The buds, which were beginning to swell on the tips of the slender black branches, dyed the tree-tops violet under the rosy sky.

To their left stretched the fields, dotted with clumps of leafless trees, and the houses of Auteuil were visible.

Slowly driven coupes, with their elderly passengers, crawled along the road, and the wet-nurses pushed their perambulators.

A motor-car broke the silence of the Bois with its humming.
"Do you like those machines ?" asked Felicie.
"I find them convenient, that's all." It was true that he was no chauffeur.

He had no taste for any kind of sport; he concerned himself only with women.
Pointing to a cab which had just passed them, she exclaimed: "Robert, did you see ?" "No." "Jeanne Perrin was in it with a woman." And, as he displayed a calm indifference, she added in a reproachful tone: "You are like Dr.Socrates.Do you think that sort of thing natural ?" The lake slept, bright and serene, within its sombre walls of pines.
They took the path to their right, which skirted the bank where the white geese and swans were preening their feathers.