CHAPTER V.LOVE'S INDISCRETION.
In the mountainous region of Langres, spring can hardly be said to appear before the end of May.

Until that time the cold weather holds its own; the white frosts, and the sharp, sleety April showers, as well as the sudden windstorms due to the malign influence of the ice-gods, arrest vegetation, and only a few of the more hardy plants venture to put forth their trembling shoots until later.

But, as June approaches and the earth becomes warmed through by the sun, a sudden metamorphosis is effected.

Sometimes a single night is sufficient for the floral spring to burst forth in all its plenitude.

The hedges are alive with lilies and woodruffs; the blue columbines shake their foolscap-like blossoms along the green side-paths; the milky spikes of the Virgin plant rise slender and tall among the bizarre and many-colored orchids.
Mile after mile, the forest unwinds its fairy show of changing scenes.
Sometimes one comes upon a spot of perfect verdure; at other times one wanders in almost complete darkness under the thick interlacing boughs of the ashtrees, through which occasional gleams of light fall on the dark soil or on the spreading ferns.