Martin departs

It was a day in autumn. The vintage was done and the winter wheat was being put in the ground. . . .

This passage begins with an abrupt drop into dramatic mode, coming out of a long summary that reaches to a theme of the novel, how the mystery "singled out Bertrande de Rols from the peace and obscurity of her tradition." The stark time tag plants a flag of significance on this day, this autumn.

Bertrande had taken Martin's lunch to him . . . . The flesh at the edge of the gown was creamy, and the color deepened upward into a warm tan, growing richer and brighter on the rounded cheeks . . . .

Although the novel generally tracks Bertrande, here the description seems to emerge from Martin's point of view as his gaze lingers on her skin. There's a hint of his coldness in calling her body "the flesh," without a personal pronoun. In her coloring, Lewis points both to her happy healthiness in the richness and brightness of her cheeks, and to her vulnerability in the untanned skin at her neckline. This is a woman who could be wounded.

Leaf, earth, and wine in the still sunlight gave forth the odors of their substances; the air was full of autumn fragrance.

After signaling the importance of the day, Lewis pauses to describe the countryside, drawing out the moment. All the parts of the farm are working in concert, following their natures, doing what autumn requires. As the "odors of their substances" mix in the air, we get a sense of completeness. This sets up the harmony that's about to be disturbed.

He returned the earthen wine jug to the hands of his wife and said: "I am going away for a little while."

Martin's two acts here are the book in a sentence. He drinks from the wine jug that his wife brought him and returns it to her without thanks, accepting it as his due. It's expected that she play the role of wife to perfection; anything less would be unthinkable and unforgivable. Then, his spoken words break the spell of the autumn day. There is no room for her in the finality of his decision, although the effect is softened in the dialog that follows. But in this moment, we see enough of Martin to know that he could never be so kindly aware of Bertrande as the impostor. From this rupture, the rest of the novel unfolds.