priest arrived promptly enough, there prevail the wildest superstitions
concerning the Protestants. Among many improvements introduced by the
latter an aqueduct had been planned to furnish the hamlet with wholesome
water. The project was defeated by the opposition of the Roman
Catholics, who considered it a scheme for poisoning them _en masse_. It
was here that we heard for the first time the epithet Huguenots applied
as a term of reproach and derision to the Protestants. Afterward, in
regions where Protestants have a history of centuries, we found it
commonly used in the same way.

Our visit to Notre Dame des Commiers was like reading a living page of
early Reformation history, and the whole neighborhood made a fitting
stage for such a reproduction. Some six or seven miles from Grenoble we
passed the restored but still, in parts at least, historic château of
Lesdiguières at Vizille. Nearer our mountain-village we stopped to
admire an ivy-covered bit of tower-ruin, associated by a grim tradition
with the same Dauphiné hero. A prisoner confined here by the apostate
constable had, says the legend, a lady true who came every night and
clasped her lover's hand stretched out to her between the bars of his
dungeon window. Lesdiguières discovered the rendezvous, and the spot is
still pointed out where his soldier was stationed one fatal night to
chop off the hand that sought its accustomed pledge. The historical
associations of our excursion were, indeed, somewhat confused, but a
fresh feature was added to its interest by the departure, which we
chanced to witness, of Monsieur Thiers from the Château de Vizille, now
occupied by Casimir Perier, whom the ex-president had been visiting.

The two days' diligence journey from Grenoble to the département des
Hautes-Alpes was over one of those broad macadamized highways which make
driving a luxury in many parts of Europe. If we were more huddled than