I am of the number of those who love them, and I would give two summers for a single autumn.  I adore the big blazing fires; I like to take refuge in the chimney corner with my dog between my wet gaiters.  I like to watch the tall flames licking the old ironwork and lighting up the black depths.  You hear the wind whistling in the stable, the great door creak, the dog pull at his chain and howl, and, despite the noise of the forest trees which are groaning and bending close by, you can make out the lugubrious cawings of a flock of rooks struggling against the storm.  The rain beats against the little panes; and, stretching your legs toward the fire, you think of those without.  You think of the sailors, of the old doctor driving his little cabriolet, the hood of which sways to and fro as the wheels sink into the ruts, and Cocotte neighs in the teeth of the wind.  You think of the two gendarmes, with the rain streaming from their cocked hats; you see them, chilled and soaked, making their way along the path among the vineyards, bent almost double in the saddle, their horses almost covered with their long blue cloaks.  You think of the belated sportsman hastening across the heath, pursued by the wind like a criminal by justice, and whistling to his dog, poor beast, who is splashing through the marshland.  Unfortunate doctor, unfortunate gendarmes, unfortunate sportsman!

And all at once the door opens and Baby rushes in exclaiming:  “Papa, dinner is ready.”  Poor doctor! poor gendarmes!

“What is there for dinner?”

The cloth was as white as snow in December, the plate glittered in the lamplight, the steam from the soup rose up under the lamp-shade, veiling the flame and spreading an appetizing smell of cabbage.  Poor doctor! poor gendarmes!

The doors were well closed, the curtains carefully drawn.  Baby hoisted himself on to his tall chair and stretched out his neck for his napkin to be tied round it, exclaiming at the same time with his hands in the air:  “Nice cabbage soup.”  And, smiling to myself, I said:  “The youngster has all my tastes.”

Mamma soon came, and cheerfully pulling off her tight gloves:  “There, sir, I think, is something that you are very fond of,” she said to me.

It was a pheasant day, and instinctively I turned round a little to catch a glimpse on the sideboard of a dusty bottle of my old Chambertin.  Pheasant and Chambertin!  Providence created them for one another and my wife has never separated them.

“Ah! my children, how comfortable you are here,” said I, and every one burst out laughing.  Poor gendarmes! poor doctor!