e rustling trees. We turned in to
the hotel, where all was quiet. The night was yet young, but the
staircases were in darkness and we had to grope our way. Decidedly it
was the most uncivilized place we had yet come to, and Catherine was not
very far wrong in her judgment.

[Illustration: A BRITTANY SERVANT.]

The next morning we awoke to grey skies. "It always rains at Quimper,"
said Catherine, and she was only quoting a proverb. There was something
close and oppressive and depressing about the town. The air was
enervating. The hotels were unfavourably placed. The quays were
commonplace--for Brittany. There was nothing romantic or beautiful about
the river, which, I have said, resembled a canal. Its waters were black
and sluggish, confined, as they probably were, by locks. In front rose
high cliffs which shut out the sky and the horizon and heaven's
glorious oxygen. We many of us know what it is to dwell for some time
under the shadow of a great mountain. Gradually it seems to oppress us
and crush down upon us until we feel that we must get away from it or
die of suffocation. Here there was a heaviness in the air which taxed
all our mental resources, our reserve of energy, our amiability to the
utmost.

The cathedral by daylight should be our first care, and we found it
worthy of all the effect it had produced upon us last night. All its
mystery and magic had gone, but all the beauty and perfection of
architecture remained. Certainly we had seen nothing like it in
Brittany.

It is dedicated to St. Corentin, a holy man who is supposed to have come
over from Cornwall in the very early ages of the Christian era. Quimper
was then the capital of the Cornouaille, a corruption, as we can easily
trace, of the word Cornwall. The cathedral, commenced about the year
1239, was only completed in 1515. The spires are modern, but of such
excellent workmanship and design that they in no way interfere with the
general effect. The harmony of the whole is indeed remarkable when it is
considered that it was nearly three centuries in process of
construction. The west front is very fine and stately, with deep portals
magnificently sculptured. It was commenced in 1424, and is surmounted by
two flamboyant windows, one above the other. Within the contour of the
arch is a triple row of angels, sculptured with a great deal of artistic
finish. Time, however, whilst beautifying it, has robbed it of some of
its fineness.

The towers were als