She did not find Silvere at the trysting-place, and waited for him for nearly a quarter of an hour, vainly making the pulley grate.

She was just about to depart in a rage when he arrived.

As soon as she perceived him she let a perfect tempest loose in the well, shook her pail in an irritated manner, and made the blackish water whirl and splash against the stones.

In vain did Silvere try to explain that aunt Dide had detained him.

To all his excuses she replied: "You've vexed me; I don't want to see you." The poor lad, in despair, vainly questioned that sombre cavity, now so full of lamentable sounds, where, on other days, such a bright vision usually awaited him amid the silence of the stagnant water.