“July 20th.—­Long walk in a charming wooded valley, as far as the Hermitage of Sans-Souci.  This country is delightful, although sad; but so calm; so sweet, so green.  One meets along the mountain roads long wagons loaded with hay, drawn by two cows at a slow pace or held back by them in going down the slopes with a great effort of their heads, which are yoked together.  A man with a big black hat on his head is driving them with a slender stick, tipping them on the side or on the forehead; and often with a simple gesture, an energetic and serious gesture, he suddenly halts them when the excessive load precipitates their journey down the too rugged descents.

“The air is good to inhale in these valleys.  And, if it is very warm, the dust bears with it a light odor of vanilla and of the stable, for so many cows pass over these routes that they leave reminders everywhere.  And this odor is a perfume, when it would be a stench if it came from other animals.

“July 21st.—­Excursion to the valley of the Enval.  It is a narrow gorge inclosed by superb rocks at the very foot of the mountain.  A stream flows amid the heaped-up boulders.

“As I reached the bottom of this ravine I heard women’s voices, and I soon perceived the two mysterious ladies of my hotel, who were chatting, seated on a stone.

“The occasion appeared to me a good one, and I introduced myself without hesitation.  My overtures were received without embarrassment.  We walked back together to the hotel.  And we talked about Paris.  They knew, it seemed, many people whom I knew, too.  Who can they be?

“I shall see them to-morrow.  There is nothing more amusing than such meetings as this.

“July 22d.—­Day passed almost entirely with the two unknown ladies.  They are very pretty, by Jove!—­one a brunette and the other a blonde.  They say they are widows.  H’m?

“I offered to accompany them to Royat tomorrow, and they accepted my offer.

“Chatel-Guyon is less sad than I thought on my arrival.

“July 23d.—­Day spent at Royat.  Royat is a little patch of hotels at the bottom of a valley, at the gate of Clermont-Ferrand.  A great many people there.  A large park full of life.  Superb view of the Puyde-Dome, seen at the end of a perspective of valleys.

“My fair companions are very popular, which is flattering to me.  The man who escorts a pretty woman always believes himself crowned with an aureole; with much more reason, the man who is accompanied by one on each side of him.  Nothing is so pleasant as to dine in a fashionable restaurant with a female companion at whom everybody stares, and there is nothing better calculated to exalt a man in the estimation of his neighbors.

“To go to the Bois, in a trap drawn by a sorry nag, or to go out into the boulevard escorted by a plain woman, are the two most humiliating things that could happen to a sensitive heart that values the opinion of others.  Of all luxuries, woman is the rarest and the most distinguished; she is the one that costs most and which we desire most; she is, therefore the one that we should seek by preference to exhibit to the jealous eyes of the world.