is incorporated in the house, which is delightfully fragmentary and irregular.  It had got to be late by this time, and the lonely castel looked crepuscular and mysterious.  An old housekeeper was sent for, who showed me the rambling interior; and then the young man took me into a dim old drawing-room, which had no less than four chimney-pieces, all unlighted, and gave me a refection of fruit and sweet wine.  When I praised the wine and asked him what it was, he said simply, “C’est du vin de ma mere!” Throughout my little journey I had never yet felt myself so far from Paris; and this was a sensation I enjoyed more than my host, who was an involuntary exile, consoling himself with laying out a manege, which he showed me as I walked away.  His civility was great, and I was greatly touched by it.  On my way back to the little inn where I had left my vehicle, I passed the Pont du Gard, and took another look at it.  Its great arches made windows for the evening sky, and the rocky ravine, with its dusky cedars and shining river, was lonelier than before.  At the inn I swallowed, or tried to swallow, a glass of horrible wine with my coachman; after which, with my reconstructed team, I drove back to Nimes in the moonlight.  It only added a more solitary whiteness to the constant sheen of the Provencal landscape.

NOTES

=The Pont du Gard=:—­A famous aqueduct built by the Romans many years ago.

=Provence=:—­One of the old provinces in southeast France.

=Nimes=:—­(N[=e][=e]m) A town in southeast France, noted for its Roman ruins.

=caleche=:—­(ka l[=a]sh’) The French term for a light covered carriage with seats for four besides the driver.

=Octave Feuillet=:—­A French writer, the author of The Romance of a Poor Young Man; Feuillet’s heroes are young, dark, good-looking, and poetic.

=chateau=:—­The country residence of a wealthy or titled person.

=Gardon=:—­A river in France flowing into the Rhone.

=nice=:—­Look up the meaning of this word.

=dans le fond=:—­In the bottom.

=Saracenic=:—­The Saracen invaders of France were vanquished at Tours in 732 A.D.

=castel=:—­A castle.

=C’est=, etc.:—­It is some of my mother’s wine.

=manege=:—­A place where horses are kept and trained.

QUESTIONS FOR STUDY

Can you find out anything about Provence and its history?  By means of what details does Mr. James give you an idea of the country?  What is meant by processional?  Why is the episode of the young man particularly pleasing at the point at which it is related?  How does the author show the character of the aqueduct?  What does monumental rectitude mean?  Why is it a good term?  What is meant here by “a certain stupidity, a vague brutality”?  Can you think of any great Roman works of which Mr.