GEORGE SANDYS NOVELS J)«nlip tihtKxv ^riitian THE MILLER OF ANGIBAULT THE MILLER OF ANGIBAULT BY GEORGE SAND BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY Copyright, 1871, By Roberts Brothers. Copyright, 1899, By Little, Brown, and Company. John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. ^^. s CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. Introduction 1 II. The Journey 12 III. The Mendicant 22 IV. The Morass 29 V. The Mill 34 VI. A Name on a Tree 40 VII. Blanchemont 51 VIII. The Parvenu Peasant 61 IX. An Unexpected Friend 71 X. Correspondence 77 XI. Dinner at the Farm 87 XII. Castles in the Air. V . . . .93 XIII. Rose 101 XIV. Marcelle 108 XV. The Rencontre 119 XVI. Diplomacy 126 XVII. The Ford of the Vauvre .... 133 XVIII. Henri 142 XIX. A Portrait 157 XX. Love and Money ...... 160 XXI. The Mill-boy 173 XXII. By the Water-side 179 XXIII. Cadoche 189 (V) 226396 VI CONTENTS. CHAP. PACK XXIV. Thb Maniac 201 XXV. Sophie 211 XXVI. The Eve of the FfiiB 221 XXVII. The Cabin 232 XXVIII. The F^te 241 XXIX. The Two Sisters 252 XXX. The Contbact 260 XXXI. An After-thought 267 XXXII. The Patachon 274 XXXIII. The Will 285 XXXIV. Disaster 296 XXXV. A Rupture 305 XXXVI. The Chapel 312 XXXVn. Conclusion ....... 315 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. /^NE hour after midnight rang from St. Thomas ^-^ d'Aquin, as a dark, slender figure rapidly glided beneath the high and shadowy wall of one of the fine gardens still found in Paris, on the left bank of the Seine, The night was warm and serene. A delicate fragrance breathed from the flowering daturas, which stood in the light of the full moon like tall, white spectres. There was an air of ancient splendor about the broad flight of steps leading up to the Hotel de Blanchemont ; and tlie apparent opulence of the mansion, dark and silent as it now rose against the moonlight, was enhancefl by the extent and beauty of the surrounding garden. But the brilliant moonlight was not quite agreeable to the young woman in mourning, who took her way, by the darkest alleys, to a little door placed at the extremity of the wall. Nevertheless, she went resolutely on, for it was not the first time she had risked her reputation for the sake of a love, always pure, and henceforth legitimate, — she had been a widow now for a month. She took advantage of a shadowing clump of acacias to reach, unperceived, the little private door, which opened on a narrow and unfrequented street. Almost at the same moment the door turned on its hinges, and the per- son she had summoned entered softly, and followed liis mistress, in silence, to a small summer-house. But, as soon as the door was closed, the young baroness of i:\,: T'i^'B. mi