ghter which brought her back to the bank,
indignant. She told him that he had no business to laugh at her.

'But,' he ended by asking, 'how are we going to cook your fish when you
have caught it? There is no wood about.'

That put the finishing touch to her discouragement. However, the fish
in that stream didn't seem to be good for much; so she came out of the
water and ran through the long grass to get her feet dry.

'See,' she suddenly exclaimed, 'here is some pimpernel. It is very nice.
Now we shall have a feast.'

Serge was ordered to gather a quantity of the pimpernel and place it on
the table. They ate it with their crusts. Albine declared that it was
much better than nuts. She assumed the position of mistress of the
establishment, and cut Serge's bread for him, for she would not trust
him with the knife. At last she made him store away in the 'cupboard'
the few drops of wine that remained at the bottom of the bottle. He was
also ordered to sweep the grass. Then Albine lay down at full length.

'We are going to sleep now, you know. You must lie down by my side.'

He did as he was ordered. They lay there stiffly staring into the air,
and saying that they were asleep, and that it was very nice. After a
while, however, they drew slightly away from one another, averting their
heads as if they felt some discomfort. And at last breaking the silence
which had fallen between them, Serge exclaimed: 'I love you very much.'

It was love such as it is without any sensual feeling; that instinctive
love which wakens in the bosom of a little man ten years old at the
sight of some white-robed baby-girl. The meadow-lands, spreading around
them all open and free, dissipated the slight fear each felt of the
other. They knew that they lay there, seen of all the herbage, that the
blue sky looked down upon them through the light foliage of the willows,
and the thought was pleasant to them. The willow canopy over their heads
was a mere open screen. The shade it cast was so imperceptible that
it wafted to them none of the languor that some dim coppice might have
done. From the far-off horizon came a healthy breeze fraught with all
the freshness of the grassy sea, swelling here and there into waves
of flowers; while, at their feet, the stream, childlike as they were,
flowed idly along with a gentle babbling that sounded to them like the
laughter of a companion. Ah! happy solitude, so tranquil and placid,
immensity wherein the little