erything looked as though
it would remain motionless until the end of time; even the insects had
disappeared. A burning, steady heat descended from the sun in a golden
mist, and Jeanne walked her horse along, enjoying the stillness, and
every now and then looking up at a tiny white cloud which hung like a
snowy fleece in the midst of the bright blue sky. She went down into the
valley leading to the sea, between the two great arches which are called
the gates of Etretat, and went slowly towards the wood.

The sunlight poured down through the foliage which, as yet, was not very
thick, and Jeanne wandered along the little paths unable to find the
spot where she had sat with Julien. She turned into a long alley and, at
the other end of it, saw two saddle-horses fastened to a tree; she
recognized them at once; they were Gilberte's and Julien's. Tired of
being alone and pleased at this unexpected meeting, she trotted quickly
up to them, and when she reached the two animals, which were waiting
quietly as if accustomed to stand like this, she called aloud. There was
no answer.

On the grass, which looked as if someone had rested there, lay a woman's
glove and two whips. Julien and Gilberte had evidently sat down and then
gone farther on, leaving the horses tied to the tree. Jeanne wondered
what they could be doing, and getting off her horse, she leant against
the trunk of a tree and waited for a quarter of an hour or twenty
minutes. She stood quite motionless, and two little birds flew down onto
the grass close by her. One of them hopped round the other, fluttering
his outstretched wings, and chirping and nodding his little head; all at
once they coupled. Jeanne watched them, as surprised as if she had
never known of such a thing before; then she thought: "Oh, of course!
It is springtime."

Then came another thought--a suspicion. She looked again at the glove,
the whips and the two horses standing riderless; then she sprang on her
horse with an intense longing to leave this place. She started back to
Les Peuples at a gallop. Her brain was busy reasoning, connecting
different incidents and thinking it all out.

How was it that she had never noticed anything, had never guessed this
before? How was it that Julien's frequent absence from home, his renewed
attention to his toilet, his better temper had told her nothing? Now she
understood Gilberte's nervous irritability, her exaggerated affection
for herself and the bliss in whi