248 Ten Years of my Life. 



good, I was delighted. At a station beyond Neufcbatel, I 

 believe Noiraigre, the carriage of the Professor waited for us, 

 its owner excusing himself on the ground of a slight indisposi- 

 tion. The road to his country-seat was uphill work, for 

 Combe- Varin (that is its name) is situate five thousand feet 

 above the sea. It was formerly a hunting house of a noble 

 family related to Mr. Desor, and has been changed by him 

 into a very comfortable Swiss dwelling-house. The Professor's 

 name is well known in the learned world. He was a long 

 time in America, and a companion of Agassiz. Now he has 

 settled in Switzerland, and is a senator of influence in his 

 canton. He is a bachelor, but his house is never empty of 

 visitors, for he has maiay friends m every part of the world. 

 We found there a Mr. Reinwald, a publisher from Paris, with 

 his wife, and a Professor Eisenlohr from Carlsruhe, a great 

 scientific gun, who died, however, some lime ago. 



The Professor does not look like a professor, but more like 

 a country gentleman, and his household does not resemble 

 that of a bachelor either. 



Everything was extremely comfortable, and in all Switzer- 

 land I never met a better provided dinner-table. Mr. Desor 

 is somewhat of an epicurean, as every sensible man ought to 

 be who can afford it. I felt somewhat out of my depth in 

 this learned society, but all of them being men of the world 

 they dealt mercifully with me, and our visit was very pleasant. 



We made from Combe-Varin some fine excursions, and paid 

 a visit to a friend of the Professors, Mr. Fritz Berthond, who 

 lived at a village, Fleuris, in a house elegantly furnished in 

 Parisian taste. 



We remained four days in Combe-Varin, and left on August 

 8 for Zurich, where we met my husband, with whom we 

 returned to Rorschach. _ Some days afterwards Mrs. Corvin 

 left us for Frankfurt, and the Colonel took his quarters in the 

 Hotel Garni in Rorschach, whilst we were looking out for 

 comfortable quarters in that village, as it now soon became 

 dark, and it was inconvenient to return late to our castle. 

 We were fortunate enough to find in the finest of the old 

 houses of Rorschach a large hall, furnished and decorated in 

 the rococo style, with two adjoining rooms, and left old 

 Wiggen on August 23. 



We passed our time quite agreeably, for we had always nice 



