60 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
and on Monday Louis went to pass the day with 
Olympe at Lausanne. I thought it quite as well to let 
him go alone that they might have their good long 
talk together. We passed the day, Cécile, her mother 
and I, tranquilly together at Montagny. Indeed, I 
cannot tell you how delightful that absolutely quiet 
life at Montagny has been to me, and Louis has rested 
so completely there — truly rested for the first time 
since I have known him, and he shows it already in 
his appearance. People here seem astonished to find 
him so young and so unchanged. They all attribute 
it to my good care of him. 
On Thursday we went on an excursion with Cécile 
and the girls. We went to the foot of the Jura in a car- 
riage and leaving it at the entrance of a deep gorge 
that seems to go into the very heart of the Jura, we 
followed a narrow and picturesque pass that brings 
you after a two hours’ scramble through superb 
scenery to one of those green cultivated spots that 
look so enchanting on the slopes of the Jura as you 
look up at them from below. There we found two or 
three houses, a little village where we stopped to rest 
and take some refreshment, a rural repast of Swiss 
cheese, bread and wine. I will not describe the view; 
you know the Swiss views and they defy description, 
but I will tell you something of the life of the people 
there that I think will interest you. 
Cécile and I observed some women making lace at 
the door of the cottages and we stopped to examine 
their work. I don’t know whether you have ever seen 
any of the beautiful lace that some of the peasant 
