"Oh, yes! they've been here for the last ten or twelve days----"

"Oh! I've seen the lady, I have," said Poucette, coming forward; "I've seen her several times--for the last three days you don't see anything but her riding by here on horseback. Anyone would think it was our house she wanted to see; she rides in front of it and behind it, and she looks over the garden wall; that's easy, on horseback!--She's got a fine blue cloth habit, with a long skirt that hides her horse's tail, and a man's round hat. You ought to see how well she sits on her horse! Oh! she ain't afraid, that lady ain't! you can see that right off."

"Is she pretty?"

"Faith, mamzelle, you can't say that she ain't good-looking; but with her great black eyes, when she looks at you, you'd think she wanted to frighten everybody. She's got a bold, haughty way! for my part, I don't like such ways."

"When you see this beautiful amazon again, Poucette, call me; I am curious to see her."

"All right, mamzelle; I'll bet she'll ride by again to-day; for I tell you she always rides round the house and then comes back this way."

"That's rather strange, don't you think so, Honorine?"

"For my part, I see nothing extraordinary about it, my dear girl; this lady comes to live in a part of the country that she isn't familiar with, and she goes out in the saddle; that's the best way of becoming acquainted with the neighborhood. If she looks at the houses, it's because she wants to know the people who live in them."

"But why does she pa.s.s our house so often? why does she ride round it?"

"She pa.s.ses it, no doubt, because it's on her road when she goes out to ride. Poucette thinks that she rides round it; probably that is because it's her shortest way home."

"You always think that everything's all right. Still, I am very curious to see this beautiful equestrian."

"And I am not in the least, I a.s.sure you.--By the way, you don't mention the husband; doesn't he ride too?"

"Oh, no!" said the gardener; "the husband don't know how to sit a horse very well, it seems; the first day Madame de Belleville went out to ride, her husband thought he'd go with her. So he took a horse, but he didn't look as if he was very comfortable on him. 'My dear love,' he sings out to his wife, 'please don't go so fast! I've got out of the habit of galloping.'--But whether his wife didn't hear him, or whether her horse wouldn't stop, she was off like a flash in an instant.

Monsieur de Belleville tried to overtake her, but _patatras_!--off he went, head over heels. He got up and went home, limping a little and swearing he'd never get on a horse again; but that don't prevent madame's going every day."

"She has a servant follow her, of course?"

"No, she always goes alone. As Poucette says, she ain't afraid. It seems there's to be a dinner-party to-morrow, given by the owner of Goldfish Villa; all the bigwigs of the place are invited--the Droguets and Remplumes and Jarnouillards; you don't hear anybody talking about anything else. Perhaps it's to invite you that Madame de Belleville rides round your house the way she does."

"Oh! no, Pere Ledrux; it can't be for that. In the first place, one doesn't go on horseback to pay a ceremonious visit; and in the second place, we are not bigwigs, and as this lady chooses to make friends of all the people who talk ill of us, it is probable that we shall never make friends with her. But if you hear any more gossip, Pere Ledrux, about Monsieur Edmond Didier's frequent visits to us, I authorize you to say that there is nothing surprising in the fact of a young man's paying court to the person he is to marry; for Monsieur Edmond and Agathe are engaged."

"Well, well! I had a suspicion of that!" cried the gardener; "I says to myself: 'That young man and that girl--hum! it might well be--they're both very good-looking!'--But, you understand, I just said that to myself, by way of reflection; for it don't concern me, it's none of my business.--I'll just go and take a look at your hens; it's as sure as can be that the black one fights with the others; if you don't eat her, I'll have to take her away; she makes the others too miserable."

"We don't eat the hens whose eggs we have eaten; take her away, Pere Ledrux."

"Well! you understand, it's in your interest; she'd spoil all the others."

Pere Ledrux went off to the hencoop, and Honorine had returned to the house, when Poucette came running to Agathe, crying out:

"Mamzelle, here she is, she's coming this way."

"Who? the amazon?"

"Yes, she's on the narrow road, at the end of the garden; you can see her nicely from the summer-house."

"Let us go there then!"

Agathe was soon at the window of the summer-house, and Poucette, who had followed her, pointed to a lady on horseback, coming from Gournay, and riding her horse at a gallop, with a poise and boldness worthy of a circus rider.

Thelenie was dressed in a beautiful habit of light blue broadcloth; on her head was a man's hat, with a very broad brim, set a little on one side, and adorned with a waving ma.s.s of black ribbons. Her lovely black hair fell in corkscrew curls on each side of her face, and her great gleaming eyes shone with wonderful brilliancy beneath her hat-brim. She held in her right hand a dainty riding-crop, with which she lashed her horse vigorously when he showed signs of relaxing his pace.

Agathe gazed with unwearying admiration at the beautiful equestrian; she leaned from the window in order to see her better, saying to Poucette:

"Oh! how splendidly she rides! what grace! what fearlessness! She is a very pretty woman too!"

"Yes, at a distance! but wait till you see her near to."

As Thelenie drew near Honorine's house, she saw that there was someone at the window of the summer-house; instantly she changed her horse's gait and brought him down to a walk.

"I can see her much better now," said Agathe; "she has stopped galloping and is coming very slowly."

"I guess she's walking her horse so that she can see you better. Just see how she stares at you, mamzelle! wouldn't you think she wanted to bury her eyes in your face?"

"That is true; she is looking at me so attentively!--I don't think her so pretty now."

"There! I knew it! She has a very wicked look, that fine lady has!"

"See; she is turning round to look at me."

"If I was you, mamzelle, I'd stick out my tongue at her."

"She is going on at last; I'm glad of that!"

"Never mind; she'll know you another time!"

"Really, I can't understand how a person can stare at one in that way!"

"And with such a look! anyone would think she'd have liked to beat you!

I say, mamzelle, I'm sure that if Monsieur Edmond had seen that woman stare at you like that, he'd have gone out and said to her: 'What business have you to look at my intended like that? Do you know her? Do you want anything of her?'"

"That is very likely; but I shan't mention that woman to Edmond! After all, if she doesn't find me to her taste, so much the worse for her!

it's all the same to me."

"She must be pretty hard to suit! For my part, I think she finds you too good-looking, and that's what vexed her."

"How foolish you are, Poucette! what difference can it make to her whether I am good-looking or not?"

"Look you, mamzelle! that handsome amazon probably says to herself when she comes here to live: 'I shall be the prettiest woman in the place; everybody will admire me!' Especially as she's mighty particular about her dress.--Well, you understand, so long as she don't see anybody but the Droguets and Remplumes and Jarnouillards, she might well think herself the handsomest woman in the place; but now that she's seen you, it's another story."

Agathe went to Honorine and told her what had happened, and described the impertinent way in which the new owner of Goldfish Villa had stared at her. Whereat Madame Dalmont began to laugh, saying:

"That serves you right! You were so curious to see this woman and now you are well paid for your curiosity."

"Never mind, my dear; if I meet this Madame de Belleville again, and she stares at me as she did just now, I shall ask her what she wants of me."

"You will be very foolish, Agathe; when people behave impertinently, the best way to mortify them is to pay no attention."

Since her conversation with the owner of the Tower, Honorine had gone out quite frequently to sit on the tree trunk under the walnut. She declared that from there the view was very extensive, while Agathe maintained that it was quite as fine from the window of the summer-house. So that Madame Dalmont almost always selected the hours when her young friend was practising on the piano, to open the little gate and go out into the road. Did she hope to meet there again the excellent dog, who had shown her so much affection? or was it his master whom she hoped to see? But there was no sign of Paul or of his dog.