extreme heat, made all the trees on the bank seem to bow as she passed. A
vague wish for enjoyment and a fermentation of her blood seemed to
pervade her whole body, which was excited by the heat of the day, and she
was also disturbed at this tete-a-tete on the water, in a place which
seemed depopulated by the heat, with this young man who thought her
pretty, whose ardent looks seemed to caress her skin and were as
penetrating and pervading as the sun's rays.

Their inability to speak increased their emotion, and they looked about
them. At last, however, he made an effort and asked her name.

"Henriette," she said.

"Why, my name is Henri," he replied. The sound of their voices had calmed
them, and they looked at the banks. The other boat had passed them and
seemed to be waiting for them, and the rower called out:

"We will meet you in the wood; we are going as far as Robinson's, because
Madame Dufour is thirsty." Then he bent over his oars again and rowed off
so quickly that he was soon out of sight.

Meanwhile a continual roar, which they had heard for some time, came
nearer, and the river itself seemed to shiver, as if the dull noise were
rising from its depths.

"What is that noise?" she asked. It was the noise of the weir which cut
the river in two at the island, and he was explaining it to her, when,
above the noise of the waterfall, they heard the song of a bird, which
seemed a long way off.