the night.
And in the fine days of early autumn the deck was delightful, and to dine
there on the provisions brought on board was a perpetual feast to Estelle
and Ulysse.

The weather was beautiful, and there was a constant panorama of fair
sights and scenes. Harvest first, a perfectly new spectacle to the
children and then, as they went farther south, the vintage. The beauty
was great as they glided along the pleasant banks of Rhone.

Tiers of vines on the hillsides were mostly cut and trimmed like currant
bushes, and disappointed Arthur, who had expected festoons on trellises.
But this was the special time for beauty. The whole population, in
picturesque costumes, were filling huge baskets with the clusters, and
snatches of their merry songs came pealing down to the _coche d'eau_, as
it quietly crept along. Towards evening groups were seen with piled
baskets on their heads, or borne between them, youths and maidens crowned
with vines, half-naked children dancing like little Bacchanalians, which
awoke classical recollections in Arthur and delighted the children.

Poor Madame de Bourke was still much depressed, and would sit dreaming
half the day, except when roused by some need of her children, some
question, or some appeal for her admiration. Otherwise, the lovely
heights, surmounted with tall towers, extinguisher-capped, of castle,
convent, or church, the clear reaches of river, the beautiful turns, the
little villages and towns gleaming white among the trees, seemed to pass
unseen before her eyes, and she might be seen to shudder when the
children pressed her to say how many days it would be before they saw
their father.

An observer with a mind at ease might have been much entertained with the
airs and graces that the two maids, Rosette and Babette, lavished upon
Laurence, their only squire; for Maitre Hebert was far too distant and
elderly a person for their little coquetries. Rosette dealt in little
terrors, and, if he was at hand, durst not step across a plank without
his hand, was sure she heard wolves howling in the woods, and that every
peasant was '_ce barbare_;' while Babette, who in conjunction with Maitre
Hebert acted cook in case of need, plied him with dainty morsels, which
he was only too apt to bestow on the beggars, or the lean and hungry lad
who attended on the horses. Victorine, on the other hand, by far the
prettiest and most sprightly of the three, affected the most supreme
indifferenc