Standing well back in a garden, denuded now, but very pleasant in summer, and immediately fronted by a fine sweep of balustraded terrace, it looked, what indeed it was, and always had been, the residence of unpretentious folk who found more interest in husbandry than in adventure.
Quintin de Kercadiou, Lord of Gavrillac--Seigneur de Gavrillac was all the vague title that he bore, as his forefathers had borne before him, derived no man knew whence or how--confirmed the impression that his house conveyed.

Rude as the granite itself, he had never sought the experience of courts, had not even taken service in the armies of his King.

He left it to his younger brother, Etienne, to represent the family in those exalted spheres.

His own interests from earliest years had been centred in his woods and pastures.

He hunted, and he cultivated his acres, and superficially he appeared to be little better than any of his rustic metayers.