Garonne wandered.

The peasants of this gay climate were often seen on an evening, when
the day's labour was done, dancing in groups on the margin of the
river. Their sprightly melodies, debonnaire steps, the fanciful
figure of their dances, with the tasteful and capricious manner in
which the girls adjusted their simple dress, gave a character to the
scene entirely French.

The front of the chateau, which, having a southern aspect, opened
upon the grandeur of the mountains, was occupied on the ground floor
by a rustic hall, and two excellent sitting rooms. The first floor,
for the cottage had no second story, was laid out in bed-chambers,
except one apartment that opened to a balcony, and which was
generally used for a breakfast-room.

In the surrounding ground, St. Aubert had made very tasteful
improvements; yet, such was his attachment to objects he had
remembered from his boyish days, that he had in some instances
sacrificed taste to sentiment. There were two old larches that
shaded the building, and interrupted the prospect; St. Aubert had
sometimes declared that he believed he should have been weak enough
to have wept at their fall. In addition to these larches he planted
a little grove of beech, pine, and mountain-ash. On a lofty terrace,
formed by the swelling bank of the river, rose a plantation of
orange, lemon, and palm-trees, whose fruit, in the coolness of
evening, breathed delicious fragrance. With these were mingled a few
trees of other species. Here, under the ample shade of a plane-tree,
that spread its majestic canopy towards the river, St. Aubert loved
to sit in the fine evenings of summer, with his wife and children,