the humming in his ears was of a rosy hue; if thoughts ever exhale
fragrance, his brain overflowed with the sweets of violet and
heliotrope.

He had in mind what he was going to say when Alice and he should
be alone together. It was a pretty speech, he thought; indeed a
very thrilling little speech, by the way it stirred his own nerve-
centers as he conned it over.

Madame Roussillon met him at the door in not a very good humor.

"Is Mademoiselle Alice here?" he ventured to demand.

"Alice? no, she's not here; she's never here just when I want her
most. V'la le picbois et la grive--see the woodpecker and the
robin--eating the cherries, eating every one of them, and that
girl running off somewhere instead of staying here and picking
them," she railed in answer to the young man's polite inquiry. "I
haven't seen her these four hours, neither her nor that rascally
hunchback, Jean. They're up to some mischief, I'll be bound!"

Madame Roussillon puffed audibly between phrases; but she suddenly
became very mild when relieved of her tirade.

"Mais entrez," she added in a pleasant tone, "come in and tell me
the news."

Rene's disappointment rushed into his face, but he managed to
laugh it aside.