ur arrival at Montreux station. There,
what was left of our luggage was disgorged, and of fourteen packages
registered, only nine were visible to the naked eye. It was then the
Patriarch came to the front and displayed some of those qualities which
subsequently found a fuller field amid the solitude of the Alps.

We call him the Patriarch because he is a grandfather. In other respects
he is the youngest of the party, the first on the highest peak, the
first down in the afternoon with his ready order for "tea for ten," of
which, if the party is late in arriving and he finds time hang heavy on
his hands, he will genially drink five cups himself. With the care of
half a dozen colossal commercial undertakings upon his mind, he is as
merry as a boy and as playful as a kitten. But when once aroused his
anger is terrible.

His thunder and lightning played around the station-master at Montreux
on the discovery of the absence of five packages. The Patriarch has a
wholesome faith in the all-sufficiency of the English language. The
station-master's sole lingual accomplishment was French. This
concatenation of circumstances might with ordinary persons have led to
some diminution of the force of adjuration. But probably the
station-master lost little of the meaning the Patriarch desired to
convey. This tended in the direction of showing the utter incapacity
of the Swiss or French nature to manage a railway, and the discreditable
incompetency of the officials of whatever grade. The station-master was
properly abashed before the torrent of indignant speech. But he had his
turn presently. Calmer inspection disclosed the fact that all the
fourteen packets were delivered. It was delightful to see how the
station-master, immediately assuming the offensive, followed the
Patriarch about with gesticulation indicative of the presence of the
baggage, and with taunting speech designed to make the Patriarch
withdraw his remarks--whatever they might have been. On this point
the station-master was not clear, but he had a shrewd suspicion that
they were not complimentary. The Patriarch, however, now retired upon
his dignity.

It was, as he said, no use arguing with fellows like this.

Les Avants sit high up among the mountains at the back of Montreux.
It seems madness to go there at a time when fires are still cheerful
and when the leaves have not yet put forth their greenness. But, as
was made apparent in due time, Les Avants, at no time incon