66 BRITANNT AND THE CHASE. 



let those stand who cannot, hurrah for the game ! and 

 leave the Bretons alone for playing cards. Like all French- 

 men they can play from the cradle, and can finesse, 

 drop a card, look into another's hand, and dispute the 

 reckoning with any one. In due time I began to think 

 of going to bed, but where ? I was shown a cupboard 

 in the wall close to the fire, and there was a bed of chaff 

 nice enough, and a clean stuffed cushion of the same, 

 instead of a coverlid ; but neither sheets nor blankets had 

 yet arrived in that region. But I was sleepy and not par- 

 ticular. Still I did ivish to undress, but how or where? 

 To undress in this sleeping box was a physical impossi- 

 bility, and to do it among all the present company, I was 

 too modest for that. But do it I must. Oh ! I thought, 

 they will take the hint and turn away, and so I began. 

 Take the hint, they did undoubtedly, but it was to do the 

 same thing, and there opposite to me was the old lady of the 

 house talking to me all the while, and divesting herself 

 first of one thing and then of another, with interludes of 

 scratching and rubbing, all done with perfect ease and, if 

 you like, good breeding, but which was too much for me. 

 I stood my ground well until she had got down to her 

 chemise, and was beginning to move uneasily in that, 

 shaking herself loosely in it, and then 1 could bear it no 

 longer, but bolted into my box, knocking my head nearly 

 off against the lid of it, drew off the slight remnant of my 

 clothes more by my feet than my hands, balanced the 

 chaff cushion evenly upon my body, yawned heavily, heard 

 confused voices growing fainter and fainter, thought some 

 one spoke through the hole in the lid, fell asleep, and 



