A young woman, dressed in a petticoat of gray woolen material, and a jacket of the same, close-fitting at the waist, her arms bare to the elbows and supporting on her head a bag of nuts enveloped in a white sheet, advanced toward him with a quick and rhythmical step.

The manner in which she carried her burden showed the elegance of her form, the perfect grace of her chest and throat.

She was not very tall, but finely proportioned.

As she approached, the slanting rays of the setting sun shone on her heavy brown hair, twisted into a thick coil at the back of her head, and revealed the amber paleness of her clear skin, the long oval of her eyes, the firm outline of her chin and somewhat full lips; and Claudet, roused from his lethargic reverie by the sound of her rapid footsteps, raised his eyes, and recognized the daughter of Pere Vincart, the proprietor of La Thuiliere.
At the same moment, the young girl, doubtless fatigued with the weight of her bundle, had laid it down by the roadside while she recovered her breath.

In a few seconds Claudet was by her side.
"Good-evening, Reine," said he, in a voice singularly softened in tone, "shall I give you a lift with that ?" "Good-evening, Claudet," replied she; "truly, now, that is not an offer to be refused.