t is difficult to follow this. At all events the forest
remains to-day the most extensive unspoiled breathing-spot of its class
near Paris.

Within this maze of paths and alleys are many famed historic spots, the
Chene Saint Fiacre, the Croix de Noailles, the Croix Saint Simon, the
Croix du Main (erected in 1709 in honour of the son of Louis XIV), the
Etoile des Amazones, the Patte d'Oie, the Chene du Capitaine and many
more which are continually referred to in the history of the palace, the
forest of Saint Germain-en-Laye, and of the Abbaye de Poissy.

The forest is not wholly separated from the mundane world for
occasionally a faint echo of the Rouen railway is heard, a toot from a
river tug-boat bringing coal up-river to Paris, the strident notes of
automobile horns, or that of a hooting steam-tram which scorches along
the principal roadway over which state coaches of kings and courtiers
formerly rolled. The contrast is not particularly offensive, but the
railway threatens to make further inroads, so one hardly knows the
future that may be in store for the patriarch oaks and elms and
chestnuts which make up this secular wildwood. Their ages may not in
all cases approach those of the great Fontainebleau trees, and in point
of fact the forest is by no means as solitary, nor ever was. One of the
most celebrated, certainly one of the most spectacular, duels of history
took place in the park at Saint Germain-en-Laye.

Gui Chabot de Jarnac lived a prodigal and profligate life at the
expense--it was said--of the favours of the Duchesse d'Etampes. The
dauphin, Henri, making an accusation, deemed wholly uncalled for, a
"_duel judiciaire_" took place, with La Chataigneraie as the dauphin's
substitute as adversary of de Jarnac who sought no apology but combat.

It was because Henri meantime had become king and issued his first
Letters Patent to his council concerning the "_duel judiciaire_,"
whereby he absolved himself of the right to partake, that he appointed
his dear friend Francois de Vivonne, "Seigneur de la Chataigneraie," to
play the role for him.

Unfortunately the young man could not justify by victory the honour of
his king and before the monarch and the assembled court he was laid low
by his adversary.

This was one of the last of the "_duels judiciaires_" in France. What
Saint Louis and Philippe-le-Bel had vainly sought to suppress, the
procedure having cost at least a hundred thousand _livres_, was
practical