he morrow, each would be uneasy lest anything should have
befallen the other in such weather, when one would not even have turned
a dog out of doors. Perchance one of them had slipped, or lost the way;
such were the mutual fears which possessed them, and rendered their next
interview yet more loving.

At last the fine days returned, April brought mild nights, and the grass
in the green alley sprouted up wildly. Amidst the stream of life flowing
from heaven and rising from the earth, amidst all the intoxication of
the budding spring-time, the lovers sometimes regretted their winter
solitude, the rainy evenings and the freezing nights, during which they
had been so isolated so far from all human sounds. At present the days
did not draw to a close soon enough, and they grew impatient with the
lagging twilights. When the night had fallen sufficiently for Miette to
climb upon the wall without danger of being seen, and they could at last
glide along their dear path, they no longer found there the solitude
congenial to their shy, childish love. People began to flock to the Aire
Saint-Mittre, the urchins of the Faubourg remained there, romping about
the beams, and shouting, till eleven o'clock at night. It even happened
occasionally that one of them would go and hide behind the piles of
timber, and assail Miette and Silvere with boyish jeers. The fear of
being surprised amidst that general awakening of life as the season
gradually grew warmer, tinged their meetings with anxiety.

Then, too, they began to stifle in the narrow lane. Never had it
throbbed with so ardent a quiver; never had that soil, in which the
last bones left of the former cemetery lay mouldering, sent forth such
oppressive and disturbing odours. They were still too young to relish
the voluptuous charm of that secluded nook which the springtide filled
with fever. The grass grew to their knees, they moved to and fro with
difficulty, and certain plants, when they crushed their young shoots,
sent forth a pungent odour which made them dizzy. Then, seized with
strange drowsiness and staggering with giddiness, their feet as
though entangled in the grass, they would lean against the wall, with
half-closed eyes, unable to move a step. All the soft languor from the
skies seemed to penetrate them.

With the petulance of beginners, impatient and irritated at this sudden
faintness, they began to think their retreat too confined, and decided
to ramble through the open fie