The first time Maximilien saw the rabbit, it was under the weeping willow, near the brook at the other end of the garden. The sun was setting. It was still early but autumn was coming now and days were becoming shorter.

The rabbit came from the bushes that were growing behind the gardening shed and went slowly, carefully under the willow. He stopped, looked all around him, probably a little worried and then seemed to eat some things in the grass. He was a very common rabbit, brown pelt, big ears, like any other rabbit, but Maximilien was convinced from then on that the light in his dark and round eyes had something to do with intelligence.

That first time, the rabbit did not stay long under the weeping willow. One minute, maybe two, and then he quickly left, just as if some noise had scared him.

The moment after, she entered the room and turned the light on, saying it was really dark there. Maximilien closed his eyes.

All that summer he had been growing weaker and the next day, he remained all the time behind the window, sat in the armchair, looking at the weeping willow without a word. When the night began to fall, Maximilien got up to open the window. The air was still warm. Then he sat back and waited. He had the feeling that the rabbit would come back at sunset.

After a few minutes he finally saw it. The rabbit, just like the day before, came from the bushes and stopped under the willow for a while. Maximilien looked at him, immobile. He could feel the wind refreshing his pale face.

Then she came and turned the light on. She walked to the window and shut it, explaining that the air was getting cold. The noise she made to close the window was enough to scare the rabbit. He immediately fled and Maximilien could only see the little white tail vanishing into the bushes.

She was talking to him now, but the young man did not answer. Like the day before, he just closed his eyes while his hand was squeezing the arm of the red velvet chair.

The next evening, Maximilien decided to go out. He took the armchair and just carried it to the lawn, near the weeping willow. Then he sat and waited. But the rabbit did not come. Maximilien was not really disappointed. He knew that his arrival must have bothered the rabbit and that it would take some time to get used to it.

The night slowly came and he did not appear. Then she came. Maximilien could hear the sound of her footsteps on the gravel in front of the house. The sound changed when she walked on the lawn. She was protesting that he should not have left his room, that the autumn was coming now and that he might catch a cold.

Maximilien did not look at her, still staring at the weeping willow. He just had a cynical smile when she talked, as if it did not matter at all. She understood that and she remained quiet, embarrassed.

When the sun began to vanish behind the big house the next day, the armchair was settled again on the lawn. But it was empty. One or two meters from there, Maximilien was lying on the grass, immobile. He had been waiting for almost two hours now. But the rabbit did not come that day either.

She knew he was outside that day again, but she was pleased she could have made him wear a bigger sweater and a scarf. When she got out of the house, she first did not see him in the armchair and then realized he lay on the grass. She stopped a short moment on the stone stairs, breathless, but when she stepped on the gravel, she could see he had moved and she felt relieved.

Maximilien had turned his head and was looking at her. The light of the sun behind her made her hair even brighter. He thought she was pretty. Her legs were quite beautiful as well... her white dress... he could have thought it was a summer dress if he had not already seen it so often in winter...she was smiling now, asking him to come in with her. He closed his eyes for a short moment and then, slowly got up.

He had been waiting for more than an hour, laid on the lawn, immobile, his eyes closed, when the rabbit got out the bushes. He stopped and watched carefully, smelt the air. Then he came very slowly staring at this big thing on the grass. It was there yesterday too and maybe the day before and it did not move.

The rabbit advanced with little jumps and soon reached Maximilien's head that touched the fresh grass on the ground. Another jump and the little brown nose came and smelt the blond and short hair.

Maximilien gave a very small sigh and opened his eyes. Not moving, above all, not moving. But already the rabbit had gone. However, he stopped a short moment, still under the willow and then, after smelling the air a last time, he left and disappeared into the bushes.

A few minutes later, she came. Maximilien heard her walking on the gravel and turned his head towards her. Then he got up.

The rabbit came back the next evening. He probably recognized the chair under the weeping willow, because he did not hesitate so much before jumping to Maximilien. That time he simply ignored the head and moved forward to the hand that lay on the grass, the palm open to the sky. Maximilien soon felt the little, wet nose touching lightly on the skin.

So, very slowly, with an imperceptible gesture, he moved his hand and after a few quiet seconds he could feel the sweet pelt of the rabbit under his fingers. The animal did not move, as if it had been tamed.

She opened the front door and went out. Just a few footsteps on the stairs and the rabbit ran away as fast as he could. One, two seconds, and he had vanished.

Maximilien suddenly got up and walked straight to her. She could see a strange gleam in his eyes. He was furious. He raised his hand to her face but he stopped before touching her. She looked at him, surprised, but his anger seemed to have already vanished. He just hung his head and sighed. Then she gently took his arm and they went back to the house.

The next day the rain came... the whole day, and Maximilien stayed in the room, sat behind the closed window, staring at the weeping willow. The rabbit did not come.

The rain lasted for three days and when it finally stopped, Maximilien went back to lie under the tree, the grass was not dry yet. The rabbit did not come that day either.

When she came in the late afternoon to take him back, she did not see him moving. She stepped on the stairs, then on the gravel. But he did not move. She came onto the lawn and started to run. Maximilien did not turn his head to her as he used to do.

After she had left the house, a long time after Maximilien's death, the nurse explained that she had sometimes seen a rabbit under the weeping willow, near the brook, just before the night. He came from the bushes behind the gardening shed and moved forwards the grass under the tree. He stayed there a moment and then left, his little white tail jumping back to the bushes. But nobody paid attention to what she said.