Andermatt shrugged his shoulders, and declared that Doctor Latonne alone would take care of his wife, so that the Marquis, very uneasy, began to reflect on the best course to take in order to arrange matters without offending his irascible physician.
Christiane asked: "Is Gontran here?" This was her brother.
Her father replied: "Yes, for the past four days, with a friend of his of whom he has often spoken, M. Paul Bretigny. They are making a tour together in Auvergne. They have come from Mont Doré and from Bourboule, and will be setting out for Cantal at the end of next week."
Then he asked the young woman whether she desired to rest till luncheon after the night in the train; but she had slept perfectly in the sleeping car, and only required an hour for her toilette, after which she wished to visit the village and the establishment.
Her father and her husband went back to their rooms to wait till she was ready. She soon came out to call them, and they descended together. She grew enthusiastic at first sight over the aspect of the village, built in the middle of a wood in a deep valley, which seemed hemmed in on every side by chestnut-trees lofty as mountains. These could be seen everywhere, springing up just as they chanced to have shot forth here and there in a century, in front of doorways, in the courtyards, in the streets. Then, again, there were fountains everywhere made of a great black stone standing upright pierced with a small aperture, through which dashed a streamlet of clear water that whirled about in a circle before it fell into the trough. A fresh odor of grass and of stables floated over those masses of verdure; and they saw the peasant women of Auvergne standing in front of their dwellings, spinning at their distaffs with lively movements of their fingers the black wool attached to their girdles. Their short petticoats showed their thin ankles covered with blue stockings, and the bodies of their dresses fastened over their shoulders with straps left exposed the linen sleeves of their chemises, out of which stretched their hard, dry arms and bony hands.
But, suddenly, a queer lilting kind of music burst on the promenaders' ears. It was like a barrel-organ with piping sounds, a barrel-organ used up, broken-winded, invalided.
Christiane exclaimed: "What is that?"
Her father began to laugh: "It is the orchestra of the Casino. It takes four of them to make that noise."
And he led her up to a red bill affixed to a corner of a farmhouse, on which appeared in black letters:
CASINO OF ENVAL
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF M. PETRUS MARTEL,
OF THE ODÉON.
Saturday, 6th of July.
GRAND CONCERT
organized by the Maestro, Saint Landri, second grand prize winner at
the Conservatoire.
The piano will be presided over by M. Javel, grand laureate of the
Conservatoire.
Flute, M. Noirot, laureate of the Conservatoire.
Double-bass, M. Nicordi, laureate of the Royal Academy of Brussels.
After the Concert, grand representation of
Lost in the Forest,
a Comedy in one act, by M. Pointellet.
Characters: