forgot to inform us of your presence,
and we were waiting for Mademoiselle Reine, without thinking that--"

The old man continued immovable, not seeming to understand; he kept
repeating, in the same voice, like a frightened child:

"Rei-eine! Rei-eine!"

The two bewildered travellers gazed at this sepulchral-looking
personage, then at each other interrogatively, and began to feel very
uncomfortable. The magpie, perched upon the hanging shelf, suddenly
flapped his wings, and repeated, in his turn, in falsetto:

"Reine, queen of the woods!"

"Here I am, papa, don't get uneasy!" said a clear, musical voice behind
them.

The door had been suddenly opened, and Reine Vincart had entered. She
wore on her head a white cape or hood, and held in front of her an
enormous bouquet of glistening leaves, which seemed to have been
gathered as specimens of all the wild fruit-trees of the forest: the
brown beam-berries, the laburnums, and wild cherry, with their
red, transparent fruit, the bluish mulberry, the orange-clustered
mountain-ash. All this forest vegetation, mingling its black or purple
tints with the dark, moist leaves, brought out the whiteness of the
young girl's complexion, her limpid eyes, and her brown curls escaping
from her hood.

Julien de Buxieres and his companion had turned at the sound of Reine's
voice. As soon as she perceived them, she went briskly toward them,
exclaiming:

"What are you doing here? Don't you see that you are frightening him?"

Julien, humbled and mortified, murmured an excuse, and got confused
in trying to relate the incident of the carriage. She interrupted him
hurriedly:

"The carriage, oh, yes--La Guitiote spoke to me about it. Well, your
carriage will be attended to! Go and sit down by the fire, gentlemen; we
will talk about it presently."

She had taken the light from the driver, and placed it on an adjacent
table with her plants. In the twinkling of an eye, she removed her hood,
unfastened her shawl, and then knelt down in front of the sick man,
after kissing him tenderly on the forehead. From the corner where Julien
had seated himself, he could hear her soothing voice. Its caressing
tones contrasted pleasantly with the harsh accent of a few minutes
before.

"You were longing for me, papa," said she, "but you see, I could not
leave before all the sacks of potatoes had been laid in the wagon. Now
everything has been brought in, and we can sleep in peace. I thought of
you o