, and Jeanne, tired of
dreaming, and her stock of happy visions exhausted, was now sleeping.
Sometimes the numbness caused by resting too long in one position
aroused her, and she looked outside and saw the trees fly past her in
the clear night, or some cows, lying in a field, raise their heads at
the noise of the carriage. Then she settled herself in a fresh position,
and tried to continue an interrupted dream, but the continual rumbling
of the carriage sounded in her ears, confusing her thoughts, and she
shut her eyes again, her mind feeling as tired as her body.

At last the carriage stopped, and men and women came to the doors with
lanterns in their hands. They had arrived, and Jeanne, suddenly
awakened, sprang out, while her father and Rosalie, lighted by a farmer,
almost carried in the baroness; she was quite worn out, and, catching
her breath, she kept saying in a weak little voice: "Ah, my children!
what shall I do?" She would have nothing to eat or drink, but went to
bed and fell asleep at once.

Jeanne and the baron had supper alone. They smiled when their glances
met, and, at every moment, took each other's hands across the table;
then, both of them filled with a childish delight, they went over the
manor which had just been put in thorough repair.

It was one of those big, high, Normandy houses generally built of white
stone which turns gray, and which, large enough to accommodate a
regiment, have something of the farm about them as well as the chateau.

An immense hall, going from end to end, divided the house into two
parts, its large doors opening opposite each other. A double staircase
bestrode this entrance hall leaving the center empty, and, meeting at
the height of the first floor, formed a sort of bridge. On the
ground-floor, to the right, was the huge drawing-room hung with tapestry
with a design of birds and flowers. All the furniture was in tapestry,
the subjects of the designs being taken from La Fontaine's fables.
Jeanne was delighted at recognizing a chair she had liked when she was
quite a child, and which represented the history of the Fox and the
Stork. The library, full of old books, and two other rooms, which were
not used, came next to the drawing-room. On the left were the
dining-room, which had been newly wainscoted, the linen-press, the
pantry, the kitchen, and a little room with a bath in it.

A corridor ran the whole length of the first story, the ten doors of as
many rooms open