either. When Gaston, after a brief absence, was unable to find his
child's garden-bed, that was only because in a fine June the corn had
grown tall so quickly, through which he was presently led to it, with
all its garish sweets undisturbed: and it was with the ancient
growths of mind--customs, beliefs, mental preferences--as with the
natural world.

It may be understood that there was a certain rudeness about the old
manor, left almost untouched from age to age, with a loyalty which
paid little or no heed to changes of fashion. The Chateau d'Amour,
indeed, as the work of a later age, refined somewhat upon the rough
feudal architecture; and the daintier taste had centred itself in
particular upon one apartment, a veritable woman's apartment, with an
effect in some degree anticipating the achievement of Gaston's own
century, in which the apparatus of daily life became so eloquent of
the moods of those to whom it ministered. It was the chamber of
Gabrielle de Latour, who had died of joy. Here certainly she had
watched, at these windows, during ten whole years, for the return of
her beloved husband from a disastrous battle in the East, till
against all expectation she beheld him crossing the court at last.
Immense privilege! Immense distinction! Again and again Gaston
tried to master the paradox, at times, in deep concentration of mind,
seemed [21] almost to touch the point of that wonderful moment.

Hither, as to an oratory, a religious place, the finer spirits of her
kin had always found their way, to leave behind them there the more
intimate relics of themselves. To Gaston its influence imparted
early a taste for delicate things as being indispensable in all his
pleasures to come; and, from the very first, with the appetite for
some great distinguishing passion, the peculiar genius of his age