_salon_, where the window resisted all our efforts for some little time,
and then opened upon such a choice assortment of abominations, that I
fled without my baggage. The next attempt she made was the one remaining
room of the house, the family bedroom; but that was so much worse than
all, that I took final refuge on the balcony, a sort of ante-room to the
hen-house. The cocks at the _auberge_ of Villaz are the loudest, the
hens the most talkative, and the cats the most shaggy and presuming, I
have ever met with. Even here, however, all was not unmitigated
darkness; for they ground the coffee while the water was boiling, and
the consequent decoction was admirable. Moreover, the bread had a skin
of such thickness and impervious toughness, that the inside was
presumably clean.

Aviernoz lay about an hour farther. Almost as soon as I left Villaz,
the thunderstorm came on in earnest, with sheets of rain, a regular
_Wolkenbruch_.[66] The rain was most refreshing; but lightning is not
a pleasant companion in presence of a bright ice-axe, and I was glad
when the houses of Aviernoz came in sight. The village had the
appearance of being lost; and the houses were scattered about so
irregularly, that it was difficult to know which was the best point to
make for. The road studiously avoided the scattered houses, and the
_Mairie_ seemed especially difficult to find. When at length it was
found, the maire, like the queen in the poets, was in the kitchen; and
he sat affably on the end of a bench and read the letter of
introduction aloud, asking me, at the conclusion, how was our friend
Dugravel, a man amazing in many ways. When I confessed that I had only
made the acquaintance of the amazing man the night before, and
therefore did not feel competent to give any reliable account of the
state of his health, beyond the fact that he seemed to be in
excellent spirits, the maire looked upon me evidently with great