She dropped my arm abruptly and returned to join a group of dancers who were observing us at a distance with manifest interest.

She was received by them with whispers and smiles, to which she replied with a few rapid sentences, among which I only caught the word _revanche_.

I paid no further attention to the matter for the time being, and my soul went to converse amid the clouds with the soul of Madame Durmaitre.
The next day a grand hunt was to take place in the forest.

I had arranged to take no share in it, wishing to make the best of a whole day of solitude to push forward my hopeless undertaking.

Toward noon, the hunters met in the court-yard of the chateau, which rang again for some fifteen minutes with the loud blast of the trumpets, the stamping of horses, and the yelping of the pack.