The Princess Passes

e

ous to this gentlem

ol in hi

kesp

nowledge of the English language of which he was innocently proud. I made some enquiry concerning a fern which grew above the roadside, when we had passed through Martigny Bourg, and Joseph answered that one did not see it

med opinions of Lord Beaconsfield and Gladstone, but had not yet had time to do so of Mr. Chamberlain, for, said he, "these things take a long time to think about." Fifteen or twenty year

uired. "A difference in

ur like this, that will take you high in icy mountains. He would want the sunshine, and sitting still in a beautiful chaise with peop

an fancy edelweiss growing freely on Mr. Gladstone. His

ad evidently not been brought up on blows. It was then my turn to explain; and so we tossed back and forth the conversational shuttlec

hat this was in comparison but a peaceful valley. It was a cosey cleft among the mountains, with just room for the river to be frilled with green bet

ed, and at last I confided my disappointment to Joseph. "If Monsieur will wait an all little hour, perhaps he wi

oseph had expected, when he suggested our sleeping at Bourg St. Pierre. "We might go higher," said he, "before dark, but it would be late before we coul

my eyes held by a huge snow mountain which had suddenly loomed above the g

windows, and they must cut narrow paths, with tall white walls, before they can feed their cattle. These people sell you a cup of coffee, or a glass of beer, or of liqueur, and they have a spare room, which is very clean. If any traveller wishes to spend a night, they will make him as comfortable as they can. One

d name for a h

May, 1800, and that is the reason of the name. The madame who has the house now, is a grand-daughter of the innkeeper of that day; and she will show you the

re," I said. "Then, if it be not too late, we might push o

poorly kept for a great mountain highway; so far, none of the magnificent engineering which impressed one on the Simplon. But here and there dazzling white peaks glistened like frozen tidal waves against the bl

dark and hilly street, closely shut in with houses which age had not made beau

aid he, "and near by are some Roman rem

look upon as more rare than Joseph's "seldom plant." "Two donkeys in front of the inn. Where on earth can they have sprung from? I would ha

rarely have I met with anes. And see, Monsieur, the woman who is with them. She is not of the country, nor of that par

tside the hotel, "if that girl, or at any rate her hat, did

sleep. I felt it almost as a personal injury from the hand of Fate, that after my unavailing search for donkeys in a land where I

r -eight, wearing one of the toad-stool hats affected by the donkey-women of Mentone. She looked up at our approach, and having surveyed the pack and proportions of Finois with cold scorn, her interest in our procession incontestably focused upon Joseph. She tossed her head a little on one side, shot at the muleteer an arrow-gleam, half defiant, half

Joseph?

y would be ready to go on, if I chose, or to remain, if that were my pleasure. "It is too early for a final stop, at a place where there can no amusement for t

e that the time of my absence wo

r, I was in a mood to understand the tastes of that class who like an egg or a kipper for "a relish to their tea." I looked for the landlady with the illustrious ancestors, and could not

e of much-polished mahogany, and a glitter of old silver candelabra; I thought that I detected a faint fragrance of lavender lurking

, and with only a boy to eat it-but a remarkable boy. I gazed, and did not know what to make of him. He also gazed at me, but his look lacked the curiosity with which I honoured him. It expressed frank and (in the circums

madame's preoccupation. The boy would have delighted an artist, no doubt,

first adjective which came into my mind; yet, if he had been a girl instead of a boy, he would have been beautiful. The delicately pencilled brows were exquisite, and out of the small brown face looked a pair of large, brilliant eyes of an extraordinary blue-the blue of the wild chicory. When the boy glanced up or down, there was great play of dark lashes, long, and amazingly thick. This would have been charming on a girl, but seemed somehow affected in a boy, though one could hardly have

"Little milksop, travelling with a muff of a tutor, I

table back to me, laughed at some sally of the boy's. When I had stood for a moment or two, waiting for a pause which did not come,

d, surprised at th

that you have come at an unfortunate time.

ied, feeling hungrily that chicken, salad, custard, and

man has our only chicken, unless you could wait for anot

hide my repulsion. "I must put up with an

e into this custard. The young gentleman ordered his repast by telegraph, and we did our best.

with the testiness of a hungry man disappointed. As I spoke, my eyes were on the boy, w

pig, he would ask me to accept half his meal. Not that I would take it. I'd

ad not yet plumbed the black de

ese," madame assured me soothingly. "If Mon

replied. "This is the room, is it no

t is for the moment the private sitting-room of this young gen

it cause, however, he sat absolutely unmoved. I think, indeed, from the blue light in his great eyes (which was absolutely impish), that the situat

usness. In the midst, I heard footsteps running downstairs, and presently outside the door of the salle-à-manger the bo

that of a woman, giving vent to strange profanities in softest Proven?al French. The speaker was apostrophising some person or animal, who was, according to her, the most insupportable of Heave

ll, I went out to Joseph. I found him alone with Fi

? The lady in the Riviera hat looked promising. If her conversation matched her app

h a way of expressing in one word what a man

o, at a pinch," I repl

es. I was taken, I admit it, Monsieur, by her face, as was but natural. And then I wished to find out, for

had escorted the young gentleman who now employs her on several excursions, a year ago, when he was on the Riviera. That he had sent for her and the two anes to join him by rail, though the expense was great, and that they were travelling for the young gentleman's amusement, and his health, as he had had an illness which has

bergastin

elieve it, is Innocentina Palumbo-Innocentina! But her tongue! Monsieur, I listened as if I had been turned to stone. And it was at this time that the young gentleman, of whom she had told me, came out of the inn. He wished to walk, but Innocentina said that he was already

ion, then?" I said. "We shall

nsieur, though they ha

e donkey-woman alone

ntleman has a tutor and a duenna in

this strange, unkempt Pass, with its inadequate road,-now overhanging a sheer precipice, now dipping down steeply towards the wild bed of its sombre river,-this Great St. Bernard, seemed a secret way back into other centuries, savage and remote. I felt shame that I had patronised it earlier, with condescending admiration of some prettinesses. No wonder that Joseph had smiled and held his peace, knowing what was to come. There was the old road, the Roman road, along which Napoleon had led his staggering thousands. There were his forts, scarcely yet crumbled into ruin. I saw the army, a s

pell of dead centuries had me in its grip. Farther and farther back into the land of dead days, I journeyed with St. Bernard, and helped him found the monastery which the eyes of my flesh had not yet seen. The eyes of my spirit saw the place, the nerves of my spirit fel

with kings, and he can see the high places of the world with seeing eyes, a gift which no money can give

feet of mountains. Can any sound be more soothing than the tinkle of cow-bells in a mountain pass, as twilight falls softly, like the wings of a brooding bird? It is to the ear what a cool draught of spring water is to thirsty lips. There are verses of poetry in it, only to be reset and rea

t our existence. They rubbed against us, or ambled away, lowing to each other, and I was surprised to find that, instead o

ort of stable-yard belle, voted by her companions a fit leader of her set; or was the ch

s obliged to pull a slowly whisking tail, resembling almost exactly an old-fashioned bell-rope. Presently we had made our way

h, pointing, "is th