than I am
now--and I saw that he was grateful to me for acting as a roof to him.
Through the opening he stretched out his little lips and I bent mine
down.

"Is it still raining outside, papa?"

"It will soo