with the atmosphere of the different places.

"Nothing seemed changed. The chateau still laved its gray wall in the
pond outside the little town; the inn was the same, though it had been
repaired, renovated and looked more modern. As I entered it I was
received by two young Breton girls of eighteen, fresh and pretty, bound
up in their tight cloth bodices, with their silver caps and wide
embroidered bands on their ears.

"It was about six o'clock in the evening. I sat down to dinner, and as
the host was assiduous in waiting on me himself, fate, no doubt, impelled
me to say:

"'Did you know the former proprietors of this house? I spent about ten
days here thirty years ago. I am talking old times.'

"'Those were my parents, monsieur,' he replied.

"Then I told him why we had stayed over at that time, how my comrade had
been delayed by illness. He did not let me finish.

"'Oh, I recollect perfectly. I was about fifteen or sixteen. You slept in
the room at the end and your friend in the one I have taken for myself,
overlooking the street.'

"It was only then that the recollection of the little maid came vividly
to my mind. I asked: 'Do you remember a pretty little servant who was
then in your father's employ, and who had, if my memory does not deceive
me, pretty eyes and fresh-looking teeth?'