“Yes; but my opinion is of little importance.  You must be pleased with yourself—­that is more essential.  I am sure that it must be pleasanter now for you to live at Vivey?”

“Hm!—­more bearable, certainly.”

The conversation languished again.  As they approached the confines of the farm they heard distant barking, and then the voices of human beings.  Finally two gunshots broke on the air.

“Ha, ha!” exclaimed Reine, listening, “the Auberive Society is following the hounds, and Claudet must be one of the party.  How is it you were not with them?”

“Claudet took me there, and I was at the breakfast—­but, Mademoiselle, I confess that that kind of amusement is not very tempting to me.  At the first opportunity I made my escape, and left the party to themselves.”

“Well, now, to be frank with you, you were wrong.  Those gentlemen will feel aggrieved, for they are very sensitive.  You see, when one has to live with people, one must yield to their customs, and not pooh-pooh their amusements.”

“You are saying exactly what Claudet said last night.”

“Claudet was right.”

“What am I to do?  The chase has no meaning for me.  I can not feel any interest in the butchery of miserable animals that are afterward sent back to their quarters.”

“I can understand that you do not care for the chase for its own sake; but the ride in the open air, in the open forest?  Our forests are so beautiful—­look there, now! does not that sight appeal to you?”

From the height they had now gained, they could see all over the valley, illuminated at intervals by the pale rays of the winter sun.  Wherever its light touched the brushwood, the frosty leaves quivered like diamonds, while a milky cloud enveloped the parts left in shadow.  Now and then, a slight breeze stirred the branches, causing a shower of sparkling atoms to rise in the air, like miniature rainbows.  The entire forest seemed clothed in the pure, fairy-like robes of a virgin bride.

“Yes, that is beautiful,” admitted Julien, hesitatingly; “I do not think I ever saw anything similar:  at any rate, it is you who have caused me to notice it for the first time.  But,” continued he, “as the sun rises higher, all this phantasmagoria will melt and vanish.  The beauty of created things lasts only a moment, and serves as a warning for us not to set our hearts on things that perish.”

Reine gazed at him with astonishment.

“Do you really think so?” exclaimed she:  “that is very sad, and I do not know enough to give an opinion.  All I know is, that if God has created such beautiful things it is in order that we may enjoy them.  And that is the reason why I worship these woods with all my heart.  Ah! if you could only see them in the month of June, when the foliage is at its fulness.  Flowers everywhere—­yellow, blue, crimson!  Music also everywhere—­the song of birds, the murmuring of waters, and the balmy