rather gloomy, surrounded by tall trees, beside a river. Have
you anything like that in the neighborhood?"

"What do you want to do with it?"

"To build a chateau there."

"What kind of a chateau?"

"Zounds! of cards! I have a family to house, a model mother,
a melancholy young girl, a mischievous brother, and a poaching
gardener."

"There is a place called Noires-Fontaines."

"In the first place the name is charming."

"But there is no chateau there."

"So much the better, for I should have been obliged to demolish
it."

"Let us go to Noires-Fontaines."

We started; a quarter of an hour later we descended at the ranger's
lodge.

"Shall we take this little path?" said M. Leduc; "it will take
us where you want to go."