d was carefully avoided. Those who ventured far
in the forest after nightfall either never came back at all or returned
half imbecile with terror, and afterwards poured out to their affrighted
friends incoherent stories of the strange lights and terrible forms they
had encountered, moving about amid the trees. Up to the present Henri
had been just as scared by these tales as the rest of the villagers; but
so intense was his longing for revenge that he at length resolved to
visit Mere Maxim and solicit her assistance. Choosing a morning when the
sun was shining brightly, he screwed up his courage, and after many bad
scares finally succeeded in reaching her dwelling--or, I might say, her
shanty, for by a more appropriate term than the latter such a
queer-looking untidy habitation could not be described. To his
astonishment Mere Maxim was by no means so unprepossessing as he had
imagined. On the contrary, she was more than passably good-looking, with
black hair, rosy cheeks, and exceedingly white teeth. What he did not
altogether like were her eyes--which, though large and well shaped, had
in them an occasional glitter--and her hands, which, though remarkably
white and slender, had very long and curved nails, that to his mind
suggested all sorts of unpleasant ideas. She was becomingly dressed in
brown--brown woolly garments, with a brown fur cap, brown stockings, and
brown shoes ornamented with very bright silver buckles. Altogether she
was decidedly chic; and if a little incongruous in her surroundings,
such incongruity only made her the more alluring; and as far as Henri
was concerned rather added to her charms.

At all events, he needed no second invitation to seat himself by her
side in the chimney-corner, and his heart thumped as it had never
thumped before when she encouraged him to put his arm round her waist
and kiss her. It was the first time a woman had ever suffered him to
kiss her without violent protestations and avowals of disgust.

"You are not very handsome, it is true," Mere Maxim remarked, "but you
are fat--and I like fat young men," and she pinched his cheeks playfully
and patted his hands. "Are you sure no one knows you have come to see
me?" she asked.

"Certain!" Henri replied; "I haven't confided in a soul; I haven't even
so much as dropped a hint that I intended seeing you."

"That is good!" Mere Maxim said. "Tell no one, otherwise I shall not be
able to help you. Also, on no account let the girl