s, made up of the sap of bursting buds and the dead and moldering
foliage of the thickets, seemed to linger in the path. Raising her head,
Madeleine could see the stars through the tree-tops; and although no
breeze stirred the boughs, she could yet feel around her the vague
quivering of this ocean of leaves. A strange thrill shot through her
soul and fleeted across her skin--a strange pain gripped her at the
heart. Why, she did not understand. But it seemed to her that she was
lost, engulfed, surrounded by perils, abandoned by everyone; alone,
alone in the world beneath this living vault quivering there above her.

She murmured: "I am rather frightened. I should like to go back."

"Well, let us do so."

"And--we will leave for Paris to-morrow?"

"Yes, to-morrow."

"To-morrow morning?"

"To-morrow morning, if you like."

They returned home. The old folks had gone to bed. She slept badly,
continually aroused by all the country sounds so new to her--the cry of
the screech owl, the grunting of a pig in a sty adjoining the house, and
the noise of a cock who kept on crowing from midnight. She was up and
ready to start at daybreak.

When George announced to his parents that he was going back they were
both astonished; then they understood the origin of his wish.

The father merely said: "Shall I see you again soon?"

"Yes, in the course of the summer."

"So much the better."

The old woman growled: "I hope you won't regret what you have done."

He left them two hundred francs as a present to assuage their
discontent, and the carriage, which a boy had been sent in quest of,
having made its appearance at about ten o'clock, the newly-married
couple embraced the old country folk and started off once more.

As they were descending the hill Duroy began to laugh.

"There," he said, "I had warned you. I ought not to have introduced you
to Monsieur and Madame du Roy de Cantel, Senior."

She began to laugh, too, and replied: "I am delighted now. They are good
folk, whom I am beginning to like very well. I will send them some
presents from Paris." Then she murmured: "Du Roy de Cantel, you will
see that no one will be astonished at the terms of the notification of
our marriage. We will say that we have been staying for a week with your
parents on their estate." And bending towards him she kissed the tip of
his moustache, saying: "Good morning, George."

He replied: "Good morning, Made," as he passed an arm around her