amidst a
profound silence, which would have been formidable to any one but
himself:--"Madame, by the king's permission, I address myself, in the
first place, to your royal highness, since you admit yourself to be
the person present possessing the greatest curiosity. I have the
honor, therefore, to inform your royal highness that the Dryad
more particularly inhabits the hollows of oaks; and, as Dryads are
mythological creatures of great beauty, they inhabit the most beautiful
trees, in other words, the largest to be found."

At this exordium, which recalled, under a transparent veil, the
celebrated story of the royal oak, which had played so important a part
in the last evening, so many hearts began to beat, both from joy and
uneasiness, that, if Saint-Aignan had not had a good and sonorous voice,
their throbbings might have been heard above the sound of his voice.

"There must surely be Dryads at Fontainebleau, then," said Madame, in a
perfectly calm voice; "for I have never, in all my life, seen finer
oaks than in the royal park." And as she spoke, she directed towards De
Guiche a look of which he had no reason to complain, as he had of the
one that preceded it; which, as we have already mentioned, had reserved
a certain amount of indefiniteness most painful for so loving a heart as
his.

"Precisely, Madame, it is of Fontainebleau I was about to speak to
your royal highness," said Saint-Aignan; "for the Dryad whose story is
engaging our attention, lives in the park belonging to the chateau of
his majesty."

The affair was fairly embarked on; the action was begun, and it was no
longer possible for auditory or narrator to draw back.

"It will be worth listening to," said Madame; "for the story not only
appears to me to have all the interest of a national incident, but still
more, seems to be a circumstance of very recent occurrence."

"I ought to begin at the beginning," said the comte. "In the first
place, then, there lived at Fontainebleau, in a cottage of modest and
unassuming appearance, two shepherds. The one was the shepherd Tyrcis,
the owner of extensive domains transmitted to him from his parents, by
right of inheritance. Tyrcis was young and handsome, and, from his many
qualifications, he might be pronounced to be the first and foremost
among the shepherds in the whole country; one might even boldly say he
was the king of shepherds." A subdued murmur of approbation encouraged
the narrator, who continued:-