noon in the middle of summer
when the leaves burst forth ; when the pretty wood-flowers blossom , which smell so good -- so good , that the air is perfumed . Then it is that your children will tumble gayly on the new grass , and the forest will become so thick and bushy , that your house can hardly be seen for the foliage ; I think I can see it from here . There is a bower before the door that your husband has planted , which shades the seat of turf where he sleeps during the heat of the day , while you go and come , and tell the children not to wake their father . I do not know if you have remarked it , but at noon in the middle of summer , it is as silent in the woods as during the night . Not a leaf stirs , not a bird is heard to sing . '' `` That is true , '' repeated La Louve , mechanically , who , forgetting more and more the reality , believed almost that she saw displayed before her eyes the smiling pictures described by the poetic imagination of Fleur-de-Marie , instinctively a lover of the beauties of nature . Delighted with the profound attention which her companion lent her , she continued , allowing herself to be carried away by the charm of the thoughts she evoked .