pron man in the most businesslike
way filled my bottle at a tap and asked for fourpence. He was willing
to talk, and told me many things: of good years in wine, of the nature
of their trade, of the influence of the moon on brewing, of the
importance of spigots, and what not; but when I tried to get out of
him whether the owner were an eccentric private gentleman or a
merchant that had the sense to earn little pennies as well as large
ones, I could not make him understand my meaning; for his idea of rank
was utterly different from mine and took no account of idleness and
luxury and daftness, but was based entirely upon money and clothes.
Moreover we were both of us Republicans, so the matter was of no great
moment. Courteously saluting ourselves we parted, he remaining to sell
wine and I hobbling to Rome, now a little painfully and my sack the
heavier by a quart of wine, which, as you probably know, weighs almost
exactly two pounds and a half.

It was by this time close upon eleven, and I had long reached the
stage when some kinds of men begin talking of Dogged Determination,
Bull-dog pluck, the stubborn spirit of the Island race and so forth,
but when those who can boast a little of the sacred French blood are
in a mood of set despair (both kinds march on, and the mobility of
either infantry is much the same), I say I had long got to this point
of exhaustion when it occurred to me that I should need an excellent
and thorough meal at midday. But on looking at my map I found that
there was nothing nearer than this town of Charmes that was marked on
the milestones, and that was the first place I should come to in the
department of the Vosges.

It would take much too long to describe the dodges that weary men and
stiff have recourse to when they are at the close of a difficult task:
how they divide it up in lengths in their minds, how they count
numbers, how they begin to solve problems in mental arithmetic: I
tried them all. Then I thought of a new one, which is really
excellent, and which I recommend to the whole world. It is to vary the
road, suddenly taking now the fields, now the river, but only
occasionally the turnpike. This last lap was very well suited for such
a method. The valley had become more like a wide and shallow trench
than ever. The hills on either side were low and exactly even. Up the
middle of it went the river, the canal and the road, and these two
last had only a field between them; now broad, now