ighter for lack of leafage, but darker in tone; the sun, already
oblique, slides its furtive orange rays athwart them, leaving long
luminous traces which rapidly disappear, like the train of a woman's
gown as she bids adieu.

On the morning of the second day after his arrival, Emile was at a
window of his bedroom, which opened upon a terrace with a balustrade
from which a noble view could be seen. This balcony ran the whole length
of the apartments of the countess, on the side of the chateau towards
the forests and the Blangy landscape. The pond, which would have been
called a lake were Les Aigues nearer Paris, was partly in view, so was
the long canal; the Silver-spring, coming from across the pavilion of
the Rendezvous, crossed the lawn with its sheeny ribbon, reflecting the
yellow sand.

Beyond the park, between the village and the walls, lay the cultivated
parts of Blangy,--meadows where the cows were grazing, small properties
surrounded by hedges, filled with fruit of all kinds, nut and apple
trees. By way of frame, the heights on which the noble forest-trees were
ranged, tier above tier, closed in the scene. The countess had come
out in her slippers to look at the flowers in her balcony, which were
sending up their morning fragrance; she wore a cambric dressing-gown,
beneath which the rosy tints of her white shoulders could be seen; a
coquettish little cap was placed in a bewitching manner on her hair,
which escaped it recklessly; her little feet showed their warm flesh
color through the transparent stockings; the cambric gown, unconfined at
the waist, floated open as the breeze took it, and showed an embroidered
petticoat.

"Oh! are you there?" she said.

"Yes."

"What are you looking at?"

"A pretty question! You have torn me from the contemplation of Nature.
Tell me, countess, will you go for a walk in the woods this morning
before breakfast?"

"What an idea! You know I have a horror of walking."

"We will only walk a little way; I'll drive you in the tilbury and take
Joseph to hold the horses. You have never once set foot in your forest;
and I have just noticed something very curious, a phenomenon; there are
spots where the tree-tops are the color of Florentine bronze, the leaves
are dried--"

"Well, I'll dress."

"Oh, if you do, we can't get off for two hours. Take a shawl, put on a
bonnet, and boots; that's all you want. I shall tell them to harness."

"You always make me do what you want; I'l