82 BEIT ANN Y AND THE CHASE. 



French politeness was no where that evening, and I left 

 him to stroll by myself with a cigar through the village. 

 There I met the guide, w^ho told me if I would come with 

 him in the morning he would show me a very good coun- 

 try for a few hours' work, to which I agreed, and returned 

 to my companion to tell him ; but, sacre ! no more of it ! 

 — he had had enough of such a vile country — the guide 

 was a canaille, a polisson, and, in fact, nothing was to be 

 done with him beyond agreeing to postpone our return 

 until twelve o'clock next day. We then went to bed ; and as 

 we were in the same chamber, my friend had room to make 

 observations on my clothes, &c. ; and some of his remarks 

 were curious, as exhibiting the state of his own wardrobe. 

 One in particular struck me. He asked me what my 

 night-shirt was ; and on my telling him that it was to pass 

 the night in, replied naively, " Ah ! c'est tres commode 

 cela sans doute, mais je n'ai jamais porte une," which was 

 almost needless to say, as he turned in with all his rigging, 

 or nearly so, upon him. Curious fellows are Frenchmen ; 

 habits not English cut certainly. For instance, my friend 

 was almost annoyed at my refusing to breakfast in the 

 room we had slept in, a little hole of twelve feet square 

 filled with bedclothes, dust, and foul air and water. He 

 would have breakfasted on the washstand with a good ap- 

 petite, and used the towel for a serviette. 



With the early morning I turned out, but not so my 

 ally, who obstinately refused to stir; not he — one bad 

 day was enough for him ; no more work for nothing, and 

 so on, and I therefore left him to it. Henri the guide 

 soon came in, and we started. In crossing a field I marked 



