portrait of General Moreau (father of Mme. de Courval) in uniform, by
Gerard--near it a trophy of four flags--Austrian, Saxon, Bavarian, and
Hungarian--taken by the General; over the trophy three or four "lames
d'honneur" (presentation swords) with name and inscription. There are
also some pretty women's portraits in pastel--very delicate colours in
old-fashioned oval frames--quite charming.

The drawing-room was a very handsome room also panelled in light gray
carved wood; the furniture rather heavy and massive, curtains and
coverings of thick, bright flowered velvet, but it looked suitable in
that high old-fashioned room--light modern furniture would have been
out of place.

As soon as we had finished our coffee we went for a walk--not the two
old ladies, who settled down at once to their embroidery frames; one
of them showed me her work--really quite beautiful--a church ornament
of some kind, a painted Madonna on a ground of white satin; she was
covering the whole ground with heavy gold embroidery, so thick it
looked like mosaic.

The park is splendid, a real domain, all the paths and alleys
beautifully kept and every description of tree--M. de Courval was
always trying experiments with foreign trees and shrubs and apparently
most successfully. I think the park would have been charming in its
natural state, as there was a pretty little river running through the
grounds and some tangles of bushes and rocks that looked quite
wild--it might have been in the middle of the forest but everything
had been done to assist nature. There were a "pièce d'eau," cascades,
little bridges thrown over the river in picturesque spots, and on the
highest point a tower (donjon), which was most effective, looked quite