At a turn of the highway she recognized the cross-path through the woods. Her heart leaped, and she pleaded with the _gendarme_ to stop--she had an errand for _la Fleuriotte_, a woman who lived there, only a couple of steps away. She pleaded with so much earnestness that the _gendarme_, a good fellow at heart, allowed himself to be persuaded. They tied the horse to the tree and went up the path. In front of her door _la Fleuriotte_ was chopping up wood into faggots. Upon seeing her visitor back again, accompanied by a _gendarme_, she stood open-mouthed, her arms hanging. “Chut!” said _la Bretonne_, “is the little one still asleep?” “Yes, but----” “Lay these playthings gently on her bed, and tell her that Saint Catherine sent them. I went back to Auberive to hunt for them, but it seems that I hadn’t the right to do so, and they are sending me to Langres.” “Holy Mother of God!” cried _la Fleuriotte_. “Pshaw!” She drew near the bed. Followed always by her guard, _la Bretonne_ spread over the coverlet the dolls, the ark, and the flock of sheep. Then she kissed the bare arm of the sleeping child, and, turning toward the _gendarme_, who stood staring: “Now,” said she, “we can go on.” THÉOPHILE GAUTIER, LOVER OF BEAUTY While one is reading the tales of Gautier, he feels himself to be in a playhouse, confronted by a bewildering array of stage-settings, incredibly correct in detail and grouping, oppressively rich in appointment, and colorful--always colorful. At times characters are felt to be subordinated to background, yet these surroundings are so picturesque--or better, perhaps, so pictorial--that they furnish contrasts and harmonies which bring out rather than overpower the people who move amidst this very forest of accessory riches. An examination of Gautier the man, both temperamentally and as his life was lived--if, indeed, there can be such a distinction--at once provides an explanation of this pervading love for setting: he was a passionate lover of the beautiful, and he was a persistent traveller in quest of things beautiful to look upon.