nd of Marie could not enter into these pastoral
loves. She was too simple to understand the 'bergeres du Lignon', too
clever to be pleased at their discourse, and too impassioned to feel
their tenderness. However, the great popularity of the romance so far
influenced her that she sought to compel herself to take an interest in
it; and, accusing herself internally every time that she felt the ennui
which exhaled from the pages of the book, she ran through it with
impatience to find something to please and transport her. An engraving
arrested her attention. It represented the shepherdess Astree with
high-heeled shoes, a corset, and an immense farthingale, standing on
tiptoe to watch floating down the river the tender Celadon, drowning
himself in despair at having, been somewhat coldly received in the
morning. Without explaining to herself the reason of the taste and
accumulated fallacies of this picture, she sought, in turning over the
pages, something which could fix her attention; she saw the word "Druid."

"Ah! here is a great character," said she. "I shall no doubt read of one
of those mysterious sacrificers of whom Britain, I am told, still
preserves the monuments; but I shall see him sacrificing men. That would
be a spectacle of horror; however, let us read it."

Saying this, Marie read with repugnance, knitting her brows, and nearly
trembling, the following:

"The Druid Adamas delicately called the shepherds Pimandre,
Ligdamont, and Clidamant, newly arrived from Calais. 'This
adventure can not terminate,' said he, 'but by the extremity of
love. The soul, when it loves, transforms itself into the object
beloved; it is to represent this that my agreeable enchantments will
show you in this fountain the nymph Sylvia, whom you all three love.
The high-priest Amasis is about to come from Montbrison, and will
explain to you the delicacy of this idea. Go, then, gentle
shepherds! If your desires are well regulated, they will not cause
you any torments; and if they are not so, you will be punished by
swoonings similar to those of Celadon, and the shepherdess Galatea,
whom the inconstant Hercules abandoned in the mountains of Auvergne,
and who gave her name to the tender country of the Gauls; or you
will be stoned by the shepherdesses of Lignon, as was the ferocious
Amidor. The great nymph of this cave has made an enchantment.'"

The enchantment of the great nymph was complete o