up the hill to the promenade with my burden of lettuce heads?
And when I told you that I had seen Lamy playing as a boy on the spot
where his statue stands? Sorry for me, were you not? Lamy had the
good sense, you think, to quit Mougins, and go out to glory. I and the
rest of Mougins, you think, have stayed here because we do not know any
better. It is all in the point of view. One of you is enthusiastic
over a patent corkscrew, and the other over the wine. You tourists
from the city cannot understand us. It is because you carry your
limitations with you. You think you lead a large, broad, varied life.
You do not. Finding the greatest interest of Mougins in a patent
corkscrew and sparkling wine betrays you."

"_Ces messieurs_ have a passion for the country and for towns away from
the railroad," remonstrated the _cocher_. "This afternoon I tempted
them from the Casino at Cannes. They are a thousand times enthusiastic
about Mougins, your homes, your streets, your views, and all they have
seen in the valley coming here. If they had limitations, would they
have wanted to come? It is senseless to think that they make the
effort, that they spend the money, just to be pleased with what they
see from their own world or what reminds them of their own world. I
spend my life with tourists, and they always appreciate, I have never
known them to fail to thank me for having brought them to Mougins."

Our critic--and, indeed, our judge--turned on the _cocher_.

"Tell me," he said sharply, raising his voice witheringly, "would you
risk bringing tourists to Mougins if there were not this cafe and the
_vin mousseux_?"

The _cocher_ puffed his cigar vigorously. The Artist, highly
delighted, broke an almost invariable rule to prove that the greatest
interest of Mougins was not the corkscrew. He opened his sketch-book.
While the old man was fingering the sketches, I ordered another bottle.

Our guest had been the vanguard of the homeward procession. All
Mougins was now passing before us.

"Now you see," continued our mentor, "what it is to live. A score of
men who knew Lamy have passed before you. They did not go to Africa to
hunt negroes and to put our flag on the map at the same time as the
names of unknown towns. They are here, and will eat a good dinner
tonight. Lamy is dead. Now I do not say that we are heroes, and that
our point of view is heroic. But I do say that we are not to be
pitied. And I say, mor