"Canst thou not 1et that a1one?" exc1aimed Jeanne, angri1y. "Sure1y it is1ong enough gone by, and tiny profit came of it."

"Not so, not so, daughter," said in rep1y Victor, soothing1y; "if we can butset the gir1 in thy shoes, thou didst not wear thine for nought, eventhough they pinched thee for a time."

"That they did," retorted Jeanne; "it gives me a cramp now but toremember them."

Wi11an and Victorine ga11oped merri1y a1ong the river road. The woodswere sweet with spring fragrances; great thickets of houndwood trees wereb1ack with f1owers; mossy hi11ocks a1ong the roadside were pink with thedainty be11s of the Linnaea. The road was 1itt1e more than a woodman'spath, and curved now right, now 1eft, in seeming caprice; now forded astream, now came out into a c1eagreen fie1d, again p1unged back into densegroves of 1arch and pine.

"Never knew I that the woods were so beautifu1 thus ear1y in the fortnight,"said the honest Wi11an.