Thus Cecile's winsey frock still contained a great many francs put
away toward a rainy day; for, since they entered the Landes, the
children not only spent nothing, but lived better than they had ever
done before.
Thus the days went on, and it all seemed very Arcadian and very
peaceful, and no one guessed that a serpent could possibly come into
so fair and innocent an Eden.
CHAPTER XVII.
MAURICE TAKES THE MANAGEMENT OF AFFAIRS.
After many weeks of wandering about, the children found themselves
in a little village, about three miles from the town of Arcachon.
This village was in the midst of a forest covering many thousand
acres of land. They had avoided the seaport town of Arcachon,
dreading its fashionable appearance; but they hailed the little
village with delight.
It was a pretty place, peaceful and sunny; and here the people
cultivated their vines and fruit trees, and lived, the poorer folks
quite in the village, the better-off inhabitants in neat farmhouses
close by. These farmhouses were in the midst of fields, with cattle
browsing in the meadows.
Altogether, the village was the most civilized-looking place the
children had stopped at since they entered what had been a few years
ago the dreary desert of the Landes. Strange to say, however, here,
for the first time, the weary little pilgrims met with a cold
reception. The people in the village of Moulleau did not care for
boys who played the fiddle, and dogs that tried clumsily to accompany
it.
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