room. During Andermatt’s absence they have nearly a month for uninterrupted lovemaking. It is a blow to both of them when they learn that Andermatt is arriving within a few days and that he is planning to take Christiane back to Paris with him when he leaves again. The financier brings several members of his newly formed company with him. The terms of the purchase are read and signed before the village notary, and Andermatt is elected president of the company, over the dissenting votes of Oriol and his son. It is agreed that the new baths shall be known as Mont-Oriol.

That night Paul sorrowfully says good-bye to his love. He feels that, although they might meet later in Paris, part of the enchantment of their affair will be gone forever. Christiane, in contrast, is full of plans for future meetings and ways of carrying on the affair while evading the notice of her servants.

On the first of July in the following year, the day has come for the dedication of the new baths at Mont-Oriol. Christiane, soon expecting a baby, walks with her father, her brother, and Paul to watch the dedication of the three new springs, which are to be named for Christiane and for Oriol’s two daughters, Charlotte and Louise. Clovis, however, is again doubled up with his assumed rheumatism, despite his apparently successful cure the previous summer. He threatens to become a serious menace to business because he declares to anyone who will listen that the waters ultimately did him more harm than good. At last Andermatt is forced to reckon with him, and Clovis finally agrees to undergo treatment every year. It is decided that his return annually for the same treatment will only prove to the public the medicinal value of the baths.

Andermatt has planned an operetta and display of fireworks for the evening of the dedication. Gontran, observing that his sister is suffering from the heat of the room in which the entertainment is beginning, sneaks out and sets off the rocket that is intended as the signal for the fireworks display to start. To Andermatt’s disgust, everyone dashes outside, but he takes advantage of the unexpected interlude to have a serious conversation with Gontran. Having been informed that Oriol intends to give the lands around Mont-Oriol as his daughters’ dowries, Andermatt proposes that Gontran, who is deeply in debt, should repair his finances by marrying either Charlotte or Louise. After meditating for a few moments, Gontran announces that he will open the ball to be held later that evening by dancing with Charlotte Oriol, the younger and prettier of the two sisters.

Christiane, too, makes use of the interruption. She proposes to Paul that they walk along the road on which they said good-bye the previous year. At that time, he had fallen to his knees and kissed her shadow, and she has hopes that he will repeat the act. Her hopes are dashed, however, for although the child she is carrying is his, her shadow betrays too clearly her changed form.

Gontran pays court to Charlotte Oriol at the ball, and the news of his interest in her soon becomes common gossip at the springs. The innocent young woman responds so freely that Christiane and Paul, who are fond of her, begin to fear that she will eventually find herself compromised. They are satisfied, however, when Gontran confides to them his intention to ask for her hand.

When he asks Andermatt to sound out Oriol about the match, the crafty peasant, realizing that his younger daughter will be easier to marry off than will the older, says that he plans to endow Charlotte with the lands on the other side of the mountain. Because those lands are of no use to Andermatt at the moment, Gontran realizes that he will have to change his tactics. He persuades Louise that he has courted Charlotte only to arouse the older sister’s interest, and he manages to meet her frequently at the home of one of the local doctors and on walks. When the time seems ripe, he sends Andermatt once more to talk to Oriol. As the reward for his efforts he receives a signed statement that assures him a dowry and the promise of Louise’s hand.

Paul, unaware of Gontran and Andermatt’s scheming, has been incensed by Gontran’s sudden desertion of Charlotte, and gradually his feeling of sympathy for her has grown into love. One day her father finds them together, and, partly because he is in love and partly because he does not want to compromise Charlotte, his immediate reaction is to propose. When he agrees to sign a statement as to his satisfactory income, the peasant gives his consent to the marriage.

The next morning, Christiane learns that Paul is to marry Charlotte. Her informant is the doctor who has come to examine her because she has been feeling ill. As soon as she hears that her lover is to marry, she goes into labor from the shock, and fifteen hours later a little girl is born. Christiane will have nothing to do with the baby at first, but when Andermatt brings the child to her, she finds the infant irresistible and wants to keep her close.

No one else is available to nurse the child, so the doctor’s wife is chosen to keep Christiane company during her recovery. The talkative woman knows the Oriols well, and Christiane is able to learn from her most of the details of Paul’s courtship of Charlotte. Upset by the realization that he has given Charlotte the same attentions she once received, she falls into a delirium, but the next day her condition begins to improve.

When the baby is a few days old, Christiane asks that Paul be sent to see her. He arrives planning to beg her pardon, but he finds there is no need to do so. Christiane, engrossed in the child, has only a few conversational words for him. Although he was hoping to see the infant who is half his, he notes that the curtains of the cradle are significantly fastened in the front with some of Christiane’s pins.