As they drew near the house, they observed an unusual bustle about it; the sound of voices was distinctly heard, servants and horses were seen passing between the trees, and, at length, the wheels of a carriage rolled along.

Having come within view of the front of the chateau, a landau, with smoking horses, appeared on the little lawn before it.

St.Aubert perceived the liveries of his brother-in-law, and in the parlour he found Monsieur and Madame Quesnel already entered.

They had left Paris some days before, and were on the way to their estate, only ten leagues distant from La Vallee, and which Monsieur Quesnel had purchased several years before of St.Aubert.This gentleman was the only brother of Madame St.
Aubert; but the ties of relationship having never been strengthened by congeniality of character, the intercourse between them had not been frequent.

M.Quesnel had lived altogether in the world; his aim had been consequence; splendour was the object of his taste; and his address and knowledge of character had carried him forward to the attainment of almost all that he had courted.