HOW THE AUTHOR WAS LED TO 
“Tn the depths of the wood the woodpecker 
laboured obstinately at the venerable trunks ; one might 
hear him at his task when all other sounds had ceased. 
We listened in trembling silence to the mysterious blows 
of that indefatigable workman mingling with the owl’s 
slow and lamentable voice. 
“Tt was my highest ambition to have a bird all to 
myself—a turtle-dove. Those of my mother’s—so 
familiar, so plaintive, so tenderly resigned at breeding- 
time—attracted me strongly towards them. If a young 
girl feels like a mother for the doll which she dresses, 
how much more so for a living creature which responds 
, to her caresses! I would have given everything for 
i this treasure. But it was not to be so; and the dove 
was not my first love. 
“The first was a flower, whose name I do not 
know. 
“JT had a small garden, situated under an enormous 
fig-tree, whose humid shades rendered useless all my 
cultivation. Feeling very sad and sorely discouraged, I 
descried one morning, on a pale-green stem, a beautiful 
little golden blossom. Very little, trembling at the 
lightest breath, its feeble stalk issued from’ a small basin 
excavated by the rains. Seeing it there, and always 
trembling, I supposed it was cold, and provided it with 
a canopy of leaves. How shall I express the transports 
which this discovery awakened? I alone knew of its 
existence ; I alone possessed it. All day we could do 
nothing but gaze at each other. In the evening I 
glided to its side, my heart full of emotion. We spoke 
little, for fear of betraying ourselves. But ah! what 
