After the noon dinner it was the custom in my uncle's house to sit for an hour or two in the entry-way of the house, that vestibule inlaid with flagstones and ornamented¹ with a large, burnished², copper³ fountain, for it was the coolest place during the heated period of the day. Here it was almost dark, for everything was closed; two or three rays of sunshine, in whose light the flies danced, filtered in through the cracks of the massive Louis XIII door. In the silent village no one was astir, and one heard there only the everlasting⁴ clucking of the hens,—all other living creatures seemed asleep.  
I, however, did not remain long in the cool vestibule. The bright sunshine lured⁵ me out; and, too, scarcely had I installed myself there in the circle before I h............