ghtful glimpse of Neuchatel. "On consideration however I thought
it best to come on here, in case I should find, when I begin to write,
that I want streets sometimes. In which case, Geneva (which I hope would
answer the purpose) is only four and twenty miles away."

He at once began house-hunting, and had two days' hard work of it. He
found the greater part of those let to the English like small villas in
the Regent's-park, with verandahs, glass-doors opening on lawns, and
alcoves overlooking the lake and mountains. One he was tempted by,
higher up the hill, "poised above the town like a ship on a high wave;"
but the possible fury of its winter winds deterred him. Greater still
was the temptation to him of "L'Elysee," more a mansion than a villa;
with splendid grounds overlooking the lake, and in its corridors and
staircases as well as furniture like an old fashioned country house in
England; which he could have got for twelve months for L160. "But when I
came to consider its vastness, I was rather dismayed at the prospect of
windy nights in the autumn, with nobody staying in the house to make it
gay." And so he again fell back upon the very first place he had seen,
Rosemont, quite a doll's house; with two pretty little salons, a
dining-room, hall, and kitchen, on the ground floor; and with just
enough bedrooms upstairs to leave the family one to spare. "It is
beautifully situated on the hill that rises from the lake, within ten
minutes' walk of this hotel, and furnished, though scantily as all here
are, better than others except Elysee, on account of its having being
built and fitted up (the little salons in the Parisian way) by the
landlady and her husband for themselves. They lived now in a smaller
house like a porter's lodge, just within the gate. A portion of the
grounds is farmed by a farmer, and _he_ lives close by; so that, while
it is secluded, it is not at all lonely." The rent was to be ten pounds
a month for half a year, with reduction to eight for the second half, if
he should stay so long; and the rooms and furniture were to be described
to me, so that according to custom I should be quite at home there, as
soon as, also according to a custom well-known, his own ingenious
re-arrangements and improvements in the chairs and tables should be
completed. "I shall merely observe at present therefore, that my little
study is upstairs, and looks out, from two French windows opening into a
balcony, on the lake and m