Venus was rotting. It seemed as
though the poison she had assimilated in the gutters and on the carrion
tolerated by the roadside, the leaven with which she had poisoned
a whole people, had but now remounted to her face and turned it to
corruption.
The room was empty. A great despairing breath came up from the boulevard
and swelled the curtain.
"A BERLIN! A BERLIN! A BERLIN!"
THE MILLER'S DAUGHTER
CHAPTER I
THE BETROTHAL
Pere Merlier's mill, one beautiful summer evening, was arranged for a
grand fete. In the courtyard were three tables, placed end to end, which
awaited the guests. Everyone knew that Francoise, Merlier's daughter,
was that night to be betrothed to Dominique, a young man who was accused
of idleness but whom the fair sex for three leagues around gazed at with
sparkling eyes, such a fine appearance had he.
Pere Merlier's mill was pleasing to look upon. It stood exactly in the
center of Rocreuse, where the highway made an elbow. The village had but
one street, with two rows of huts, a row on each side of the road; but
at the elbow meadows spread out, and huge trees which lined the banks of
the Morelle covered the extremity of the valley with lordly shade.
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