have preferred on the spot to hand in our account. Should I not
have been less (rather than more) guilty in presuming to dispose of
HER destiny, than of my own? There is a nice point for dear M.
Galopin to settle--one of those points which I have heard him
discuss in the pulpit with such elevation. We are safe, however, as
I say; by which I mean that we are physically safe. We have taken
up the thread of our familiar pension-life, but under strikingly
different conditions. We have found a refuge in a boarding-house
which has been highly recommended to me, and where the arrangements
partake of that barbarous magnificence which in this country is the
only alternative from primitive rudeness. The terms, per week, are
as magnificent as all the rest. The landlady wears diamond ear-
rings; and the drawing-rooms are decorated with marble statues. I
should indeed be sorry to let you know how I have allowed myself to
be ranconnee; and I--should be still more sorry that it should come
to the ears of any of my good friends in Geneva, who know me less
well than you and might judge me more harshly. There is no wine
given for dinner, and I have vainly requested the person who
conducts the establishment to garnish her table more liberally. She
says I may have all the wine I want if I will order it at the
merchant's, and settle the matter with him. But I have never, as
you know, consented to regard our modest allowance of eau rougie as
an extra; indeed, I remember that it is largely to your excellent
advice that I have owed my habit of being firm on this point. There
are, however, greater difficulties than the question of what we
shall drink for dinner, chere Madame. Still, I have never lost
courage, and I shall not lose courage now. At the worst, we can re-
embark again, and seek repose and refreshment on the shores of your
beautiful lake. (There is absolutely no scenery here!) We shall
not, perhaps, in that case have achieved what we desired, but we