The three trees

...When he left a shapeless lump hit his shoulder, Monsieur de Sélys was so surprised that he squeezed on the trigger of his revolver. In this state of sudden shock, he might have stayed for hours transfixed behind his large oak-tree, not knowing whether he should pull it or not.
When the bullet fired (de II à III), Monsieur de Sélys felt a profound relief : his duty had finally been done without his feeling that he was actually responsible for the shot, which was after all only provoked by his being surprised. He would have liked this moment never to end; because if the bullet ever reached Serti, he would have the death of a man on his conscience; and if it missed him, his pride would suffer for ever...

...Chewing nervously on a feather in the shade of an old lime-tree, Oskar Serti had been waiting for such a long time for Catherine de Sélys to arrive that he was beginning to doubt whether she would turn up or not; Suddenly he felt a sharp hiss lightly brush his lips and cut his feather - that dear, sweet feather that he had detached from Catherine’s dress as a pledge of their future affair together. Seeing the feather carried by the wind and drifting towards a large willow-tree (de III à I), Serti left it to it, somewhat superstitiously : he told himself that if it got caught by the tree, Catherine would come to him; but if it continued on its way without hindrance, he would have nothing to do but forget her.

On the 5th of March Catherine de Sélys discovered her husband hidden behind a large oak-tree (II), a revolver aimed in the direction of an old lime-tree (III), in the shade of which Oskar Serti was sleeping. So the advances Oskar had been making to her the night before had not escaped the attention of her husband. Catherine felt so wretched about having responded to Oskar’s rendez-vous that she hid behind a willow-tree (I), not knowing whether she should intervene or not
Lowering her eyes in shame, she saw at the foot of her tree the crumpled form of a young bird which had fallen too soon out of its nest. She picked it up and threw it violently in the direction of her husband (from I to II). Catherine enjoyed the next moment with the satisfaction of having done her duty : if the bird still had a little more strength to fly it would save its life; if it landed on her husband he would be surprised by it and, in a surge of humanity, would leave Oskar alive...