mother had fears, not unmingled with remorse. Like animals who know
when danger is near, I hid myself away in the garden to think of the
kiss that I had stolen. A few days after this memorable ball my mother
attributed my neglect of study, my indifference to her tyrannical
looks and sarcasms, and my gloomy behavior to the condition of my
health. The country, that perpetual remedy for ills that doctors
cannot cure, seemed to her the best means of bringing me out of my
apathy. She decided that I should spend a few weeks at Frapesle, a
chateau on the Indre midway between Montbazon and Azay-le-Rideau,
which belonged to a friend of hers, to whom, no doubt, she gave
private instructions.

By the day when I thus for the first time gained my liberty I had swum
so vigorously in Love's ocean that I had well-nigh crossed it. I knew
nothing of mine unknown lady, neither her name, nor where to find her;
to whom, indeed, could I speak of her? My sensitive nature so
exaggerated the inexplicable fears which beset all youthful hearts at
the first approach of love that I began with the melancholy which
often ends a hopeless passion. I asked nothing better than to roam
about the country, to come and go and live in the fields. With the
courage of a child that fears no failure, in which there is something
really chivalrous, I determined to search every chateau in Touraine,
travelling on foot, and saying to myself as each old tower came in
sight, "She is there!"

Accordingly, of a Thursday morning I left Tours by the barrier of
Saint-Eloy, crossed the bridges of Saint-Sauveur, reached Poncher
whose every house I examined, and took the road to Chinon. For the
first time in my life I could sit down under a tree or walk fast or
slow as I pleased without being dictated to by any one. To a poor lad