Volume VI Part 30 (2/2)
She consented with pleasure, saying: ”Oh, yes; let us go”
They descended the slope, hired a boat at Croisset, and passed the rest of the afternoon drowsily side an island, soothed to slu weather, and rocked by the wavelets of the river Then they went back at nightfall
The evening's repast, eaten by the light of a tallow candle, was stillFather Duroy, as half drunk, no longer spoke The ht cast upon the gray walls the shadows of heads with enorreat hand was seen to raise a pitchfork to a on'sa little, presented a profile to the yellow, flickering flame
As soon as dinner was over, Madeleine drew her husband out of the house, in order not to stay in this gloo with an acrid smell of old pipes and spilt liquor As soon as they were outside, he said: ”You are tired of it already”
She began to protest, but he stopped her, saying: ”No, I saw it very plainly If you like, ill leave to-morrow”
”Very well,” she ht, the deep, all-es, rustlings, and breathings They had entered a narrow path, overshadowed by tall trees, and running between two belts of underwood of impenetrable blackness
”Where are we?” asked she
”In the forest,” he replied
”Is it a large one?”
”Very large; one of the largest in France”
An odor of earth, trees, and moss--that fresh yet old scent of the woods,foliage of the thickets, see her head, Madeleine could see the stars through the tree-tops; and although no breeze stirred the boughs, she could yet feel around her the vague quivering of this ocean of leaves A strange thrill shot through her soul and fleeted across her skin--a strange pain gripped her at the heart Why, she did not understand But it seeulfed, surrounded by perils, abandoned by everyone; alone, alone in the world beneath this living vault quivering there above her
She o back”
”Well, let us do so”
”And--ill leave for Paris to-?”
”To-, if you like”
They returned hoone to bed She slept badly, continually aroused by all the country sounds so new to her--the cry of the screech owl, the grunting of a pig in a sty adjoining the house, and the noise of a cock who kept on crowing froht She was up and ready to start at daybreak
When George announced to his parents that he was going back they were both astonished; then they understood the origin of his wish
The father ain soon?”
”Yes, in the course of the surowled: ”I hope you won't regret what you have done”
He left thee their discontent, and the carriage, which a boy had been sent in quest of, having made its appearance at about ten o'clock, the newly-married couple embraced the old country folk and started off once an to laugh