‘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 must shelter it with a canopy of foliage, with its carpet of soft silky turf, and its walls of tangled greenery, which the very birds themselves cannot penetrate.

She raised her voice, and threw one of her arms round Serge’s neck, as she continued:  ’Tell me, now; shall we search for it together?  We shall surely find it.  You, who are strong, will push aside the heavy branches, while I crawl underneath and search the brakes.  When I grow weary, you can carry me; you can help me to cross the streams; and if we happen to lose ourselves, you can climb the trees and try to discover our way again.  Ah! and how delightful it will be for us to sit, side by side, beneath the green canopy in the centre of the clearing!  I have been told that in one minute one may there live the whole of life.  Tell me, my dear Serge, shall we set off to-morrow and scour the park, from bush to bush, until we have found what we want?’