Miette had thrown the cloak over Silvere, and he had submitted to it
quite naturally, as though indeed the garment rendered them a similar
service every evening.

The road to Nice, on either side of which the suburban houses are built,
was, in the year 1851, lined with ancient elm-trees, grand and gigantic
ruins, still full of vigour, which the fastidious town council has
replaced, some years since, by some little plane-trees. When Silvere and
Miette found themselves under the elms, the huge boughs of which cast
shadows on the moonlit footpath, they met now and again black forms
which silently skirted the house fronts. These, too, were amorous
couples, closely wrapped in one and the same cloak, and strolling in the
darkness.

This style of promenading has been instituted by the young lovers of
Southern towns. Those boys and girls among the people who mean to marry
sooner or later, but who do not dislike a kiss or two in advance, know
no spot where they can kiss at their ease without exposing themselves to
recognition and gossip. Accordingly, while strolling about the suburbs,
the plots of waste land, the footpaths of the high road--in fact,
all these places where there are few passers-by and numerous shady
nooks--they conceal their identity by wrapping themselves in these long
cloaks, which are capacious enough to cover a whole family. The parents
tolerate these proceedings; however stiff may be provincial propriety,
no apprehensions, seemingly, are entertained. And, on the other hand,
nothing could be more charming than these lovers' rambles, which appeal
so keenly to the Southerner's fanciful imagination. There is a veritable
masquerade, fertile in innocent enjoyments, within the reach of the most
humble. The girl clasps her sweetheart to her bosom, enveloping him in
her own warm cloak; and no doubt it is delightful to be able to kiss