the sea in view.

"St. Malo," said Master Lewis, "was the birthplace of Chateaubriand,
who visited our country after the American Revolution, and in 1801
wrote an Indian romance, 'Atala,' a prose Hiawatha, if I may so call
it, which charmed all Europe. He published a political work on
America, which had great influence in France. He was in early life a
sceptic, but the memory of a good mother made him a Christian, and he
published a book on religion which arrested the infidel tendencies of
the times. Louis XVIII. declared that one of his pamphlets was worth
an army of one hundred thousand men. He was one of the most brilliant
writers France ever produced. You should read on your return 'Atala'
in French. You will find an edition, I think, illustrated by Dore, in
which the pictures will compel you to read the story."

"I have read 'Atala,'" said Frank.

"Would you like to visit Chateaubriand's birthplace with me?" asked
Master Lewis.

Frank was very desirous to see the place at once, and Master Lewis
and he went to the house, now a hotel, immediately on their arrival in
the town. From the windows of the house could be seen the tomb of
Chateaubriand, which is on a little island in the harbor.

When Master Lewis returned to the hotel he was alone.

"Where is Frank?" asked Tommy.

"He is to spend the night in Chateaubriand's room," said Master Lewis.
"Visitors at St. Malo are allowed to sleep there on paying a small
sum."

"Is Chateaubriand living yet?" asked Tommy. "I thought you said he
came to our country after the Revolution."

"No, he died many years ago. Frank and I have just been looking from
the windows of his birthplace at his tomb on one of the little
islands."

"But Frank is not going to stay all night in the room of one that is
dead! What good will that do?"

"It is the respect that appreciation pays to genius," said Master
Lewis.

Ernest Wynn wished to spend the night with Frank, and received Master
Lewis's permission.

"Why, Ernest!" said Tommy, "I thought you had more sense. I am glad I
am not literary. This is the strangest thing I have met with yet."

Chateaubriand's birthplace is the Hotel de France. His room is among
those offered to visitors, at a little extra cost. Master Lewis had
stopped at the hotel during a previous tour.

If Tommy was surprised at the "respect appreciation pays to genius,"
in the incident of sleeping in Chateaubriand's room, he was more so by
a conversation whi