CHAPTER V.HOW LITTLE CHEBE'S STORY ENDED.
Meanwhile September arrived.

The hunting season brought together a large, noisy, vulgar party at the chateau.

There were long dinners at which the wealthy bourgeois lingered slothfully and wearily, prone to fall asleep like peasants.

They went in carriages to meet the returning hunters in the cool air of the autumn evening.

The mist arose from the fields, from which the crops had been gathered; and while the frightened game flew along the stubble with plaintive cries, the darkness seemed to emerge from the forests whose dark masses increased in size, spreading out over the fields.
The carriage lamps were lighted, the hoods raised, and they drove quickly homeward with the fresh air blowing in their faces.