certainly, my friend." I must tell you that I hunted like a man
the wolf and the wild boar. So it was quite natural that he should
suggest this shooting expedition to me.

But my husband, all of a sudden, had a curiously nervous look; and all
the evening he seemed agitated, rising up and sitting down feverishly.

About ten o'clock, he suddenly said to me:

"Are you ready?"

I rose; and, as he was bringing me my gun himself, I asked:

"Are we to load with bullets or with deershot?"

He showed some astonishment; then he rejoined:

"Oh! only with deershot; make your mind easy! that will be enough."

Then, after some seconds, he added in a peculiar tone:

"You may boast of having splendid coolness."

I burst out laughing.

"I? Why, pray? Coolness because I went to kill a fox? But what are you
thinking of, my friend?"

And we quietly made our way across the park. All the household slept.
The full moon seemed to give a yellow tint to the old gloomy building,
whose slate roof glittered brightly. The two turrets that flanked it
had two plates of light on their summits, and no noise disturbed the
silence of this clear, sad night, sweet and still, which seemed in a
death-trance. Not a breath of air, not a shriek from a toad, not a
hoot from an owl; a melancholy numbness lay heavy on everything. When
we were under the trees in the park, a sense of freshness stole over
me, together with the odor of fallen leaves. My husband said nothing;
but he was listening, he was watching, he seemed to be smelling about
in the shadows, possessed from head to foot by the passion for the
chase.

We soon reached the edges of the ponds.

Their tufts of rushes remained motionless; not a breath of air
caressed it; but movements which were scarcely perceptible ran through
the water. Sometimes the surface was stirred by something, and light
circles gathered around, like luminous wrinkles enlarging
indefinitely.

When we reached the hut where we were to lie in wait, my husband made
me go in first; then he slowly loaded his gun, and the dry cracking of
the powder produced a strange effect on me. He saw that I was
shuddering, and asked:

"Does this trial happen to be quite enough for you? If so, go back."

I was much surprised, and I replied:

"Not at all. I did not come to go back without doing anything. You
seem queer this evening."

He murmured, "As you wish," and we remained there without moving.

At the end of about half-an-h