or continued a subject, already begun, in the enigmatic
phrases to which our language lends itself, and which women are so
ingenious in composing. Who has not known the pleasure of such secret
understandings in a sphere apart from those about us, a sphere where
spirits meet outside of social laws?

One day a wild hope, quickly dispelled, took possession of me, when the
count, wishing to know what we were talking of, put the inquiry,
and Henriette answered in words that allowed another meaning, which
satisfied him. This amused Madeleine, who laughed; after a moment her
mother blushed and gave me a forbidding look, as if to say she might
still withdraw from me her soul as she had once withdrawn her hand. But
our purely spiritual union had far too many charms, and on the morrow it
continued as before.

The hours, days, and weeks fled by, filled with renascent joys. Grape
harvest, the festal season in Touraine, began. Toward the end of
September the sun, less hot than during the wheat harvest, allows of our
staying in the vineyards without danger of becoming overheated. It is
easier to gather grapes than to mow wheat. Fruits of all kinds are ripe,
harvests are garnered, bread is less dear; the sense of plenty makes the
country people happy. Fears as to the results of rural toil, in which
more money than sweat is often spent, vanish before a full granary and
cellars about to overflow. The vintage is then like a gay dessert after
the dinner is eaten; the skies of Touraine, where the autumns are always
magnificent, smile upon it. In this hospitable land the vintagers
are fed and lodged in the master's house. The meals are the only
ones throughout the year when these poor people taste substantial,
well-cooked food; and they cling to the custom as the children of
patriarchal families cling to anniversaries. As the time approaches they
flock in crowds to those houses where the masters are known to treat the
laborers liberally. The house is full of people and of provisions. The
presses are open. The country is alive with the coming and going of
itinerant coopers, of carts filled with laughing girls and joyous
husbandmen, who earn better wages than at any other time during
the year, and who sing as they go. There is also another cause of
pleasurable content: classes and ranks are equal; women, children,
masters, and men, all that little world, share in the garnering of
the divine hoard. These various elements of satisfaction expl