uch
fairy town as exists in the pages of Grimm or Hans Andersen; and, half
ashamed, one peers curiously at the dwellers in this goblin town, as
though expecting to find that they have pointed ears and narrow elfin
feet. They never seem to move about, and, sitting at almost every
doorstep, watch one intently from weird nooks and crannies. Hurry and
bustle are here unknown, and though they will reply to you in the best of
French, yet to each other the townsfolk speak a strange and uncouth
tongue.

Once, rambling in the narrow alleys about the ancient church, our
book-hunter ventured through a gothic doorway along a broad passage that
was guarded by a huge and ancient iron grille and presently he found
himself in a small courtyard paved with moss-grown cobbles. About it was
a timbered gallery, roofed, once doubtless level, now gently and
gracefully undulating so that it seemed about to fall from off the wall
to which it was attached. But the walls had also subsided with the
gallery, so that the whole still showed a symmetry that was pleasing to
the eye. Above the gallery and across the front of the building had been
painted the legend HOTEL DU LION D'OR, and a dim weatherbeaten shield
above the doorway still bore the trace of a rampant lion. It seemed a
large building, judging by the number of its windows, far larger than its
present-day custom could possibly warrant.

The place was curiously still, for the noise of carts and footsteps could
never penetrate into that silent court, and it must have been many years
since chaise or horseman clattered across its now mossy _pave_. The
stillness was almost uncanny, forbidding, and our book-hunter hesitated
to cross the courtyard lest the sound of his footsteps should disturb the
slumber of the ancient building. Presently a rat squealed somewhere along
the gallery, and a voice called out sharply within. The spell was broken,
and entering the house he called for a 'petit verre' preparatory to
finding out something of the inn's history.

Yes, it was very old, and madame had been born in it; but now that she
was left alone with Jeanne it was very lonely, and there was little
custom. Did they have many travellers there? Oh no, not for a long time,
the house was not easy to find, and as the old customers died none came
to fill their places. But sometimes Messieurs So and So came in of an
evening and took a 'petit verre,' and then the neighbours were very
friendly, so it was not so