eping on their jack-boots so long that they had to be cut off
sometimes--the feet and legs so swollen.

The drive from the club to the plage is charming. Sometimes through
pretty narrow roads with high banks on each side, with hedges on top,
quite like parts of Devonshire, and nice, little, low, whitewashed
cottages with green shutters and red doors, much more like England than
France.

We stopped at a cottage called the Dickens House, where Charles Dickens
lived for some time. It is only one story high--white with green
shutters--stands at the end of an old-fashioned garden filled with all
sorts of ordinary garden-flowers--roses, hollyhocks, larkspurs, pinks,
all growing most luxuriantly and making patches of colour in the green
surroundings. We saw Dickens' study, his table still in the window
(where he always wrote), looking over the garden to an endless stretch
of green fields.

The plage is very _new_. There is a nice clean hotel, with broad piazzas
and balconies directly on the sea and a few chalets are already built,
but there is an absolute dearth of trees and shade. There was quite a
strong sea-breeze the day we were there, and the fine white sand was
blown high into the air in circles, getting into our eyes and hair.
There is a splendid beach--miles of sand--not a rock or cliff--absolutely
level. The domain of Hardelot belongs to a company of which Mr. John
Whitley was the president. He had concessions for a tramway from
Boulogne to Hardelot which will certainly bring people to the plage
and club. Now there is only an auto-bus, which goes very slowly and is
constantly out of order; once the club is organized, I think it cannot
fail to be a charming resort. There is plenty of game in the forest
(they have a good piece of it), perfect golf and tennis grounds--as
much deep-sea fishing as one wants. We went often to tea at the
chateau. F. played golf, and we walked about and sat under the trees,
and the children were quite happy playing on the lawns where they were
as safe as in their nurseries.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATEAU AND COUNTRY LIFE IN FRANCE***

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