Chapter 10 Summary

When Citizen Blaise arrives to collect Evariste, he also invites Brotteaux to join their expedition. As they travel across the Plain of Longjumeau, Desmahis, Dubois and Evariste discuss art and styles while the women discuss fashion. They stop at an inn, L'Auberge de la Cloche in Orangis for lodging, enjoying the charming view across the plain. While Evariste and Elodie recall their first meetings on their way back to the inn for midday meal, Dubois and Brotteaux discuss their individual visits to Rome. Desmahis is stunned by the whimsical example of nature's oddness in the girl Tronche, a maiden with thick calves and ankles who tends the stables. While the women help prepare the meal, their hostess tells them about seeing King Louis XIV in Paris sixty years earlier, and Elodie's way of cutting bread reminds Evariste of a book in which young...