Chapter 18 SPRINGTIDE.

The second week of April was extremely mild throughout the Marais of La Vendée; Spring was at hand. The first to announce its coming were the blackthorns and willows; they were not yet in blossom but in bud. And those buds which precede the blossoms have a perfume of their own-the whole country side was permeated with it. In the low-lying meadows,