entering by the garden gate, the key of which Calyste had taken with
him. It was nearly six o'clock. The luscious odors, the warm
atmosphere, the burnished rays of the evening sun were all in harmony
with their feelings and their tender talk. Their steps were taken in
unison,--the gait of all lovers,--their movements told of the union of
their thoughts. The silence that reigned about Les Touches was so
profound that the noise which Calyste made in opening and shutting the
gate must have echoed through the garden. As the two had said all to
each other that could be said, and as their day's excursion, so filled
with emotion, had physically tired them, they walked slowly, saying
nothing.

Suddenly, at the turn of a path, Beatrix was seized with a horrible
trembling, with that contagious horror which is caused by the sight of
a snake, and which Calyste felt before he saw the cause of it. On a
bench, beneath the branches of a weeping ash, sat Conti, talking with
Camille Maupin.



XV

CONTI

The inward and convulsive trembling of the marquise was more apparent
than she wished it to be; a tragic drama developed at that moment in
the souls of all present.

"You did not expect me so soon, I fancy," said Conti, offering his arm
to Beatrix.