Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ... RETURN. The outlook widened when we left the forest and we found ourselves near the lake of Cbaalis. The galleries of the cloister, the chapel with its pointed arches, the feudal tower and the little castle which had sheltered the loves of Henry IV. and Gabrielle, were bathed in the crimson glow of evening against the dark background of the forest. "Like one of Walter Scott's landscapes, is it not? " said Sylvie. "And who has told you of Walter Scott?" I inquired. "You must have read much in the past three years! As for me, I try to forget books, and what delights me, is to revisit with you this old abbey where, as little children, we played hide and seek among the ruins. Do you remember, Sylvie, how afraid you were when the keeper told us the story of the Red Monks?" "Oh, do not speak of it!" "Well then, sing me the song of the fair maid under the white rose-bush, who was stolen from her father's garden." "Nobody sings that now." "Is it possible that you have become a musician?" ' Perhaps." "Sylvie, Sylvie, I am positive that you sing airs from operas!" "Why should you complain?" "Because I loved the old songs and you have forgotten them." Sylvie warbled a few notes of a grand air from a modern opera... She phrased! We turned away from the lakeside and approached the green bordered with lime-trees and elms, where we had so often danced. I had the conceit to describe the old Carlovingian walls and to decipher the armorial bearings of the House of Este. "And you! How much more you have read than I, and how learned you have become!" said Sylvie. I was vexed by her tone of reproach, as I had all the way been seeking a favourable opportunity to resume the tender confidences of the morning, but what could I say, accompanied by a donkey and a...