ked in at the little church (still
smelling of incense from the last service) with its curious old
altar-piece and monumental brasses. Then we peeped through the iron gate
of the melancholy _cimetiere_, which was full of black crosses and
wreaths of _immortelles_. Last of all, we went to see the ruin, which
stood on the summit of a steep and solitary rock in the midst of a vast
level plain. It proved to be a round keep of gigantic strength and
height, approached by two courtyards and surrounded by the weed-grown
and fragmentary traces of an extensive stronghold, nothing of which now
remained save a few broken walls, three or four embrasured loopholes, an
ancient well of incalculable depth, and the rusted teeth of a formidable
portcullis. Here we paused awhile to rest and admire the view; while
Josephine, pleased as a child on a holiday, flung pebbles into the well,
ate sugar-plums, and amused herself with my pocket-telescope.

"_Regardez_!" she cried, "there is the dome of the Pantheon. I am sure
it is the Pantheon--and to the right, far away, I see a town!--little
white houses, and a steeple. And there goes a steamer on the river--and
there is the railway and the railway station, and the long road by which
we came in the omnibus. Oh, how nice it is, Monsieur Basil, to look
through a telescope!"

"Do me the favor, _ma belle_, to accept it--for my sake," said I,
thankful to find her so easily entertained. I was lying in a shady angle
of old wall, puffing away at a cigar, with my hat over my eyes, and the
soles of my boots levelled at the view. It is difficult to smoke and
make love at the same time; and I preferred the tobacco.

Josephine was enchanted, and thanked me in a thousand pretty, foolish
phrases. She declared she saw ever so much farther and clearer with the
glass, now that it was her own. She looked at me through it, and
insisted that I should look at her. She picked out all sorts of
marvellous objects, at all sorts of incredible distances. In short, she
prattled and chattered till I forgot all about the washing-tub, and
again began to think her quite charming. Presently we heard wandering
sounds of music among the trees at the foot of the hill--sounds as of a
violin and bagpipes; now coming with the wind from the west, now dying
away to the north, now bursting out afresh more merrily than ever, and
leading off towards the village.

"_Tiens_! that must be a wedding!" said Josephine, drumming with her
littl