ked it in 1822. In vain the Touchards
lowered their price; in vain they constructed better coaches and started
oftener. Competition still continued, so productive is a line on which
are little towns like Saint-Denis and Saint-Brice, and villages
like Pierrefitte, Groslay, Ecouen, Poncelles, Moisselles, Monsoult,
Maffliers, Franconville, Presles, Nointel, Nerville, etc. The Touchard
coaches finally extended their route to Chambly; but competition
followed. To-day the Toulouse, a rival enterprise, goes as far as
Beauvais.

Along this route, which is that toward England, there lies a road which
turns off at a place well-named, in view of its topography, The Cave,
and leads through a most delightful valley in the basin of the Oise to
the little town of Isle-Adam, doubly celebrated as the cradle of the
family, now extinct, of Isle-Adam, and also as the former residence
of the Bourbon-Contis. Isle-Adam is a little town flanked by two large
villages, Nogent and Parmain, both remarkable for splendid quarries,
which have furnished material for many of the finest buildings in modern
Paris and in foreign lands,--for the base and capital of the columns
of the Brussels theatre are of Nogent stone. Though remarkable for
its beautiful sites, for the famous chateaux which princes, monks, and
designers have built, such as Cassan, Stors, Le Val, Nointel, Persan,
etc., this region had escaped competition in 1822, and was reached by
two coaches only, working more or less in harmony.

This exception to the rule of rivalry was founded on reasons that are
easy to understand. From the Cave, the point on the route to England
where a paved road (due to the luxury of the Princes of Conti) turned
off to Isle-Adam, the distance is six miles. No speculating enterprise
would make such a detour, for Isle-Adam was the terminus of the road,
which did not go beyond it. Of late years, another road has been made
between the valley of Montmorency and the valley of the Oise; but in
1822 the only road which led to Isle-Adam was the paved highway of the
Princes of Conti. Pierrotin and his colleague reigned, therefore, from
Paris to Isle-Adam, beloved by every one along the way. Pierrotin's
vehicle, together with that of his comrade, and Pierrotin himself, were
so well known that even the inhabitants on the main road as far as the
Cave were in the habit of using them; for there was always better chance
of a seat to be had than in the Beaumont coaches, which we