charm of the forest-skirts, tinted variously with the foliage of
cork-trees, pines, and acacia, the latter in full bloom, a pile of
rose-coloured or snowy flowers,--all conspired to fill the peasant
maidens with joy, and to make their voices rise in song and laughter,
which rung merrily over the hills, and through the dark avenues of
evergreen trees.

Now a gorgeous butterfly attracted their attention, then a flight of
quails skimming the surface.

"Ah!" exclaimed Jacquiline Auzun," ah, if I had my stilts and bats, I
would strike the little birds down, and we should have a fine supper."

"Now, if they would fly ready cooked into one's mouth, as they do in
foreign parts!" said another girl.

"Have you got any new clothes for the S. Jean?" asked a third; "my
mother has laid by to purchase me a smart cap with gold lace."

"You will turn the head of Etienne altogether, Annette!" said Jeanne
Gaboriant. "But what is the matter with the sheep?"

She asked because the sheep which had been quietly browsing before
her, on reaching a small depression in the dune, had started away as
though frightened at something. At the same time one of the dogs began
to growl and show his fangs.

The girls ran to the spot, and saw a little fall in the ground, in
which, seated on a log of fir, was a boy of thirteen. The appearance
of the lad was peculiar. His hair was of a tawny red and thickly