A COUNTRY EXCURSION

For five months they had been talking of going to take luncheon in one of
the country suburbs of Paris on Madame Dufour's birthday, and as they
were looking forward very impatiently to the outing, they rose very early
that morning. Monsieur Dufour had borrowed the milkman's wagon and drove
himself. It was a very tidy, two-wheeled conveyance, with a cover
supported by four iron rods, with curtains that had been drawn up, except
the one at the back, which floated out like a sail. Madame Dufour,
resplendent in a wonderful, cherry colored silk dress, sat by the side of
her husband.

The old grandmother and a girl sat behind them on two chairs, and a boy
with yellow hair was lying at the bottom of the wagon, with nothing to be
seen of him except his head.

When they reached the bridge of Neuilly, Monsieur Dufour said: "Here we
are in the country at last!" and at that signal his wife grew sentimental
about the beauties of nature. When they got to the crossroads at
Courbevoie they were seized with admiration for the distant landscape. On
the right was Argenteuil with its bell tower, and above it rose the hills
of Sannois and the mill of Orgemont, while on the left the aqueduct of
Marly stood out against the clear morning sky, and in the distance they
could see the terrace of Saint-Germain; and opposite them, at the end of
a low chain of hills, the new fort of Cormeilles. Quite in the distance;
a very long way off, beyond the plains and village, one could see the
sombre green of the forests.

The sun was beginning to burn their faces, the dust got into their eyes,