e
walls, and a roof that looks as if about to fall in upon the people
who inhabit it.

Just beyond this, deeply imbedded in shrubs, brush, thickly-grown
ivies and other vines, and moss, is all that is left of Blue-beard's
castle.

The walls are still there, dividing the apartments. You can imagine
the rooms and the tower which arose above the tall trees that here
cluster on the river bank. And you may fancy, as you stand among the
beautiful ruins, that you are on the very spot where the room used to
be which Blue-beard forbade his last wife to enter.

Here is the portal, now crumbled and almost covered with moss and ivy,
where the old tyrant came in and out; there the wall where the last of
his poor victims sat, looking out and straining her eyes to see her
brother coming; beyond, the spot where Blue-beard was struck down, and
received his deserts. It seems too beautiful a place for so
remorseless an ogre; and as one looks out upon the lovely scenes where
the tearful spouses mourned their lot, one cannot help thinking how
happy they might have been in such a charming retreat, had they
enjoyed it with loving husbands and happy homes.

CHAPTER XVII.

HOMEWARD.

On the Cliffs at Havre.--Stories of French Authors.--Again on
the Sea.

"Only three days more remain to us in France," said Master Lewis,
after spending two days in Nantes. "We will now return to Paris by
rail, stopping a few hours in Orleans, and from Paris will go directly
to Havre, whence we will take the steamer for home."

"It seems to me," said Wyllys Wynn, "that, after what we have seen, I
shall like no reading so well as history."

"It has been my aim," said Master Lewis, "to take you to those places
where the principal great events of the histories of England and
France have occurred. I stopped at Carlisle to give you a lesson in
the early history of Britain,--the periods of the Druids and the
Romans. I took you to Glastonbury to give you a view of the history of
the early English Church. I went with you to Aix-la-Chapelle that you
might receive an impression of the dominion of Charlemagne. Normandy
is the common ground of old English and French history. I was glad to
select it for you as the direct object of our visit, although it has
formed a small part of our journey. I, like Tommy, have had a secret
which I have kept for the Club; it has been to interest you in the
places and events which would lead you, on your return, to beco