, sharp cries, seizing the grain on the wing. It was
charming to see all these little hungry creatures career around Reine's
head, with a joyous fluttering of wings. When the supply was exhausted,
the young girl shook her apron, turned around, and recognized Julien.

"Were you there, Monsieur de Buxieres?" she exclaimed; "come inside the
courtyard! Don't be afraid; they have finished their meal. Those are
my boarders," she added, pointing to the birds, which, one by one, were
taking their flight across the fields. "Ever since the first fall of
snow, I have been distributing grain to them once a day. I think they
must tell one another under the trees there, for every day their number
increases. But I don't complain of that. Just think, these are not birds
of passage; they do not leave us at the first cold blast, to find a
warmer climate; the least we can do is to recompense them by feeding
them when the weather is too severe! Several know me already, and are
very tame. There is a blackbird in particular, and a blue tomtit, that
are both extremely saucy!"

These remarks were of a nature to please Julien. They went straight to
the heart of the young mystic; they recalled to his mind St. Francis of
Assisi, preaching to the fish and conversing with the birds, and he
felt an increase of sympathy for this singular young girl. He would have
liked to find a pretext for remaining longer with her, but his natural
timidity in the presence of women paralyzed his tongue, and, already,
fearing he should be thought intruding, he had raised his hat to take
leave, when Reine addressed him:

"I do not ask you to come into the house, because I am obliged to go
to the sale of the Ronces woods, in order to speak to the men who are
cultivating the little lot that we have bought. I wager, Monsieur de
Buxieres, that you are not yet acquainted with our woods?"

"That is true," he replied, smiling.

"Very well, if you will accompany me, I will show you the canton they
are about to develop. It will not be time lost, for it will be a good
thing for the people who are working for you to know that you are
interested in their labors."

Julien replied that he should be happy to be under her guidance.

"In that case," said Reine, "wait for me here. I shall be back in a
moment."

She reappeared a few minutes later, wearing a white hood with a cape,
and a knitted woolen shawl over her shoulders.

"This way!" said she, showing a path that led acr