“I was so pleased with my work that I danced from sheer delight as I carried it back to the inn.  I would have liked the whole world to see it at once.  I can remember that I showed it to a cow that was browsing by the wayside, exclaiming as I did so:  ’Look at that, my old beauty; you will not often see its like again.’

“When I had reached the house I immediately called out to Mother Lecacheur, shouting with all my might: 

“‘Hullo, there!  Mrs. Landlady, come here and look at this.’

“The rustic approached and looked at my work with her stupid eyes which distinguished nothing and could not even tell whether the picture represented an ox or a house.

“Miss Harriet just then came home, and she passed behind me just as I was holding out my canvas at arm’s length, exhibiting it to our landlady.  The demoniac could not help but see it, for I took care to exhibit the thing in such a way that it could not escape her notice.  She stopped abruptly and stood motionless, astonished.  It was her rock which was depicted, the one which she climbed to dream away her time undisturbed.

“She uttered a British ‘Aoh,’ which was at once so accentuated and so flattering that I turned round to her, smiling, and said: 

“‘This is my latest study, mademoiselle.’

“She murmured rapturously, comically and tenderly: 

“‘Oh! monsieur, you understand nature as a living thing.’

“I colored and was more touched by that compliment than if it had come from a queen.  I was captured, conquered, vanquished.  I could have embraced her, upon my honor.

“I took my seat at table beside her as usual.  For the first time she spoke, thinking aloud: 

“‘Oh!  I do love nature.’

“I passed her some bread, some water, some wine.  She now accepted these with a little smile of a mummy.  I then began to talk about the scenery.

“After the meal we rose from the table together and walked leisurely across the courtyard; then, attracted doubtless by the fiery glow which the setting sun cast over the surface of the sea, I opened the gate which led to the cliff, and we walked along side by side, as contented as two persons might be who have just learned to understand and penetrate each other’s motives and feelings.

“It was one of those warm, soft evenings which impart a sense of ease to flesh and spirit alike.  All is enjoyment, everything charms.  The balmy air, laden with the perfume of grasses and the smell of seaweed, soothes the olfactory sense with its wild fragrance, soothes the palate with its sea savor, soothes the mind with its pervading sweetness.

“We were now walking along the edge of the cliff, high above the boundless sea which rolled its little waves below us at a distance of a hundred metres.  And we drank in with open mouth and expanded chest that fresh breeze, briny from kissing the waves, that came from the ocean and passed across our faces.