what hour of the night, and our sailors have made friends with all
the girls of the villages perched on the mountains above us.

These quarters and his excessive liberty, give me some uneasiness
about my poor Yves; for this country of frivolous pleasure has a
little turned his head. Moreover, I am more and more convinced that he
is in love with Chrysanthème.

It is really a pity that the sentiment has not occurred to me instead,
since it is I who have gone the length of marrying her.




XXV.


Notwithstanding the increased distance, I continue my daily visits to
Diou-djen-dji. When night has fallen, and the four couples who compose
our society have joined us, as well as Yves and the _amazingly tall
friend_,--we descend again into the town, stumbling by lantern light
down the steep stairways and slopes of the old suburb.

This nocturnal stroll is always the same, and accompanied always by
the same amusements: we pause before the same queer stalls, we drink
the same sugared drinks served to us in the same little gardens. But
our troop is often more numerous: to begin with, we chaperon Oyouki
who is confided to our care by her parents; then we have two cousins
of my wife's--pretty little creatures; and lastly friends--guests of
sometimes only ten or twelve years old, little girls of the