their obtrusiveness. He made them gather up the pile of flax, with the
spindles and distaffs now lying idle on the floor, and invited the
ladies to take possession of the cushions, which, after a Moorish
custom still lingering here, the girls had used as seats.

L'Isle coming in and finding father and daughters bestirring
themselves to make their guests comfortable, suggested that their most
urgent want was water. One of the girls at once brought a cup, and
one from among several jars, and, while the ladies were drinking,
L'Isle called their attention to the peculiarities of the vessel, of
so porous a nature, that the water, always oozing through it, kept the
outside wet, the constant evaporation of a part cooling what remained
within. He pointed out, too, the peculiar fashion of the jar--its
beautiful and classic mould indicating that, amidst the corruption of
taste and the loss of arts, in pottery at least, the antique type of
form had been faithfully handed down from the time of the Roman. But
the ladies were too busy with the water to bestow much thought on the
jar, and L'Isle's lesson in _vertu_ was pretty much lost on them.

The house consisted of several small rooms, besides the larger
apartment, in which, after a while, the whole party was collected,
including the servants and muleteer. The girls called in an old woman
to assist them in their household duties, and she employed herself at
the smoky fire-place in cooking some sausages, which, by the perfume
they soon diffused through the room, proved that in stuffing them the
genus _allium_ had not been forgotten. To give a classic flavor to the
fumes, L'Isle found himself quoting the lines:

"Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus aestu
Allia serpyllumque herbas contundit olentes."