[Illustration: THE DOWNFALL OF THE TITANS, CONQUERED BY THE GENIUS OF
MAN. (Monument at Turin to Commemorate the Tunneling of the Alps.)]

I saw Favre, for the first time, in Geneva, in 1872, a few days after he
had assumed the responsibility of undertaking the great work. He had
been living since the war on his magnificent Plongeon estate, on the
right bank of the lake. There was no need of dancing attendance in order
to reach the contractor of the greatest work that has been accomplished
up to the present time, for M. Favre was easy of access. We had scarcely
passed five minutes together than we we were conversing as we often did
later after an acquaintance of six years. After making known to him the
object of my visit, the desire of being numbered among the _personnel_
of his enterprise, the conversation quickly took that turn of
mirthfulness that was at the bottom of Favre's character. "This is the
first time," said he to me, laughing, "that I ever worked with Germans,
and I had not yet struck the first blow of the pick on the Gothard when
they began to quibble about our contract of the 8th of last August. Ah!
that agreement of August 8th! How I had to change and re-change it,
later on. If this thing continues, we shall have a pretty quarrel,
considering that I do not understand a word of the multiple
interpretations of their _charabia_. I ought to have mistrusted this.
But you see I have remained inactive during the whole of this
unfortunate war. I was not made for promenading in the paths of a
garden, and I should have died of chagrin if such inaction had had to be
prolonged. When one lives, as I have, for thirty years around lumber
yards, it is difficult to accustom one's self to the sedentary and
secluded life that I have led here for nearly two years."

As he said, with just pride, Louis Favre had, indeed, before becoming