haps he thought best to save all comment until the hour of
reckoning arrived. He did not need to. The ride back to the sea was
through the fairyland of the morning climb, enhanced a thousandfold, as
all fairylands are, by the magic of the twilight. One never can make it
up to hired horses for their work and willingness and patience. But we
did live up to local American tradition in regard to the _cocher_.

CHAPTER II

CAGNES

American and English visitors to the Riviera soon come to know Cagnes by
name. It is a challenge to their ability to pronounce French--a
challenge that must be accepted, if you are in the region of Grasse or
Nice or Antibes. Two distinct tramway lines and several roads lead from
Grasse to Cannes and Cagnes. Unless you are very careful, you may find
yourself upon the wrong route. Once on the Cagnes tramway, or well
engaged upon the road to Cagnes, when you had meant to go to Cannes, the
mistake takes hours to retrieve. At Nice, chauffeurs and _cochers_ love
to cheat you by the confusion of these two names. You bargain for the
long trip to Cannes, and are attracted by the reasonable price quoted.
In a very short time you are at Cagnes. The vehicle stops. Impossible
to rectify your mispronunciation without a substantial increase of the
original sum of the bargain. Antibes is between Cagnes and Cannes.
Cagnes is nearer, and it is always to Cannes that you want to go. Spell
the name, or write it on a piece of paper, if you are to be sure that you
will be taken west instead of east.

The place, as well as the name, is familiar to all travelers--from a
distance. Whether you move by train, by tramway or by automobile, you
see the city set on a hill between Cannes and Nice. But express trains
do not stop. The tramway passes some distance from the old town, and
prospect of the walk and climb is not alluring to the tramway tourist,
whose goal is places important enough to have a map in Baedeker, or a
double-starred church or view. If motorists are not in a hurry to get to
a good lunch, their chauffeurs are. You signal to stop, and express a
desire to go up into Cagnes. The hired chauffeur declares emphatically
that it cannot be done. If you do not believe him, he drives you to the
foot of the hill, and you see with your own eyes. Regretfully you pass
on to towns that are _plus pratiques_. More than once I had done this:
and I might have done it again had not the Artist come to