ght that every night this antique and legendary
love would watch over her dreams.

The rest of the furniture was of the most different styles, and bore the
traces of many generations. A superb Louis XVI chest of drawers, bound
with polished brass, stood between two Louis XV armchairs which were
still covered with their original brocaded silk. A rosewood escritoire
was opposite the mantelpiece, on which, under a glass shade, was a clock
made in the time of the Empire. It was in the form of a bronze bee-hive
hanging on four marble columns over a garden of gilded flowers. On a
small pendulum, coming out of the hive through a long slit, swung a
little bee, with enamel wings, backwards and forwards over the flowers;
the dial was of painted china and was let into the side of the hive. It
struck eleven, and the baron kissed his daughter and went to his own
room.

Then Jeanne regretfully went to bed, giving a last look round her room
before she put out her candle. Only the head of the bed was against the
wall, and on the left was a window through which a stream of moonlight
entered, making a pool of light on the floor, and casting pale
reflections on the walls over the motionless loves of Pyramis and
Thisbe. Through the other window, opposite the foot of the bed, Jeanne
could see a big tree bathed in a soft light. She turned over and closed
her eyes, but after a little while opened them again, for she still
seemed to feel the jolting of the carriage, and its rumbling was yet in
her ears.

For some time she lay quite still, hoping thus to soon fall asleep, but
the restlessness of her mind communicated itself to her body, and at
last she got out of bed. With her arms and feet bare, in her long
chemise, which made her look like a phantom, she crossed the flood of
light on the boards, opened her window and looked out.

The night was so clear that everything could be seen as plainly as in
broad daylight; and the young girl recognized all the country she had so
loved as a child.

First of all, just opposite her, was a big lawn looking as yellow as
gold under the light of the night. There were two enormous trees before
the chateau, a plane-tree to the north, a linden to the south, and quite
at the end of the grass, a little thicket ended the estate which was
protected from the hurricanes by five rows of old elms twisted, torn,
and sloped like a roof, by the sea wind which was constantly blowing.

This kind of park was bounded o