for all
the world they would never have ventured to spy upon the pair, who
sometimes scoured the park for weeks together.

'And it was here she died?' repeated Serge, who felt touched with
sorrow. 'And you have taken her room; you use her furniture, and you
sleep in her bed.'

Albine smiled.

'Ah! well, you know, I am not timid. Besides, it is so long since it all
happened. You said what a delightful room it was.'

Then they both dropped into silence, and glanced, for a moment, towards
the alcove, the lofty ceiling, and the corners, steeped in grey gloom.
The faded furniture seemed to speak of long past love. A gentle sigh, as
of resignation, passed through the room.

'No, indeed,' murmured Serge, 'one could not feel afraid here. It is too
peaceful.'

But Albine came closer to him and said: 'There is something else
that only a few people know, and that is that the lord and the lady
discovered in the garden a certain spot where perfect happiness was to
be found, and where they afterwards spent all their time. I have been
told that by a very good authority. It is a cool, shady spot, hidden
away in the midst of an impenetrable jungle, and it is so marvellously
beautiful that anyone who reaches it forgets all else in the world. The
poor lady must have been buried there.'

'Is it anywhere about the parterre?' asked Serge curiously.

'Ah! I cannot tell, I cannot tell,' said the young girl with an
expression of discouragement. 'I know nothing about it. I have searched
everywhere, but I have never been able to find the least sign of that
lovely clearing. It is not amongst the roses, nor the lilies, nor the
violets.'

'Perhaps it is hidden somewhere away amongst those mournful-looking
flowers, where you showed me the figure of a boy standing with his arm
broken off.'

'No, no, indeed.'

'Perhaps, then, it is in that grotto, near that clear stream, where the
great marble woman, without a face, is lying.'

'No, no.'

Albine seemed to reflect for a moment. Then, as though speaking to
herself, she went on: 'As soon as ever I came here, I began to hunt for
it. I spent whole days in the Paradou, and ferreted about in all the
out-of-the-way green corners, to have the pleasure of sitting for an
hour in that happy spot. What mornings have I not wasted in groping
under the brambles and peeping into the most distant nooks of the park!
Oh! I should have known it at once, that enchanting retreat, with the
mighty tree that