ht sing all alone in the desert.

"A dog barks at intervals. This great calm does one good. Goodnight.

"July 16th.--Nothing new. I have taken a bath and then a shower bath. I
have swallowed three glasses of water, and I have walked along the paths
in the park, a quarter of an hour between each glass, then half an hour
after the last. I have begun my twenty-five days.

"July 17th.--Remarked two mysterious, pretty women who are taking their
baths and their meals after every one else has finished.

"July 18th.--Nothing new.

"July 19th.--Saw the two pretty women again. They have style and a
little indescribable air which I like very much.

"July 20th.--Long walk in a charming wooded valley, as far as the
Hermitage of Sans-Souci. This country is delightful, although sad; but
so calm; so sweet, so green. One meets along the mountain roads long
wagons loaded with hay, drawn by two cows at a slow pace or held back by
them in going down the slopes with a great effort of their heads, which
are yoked together. A man with a big black hat on his head is driving
them with a slender stick, tipping them on the side or on the forehead;
and often with a simple gesture, an energetic and serious gesture, he
suddenly halts them when the excessive load precipitates their journey
down the too rugged descents.

"The air is good to inhale in these valleys. And, if it is very warm,
the dust bears with it a light odor of vanilla and of the stable, for so
many cows pass over these routes that they leave reminders everywhere.
And this odor is a perfume, when it would be a stench if it came from
other animals.

"July 21st.--Excursion to the valley of the Enval. It is a narrow gorge
inclosed by superb rocks at the very foot of the mountain. A stream
flows amid the heaped-up boulders.

"As I reached the bottom of this ravine I heard women's voices, and I
soon perceived the two mysterious ladies of my hotel, who were chatting,
seated on a stone.

"The occasion appeared to me a good one, and I introduced myself without
hesitation. My overtures were received without embarrassment. We walked
back together to the hotel. And we talked about Paris. They knew, it
seemed, many people whom I knew, too. Who can they be?

"I shall see them to-morrow. There is nothing more amusing than such
meetings as this.

"July 22d.--Day passed almost entirely with the two unknown ladies. They
are very pretty, by Jove!--one a brunette and the other a blonde. Th