f
discussing the question. Finally, when he gets sleepy, he goes to bed,
and I go off to El-Nouzha.

Besides these occupations we have another very serious one, namely,
rummaging among the mass of curios which he heaped up together in the
lumber-room of the chateau.

"Ah, Andre!" my uncle said to me one day, with the reproachful accent of
a faithful steward, "you have a lot of fine things up there which you
are very foolish to leave in that lumber-hole. If I were you, I would
have them all out!"

"Let us get them all out then at once, uncle," I answered.

Thereupon we set to work sorting them out, and you have no idea of the
things we found--valuable paintings, works of art, rare old furniture,
and arms of all countries. You will see what a museum they constitute,
if you make an excursion down here, as you have promised. Really, for an
artist of your genius, this alone would be worth the journey.

We also pay visits at the two neighbouring chateaux of the Montanbecs
and the Camboulions; but confine ourselves strictly to the customary
conventionalities between neighbours, the female element which we
encounter at these places belonging, as my uncle puts it, to the very
lowest zoological order of beings.

Once a week we dine at Doctor Morand's. He is a man of great ability,
who has only missed making his mark through want of a wider field. He is
the one mortal capable of exercising an influence over Captain
Barbassou, if the character of the latter did not place him out of reach
of all external control. In this home family life reigns in its happiest
and most charming simplicity, represented by a goodly quiver-full of
children. I have already told you about young Morand, the spahi, and his
cousin Genevieve.

Genevieve, with her nineteen summers, is the eldest, by several years,
of a prolific brood, the offspring of her mother's second marriage. The
doctor, who is a rich man for his district, took them all to live with
him after his sister's death. A more delightful and refreshing place
cannot be found than this heaven-blest home, the very atmosphere of
which breathes the odour of peaceful happiness and honest purity. You
should see Genevieve, _la grande_, surrounded by her four _petits_, her
brothers and sisters, with their chubby faces, all neat and clean,
obedient and cheeky at the same time, and kept in order by her with a
youthful discipline, flavoured now and then with a spice of playfulness.
Is she really pr