towers springs a tall young fir-tree. The water at its base is intensely
blue and unfathomably deep. This is what nature has done; as for men,
they have hugely painted the lakeward wall of the castle with the arms
of the Canton Vaud, which are nearly as ugly as the arms of Ohio; and
they have wrought into the roof of the tallest tower with tiles of a
paler tint the word "Chillon," so that you cannot possibly mistake it
for any other castle.

[Illustration: _One of the Fountains_]


XII

First and last, we hung about Chillon a good deal, both by land and by
water. For the latter purpose we had to hire a boat; and deceived by the
fact that the owner spoke a Latin dialect, I attempted to beat him down
from his demand of a franc an hour. "It's too much," I cried. "It's the
price," he answered, laconically. Clearly I was to take it or leave it,
and I took it. We did not find our fellow-republicans flatteringly
polite, but we found them firm, and, for all I know, honest. At least
they seemed as honest as we were, and that is saying a great deal. What
struck us from the beginning was the surliness of the men and the
industry of the women; and I am persuaded that the Swiss Government is
really carried on by the house-keeping sex. At any rate, the postmaster
of Villeneuve was a woman; her little girl brought the mail up from the
railway station in a hand-cart, and her old mother helped her to
understand my French. They were rather cross about it, and one day, with
the assistance of a child in arms, they defeated me in an attempt I made
to get a postal order. I dare say they thought it quite a triumph; but
it was not so very much to be proud of. At that period my French, always