esse took both Jeanne's hands in hers as if she had known her
for ages, placed her in a seat and then drew a low chair beside her for
herself, while Julien, who had regained all his old refinement during
the last five months, smiled and chatted in an easy, familiar way. The
comtesse and he talked about the rides they had had together. She
laughed a little at his bad horsemanship, and called him "The Tottering
Knight," and he too laughed, calling her in return "The Amazon Queen."

A gun went off just under the window, and Jeanne gave a little cry. It
was the comte shooting teal, and his wife called him in. There was the
splash of oars, the grating of a boat against the stone steps and then
the comte came in, followed by two dogs of a reddish hue, which lay down
on the carpet before the door, while the water dripped from their shaggy
coats.

The comte seemed more at his ease in his own house, and was delighted to
see the vicomte and Jeanne. He ordered the fire to be made up, and
Madeira and biscuits to be brought.

"Of course you will dine with us," he exclaimed.

Jeanne refused the invitation, thinking of Paul; and as he pressed her
to stay and she still persisted in her refusal, Julien made a movement
of impatience. Then afraid of arousing her husband's quarrelsome temper,
she consented to stay, though the idea of not seeing Paul till the next
day was torture to her.

They spent a delightful afternoon. First of all the visitors were taken
to see the springs which flowed from the foot of a moss-covered rock
into a crystal basin of water which bubbled as if it were boiling, and
then they went in a boat among the dry reeds, where paths of water had
been formed by cutting down the rushes.

The comte rowed (his two dogs sitting each side of him with their noses
in the air) and each vigorous stroke of the oars lifted the boat half
out of the water and sent it rapidly on its way. Jeanne let her hand
trail in the water, enjoying the icy coolness, which seemed to soothe
her, and Julien and the comtesse, well wrapped up in rugs, sat in
smiling silence in the stern of the boat, as if they were too happy to
talk.

The evening drew on, and with it the icy, northerly wind came over the
withered reeds. The sun had disappeared behind the firs, and it made one
cold only to look at the crimson sky, covered with tiny, red
fantastically-shaped clouds.

They all went in to the big drawing-room where an enormous fire was
blazing. T