own by the
realization of a hope he had long considered vain. He kissed the hem of
Madame Graslin's habit, then her feet. Seeing the tears in his father's
eyes, the boy wept too, without knowing why.

"Rise, Farrabesche," said Madame Graslin, "you do not know how natural
it is that I should do for you what I have promised. You planted
those fine trees, did you not?" she went on, pointing to the groups of
Northern pine, firs, and larches at the foot of the dry and rocky hill
directly opposite.

"Yes, madame."

"Is the earth better there?"

"The water in washing down among the rocks brings a certain amount of
soil, which it deposits. I have profited by this; for the whole of the
level of the valley belongs to you,--the road is your boundary."

"Is there much water at the bottom of that long valley?"

"Oh, madame," cried Farrabesche, "before long, when the rains begin, you
will hear the torrent roar even at the chateau; but even that is nothing
to what happens in spring when the snows melt. The water then rushes
down from all parts of the forest behind Montegnac, from those great
slopes which are back of the hills on which you have your park. All
the water of these mountains pours into this valley and makes a deluge.
Luckily for you, the trees hold the earth; otherwise the land would
slide into the valley."

"Where are the springs?" asked Madame Graslin, giving her full attention
to what he said.

Farrabesche pointed to a narrow gorge which seemed to end the valley
just below his house. "They are mostly on a clay plateau lying between
the Limousin and the Correze; they are mere green pools during the
summer, and lose themselves in the soil. No one lives in that unhealthy
region. The cattle will not eat the grass or reeds that grow near the
brackish water. That vast tract, which has more than three thousand
acres in it, is an open common for three districts; but, like the plains
of Montegnac, no use can be made of it. This side on your property, as I
showed you, there is a little earth among the stones, but over there is
nothing but sandy rock."

"Send your boy for the horses; I will ride over and see it for myself."

Benjamin departed, after Madame Graslin had shown him the direction in
which he would find Maurice and the horses.

"You who know, so they tell me, every peculiarity of the country
thoroughly," continued Madame Graslin, "explain to me how it is that
the streams of my forest which are on the side