e shoals of little fish swimming
near the bank, and they went on brimming over with happiness, as if they
were raised from the earth in their lightness of heart.

At last she said: "How foolish you must think me!"

"Why?" he asked. "To come out like this, all alone with you?" "Certainly
not; it is quite natural." "No, no; it is not natural for me--because I
do not wish to commit a fault, and yet this is how girls fall. But if
you only knew how wretched it is, every day the same thing, every day in
the month, and every month in the year. I live quite alone with Mamma,
and as she has had a great deal of trouble, she is not very cheerful. I
do the best I can, and try to laugh in spite of everything, but I do not
always succeed. But all the same, it was wrong in me to come, though
you, at any rate, will not be sorry."

By way of an answer he kissed her ardently on her ear that was nearest
him, but she moved from him with an abrupt movement, and getting
suddenly angry, she exclaimed: "Oh! Monsieur Francois, after what you
swore to me!" And they went back to Maison-Laffitte.

They had lunch at the _Petit-Havre_, a low house, buried under four
enormous poplar trees, by the side of the river. The air, the heat, the
light wine, and the sensation of being so close together, made them red
and silent, with a feeling of oppression, but after the coffee, they
regained all their high spirits, and having crossed the Seine, they
started off along the bank, towards the village of La Frette, and
suddenly he asked: "What is your name?" "Louise." "Louise," he
repeated, and said nothing more.

The river, which described a long curve, bathed a row of white houses in
the distance, which were reflected in the water. The girl picked the
daisies and made them into a great bunch, whilst he sang vigorously, as
intoxicated as a colt that has been turned into a meadow. On their left,
a vine-covered slope followed the river, but suddenly Francois stopped
motionless with astonishment: "Oh! look there!" he said.

The vines had come to an end, and the whole slope was covered with lilac
bushes in flower. It was a violet colored wood! A kind of great carpet
stretched over the earth, reaching as far as the village, more than two
miles off. She also stood, surprised and delighted, and murmured: "Oh!
how pretty!" And crossing a meadow they ran towards that curious low
hill, which every year furnishes all the lilac which is drawn through
Paris on the car