The boy hid himself behind the bushes so quickly that it was hard to
believe that he had been there at all; the sisters had no time to be
astonished or to thank him. It was as if the gate had opened by
itself, or had been pushed open by one of the sisters by chance.

They stood there undecided. An incomprehensible unrest took possession
of them for an instant and as quickly went from them. Curiosity again
dominated them. The sisters entered.

"How did he open it?" asked Elena.

Elisaveta, without a word, went quickly forward. She was so elated at
getting in that she had almost forgotten the pale boy. Only somewhere,
within the domain of vague consciousness, there gleamed dimly a
strange white face.

The wood was quite like the one by which they had come to the gate,
quite as pensive and as tall and as isolated from the sky, and as
absorbed in its own mysteries. But here it seemed to have been
conquered by human activity. Not far away voices, cries, laughter
resounded. Here and there were evidences of left-off games. The narrow
footpaths often led to wider paths of sand. The sisters quickly
followed the winding path in the direction from which the children's
voices sounded loudest. Afterwards all this jumble of sound seemed to
collapse, and it renewed itself in loud, sweet singing.

At last there appeared before them a small glade--oval in shape. Tall
firs edged this open space as evenly as graceful columns in a
magnificent _salle_. The blue of the sky above it seemed
especially bright, pure and dominant. The glade was full of children