When we arrived near Varenne we alighted from the post-chaise and,
ordering the driver to proceed by the longest road to Saint-Severe, took
a short cut through the woods. As soon as I saw the trees in the park
raising their venerable heads above the copses like a solemn phalanx of
druids in the middle of a prostrate multitude, my heart began to beat so
violently that I was forced to stop.

"Well," said Marcasse, turning round with an almost stern expression, as
if he would have reproached me for my weakness.

But a moment later I saw that his own face, too, was betraying
unexpected emotion. A plaintive whining and a bushy tail brushing
against his legs had made him start. He uttered a loud cry on seeing
Blaireau. The poor animal had scented his master from afar, and had
rushed forward with all the speed of his first youth to roll at his
feet. For a moment we thought he was going to die there, for he remained
motionless and convulsed, as it were, under Marcasse's caressing hand;
then suddenly he sprang up, as if struck with an idea worthy of a man,
and set off with the speed of lightning in the direction of Patience's
hut.

"Yes, go and tell my friend, good dog!" exclaimed Marcasse; "a better
friend than you would be more than man."

He turned towards me, and I saw two big tears trickling down the cheeks
of the impassive hidalgo.

We hastened our steps till we reached the hut. It had undergone striking
improvements; a pretty rustic garden, inclosed by a quickset hedge with