n at once to
belabor vigorously his mulish animal.

"Good journey and good luck, Monsieur," cried Reine after him, and the
vehicle sped joltingly away.

CHAPTER III. CONSCIENCE HIGHER THAN THE LAW

On leaving La Thuiliere, the driver took the straight line toward the
pasturelands of the Planche-au-Vacher.

According to the directions they had received from the people of the
farm, they then followed a rocky road, which entailed considerable
jolting for the travellers, but which led them without other difficulty
to the bottom of a woody dell, where they were able to ford the stream.
As soon as they had, with difficulty, ascended the opposite hill,
the silvery fog that had surrounded them began to dissipate, and they
distinguished a road close by, which led a winding course through the
forest.

"Ah! now I see my way!" said the driver, "we have only to go straight
on, and in twenty minutes we shall be at Vivey. This devil of a fog cuts
into one's skin like a bunch of needles. With your permission, Monsieur
de Buxieres, and if it will not annoy you, I will light my pipe to warm
myself."

Now that he knew he was conducting the proprietor of the chateau, he
repented having treated him so cavalierly the day before; he became
obsequious, and endeavored to gain the good-will of his fare by showing
himself as loquacious as he had before been cross and sulky. But Julien
de Buxieres, too much occupied in observing the details of the country,
or in ruminating over the impressions he had received during the
morning, made but little response to his advances, and soon allowed the
conversation to drop.

The sun's rays had by this time penetrated the misty atmosphere, and the
white frost had changed to diamond drops, which hung tremblingly on
the leafless branches. A gleam of sunshine showed the red tints of the
beech-trees, and the bright golden hue of the poplars, and the forest
burst upon Julien in all the splendor of its autumnal trappings.
The pleasant remembrance of Reine Vincart's hospitality doubtless
predisposed him to enjoy the charm of this sunshiny morning, for he
became, perhaps for the first time in his life, suddenly alive to
the beauty of this woodland scenery. By degrees, toward the left,
the brushwood became less dense, and several gray buildings appeared
scattered over the glistening prairie. Soon after appeared a park,
surrounded by low, crumbling walls, then a group of smoky roofs, and
finally, surmoun