; let us take
advantage of our being alone to cross the open ground and so take refuge
in the woods."

"So much the better," said Athenais, "because I see the torches setting
out from the chateau and the theater, and they seem as if they were
preceding some person of distinction."

"Let us run, then," said all three. And, gracefully lifting up the long
skirts of their silk dresses, they lightly ran across the open space
between the lake and the thickest covert of the park. Montalais agile as
a deer, Athenais eager as a young wolf, bounded through the dry grass,
and, now and then, some bold Acteon might, by the aid of the faint
light, have perceived their straight and well-formed limbs somewhat
displayed beneath the heavy folds of their satin petticoats. La
Valliere, more refined and more bashful, allowed her dress to flow
around her; retarded also by the lameness of her foot, it was not long
before she called out to her companions to halt, and, left behind, she
obliged them both to wait for her. At this moment, a man, concealed in
a dry ditch planted with young willow saplings, scrambled quickly up its
shelving side, and ran off in the direction of the chateau. The three
young girls, on their side, reached the outskirts of the park, every
path of which they well knew. The ditches were bordered by high hedges
full of flowers, which on that side protected the foot-passengers from
being intruded upon by the horses and carriages. In fact, the sound of
Madame's and the queen's carriages could be heard in the distance upon
the hard dry ground of the roads, followed by the mounted cavaliers.
Distant music reached them in response, and when the soft notes died
away, the nightingale, with throat of pride, poured forth his melodious
chants, and his most complicated, learned, and sweetest compositions
to those who had met beneath the thick covert of the woods. Near the
songster, in the dark background of the large trees, could be seen the
glistening eyes of an owl, attracted by the harmony. In this way
the _fete_ of the whole court was a _fete_ also for the mysterious
inhabitants of the forest; for certainly the deer in the brake, the
pheasant on the branch, the fox in its hole, were all listening. One
could realize the life led by this nocturnal and invisible population
from the restless movements that suddenly took place among the leaves.
Our sylvan nymphs uttered a slight cry, but, reassured immediately
afterwards, they laugh