movements which he never finished. Raising himself from his chair, he let himself fall back, fidgeted with an empty cup, searched vainly for a match to light his absent cigarette. The arrival of Leonor calmed him. His fate that day was to embark on futile discussions with this young man, and he accepted his destiny.
Everyone was once more assembled. The conversation was resumed on the tone it had kept up at luncheon; but Rose was dreaming, and M. Hervart had a headache. It was all so spiritless, despite the enticements of M. Lanfranc, that M. Des Boys lost no time in proposing a walk.
"If you want us," said Leonor, "to draw up a plan for the transformation of your property, you must show it to us in some detail. Is this wood to be a part of your projected park? And what's beyond it? Another estate, or meadows, or ploughed fields? What are the rights of way? Do you want a single avenue towards Couville? One could equally well have one joining the St. Martin road...."
"Do you intend to lay waste this wood?" asked Rose. "It's so beautiful and wild."
"My dear young lady," said Leonor, "I in-
