My first attempts at seafaring were made at Treport, during the short
holiday trips we used to take to the Chateau d'Eu. I was dreadfully sea-
sick every time, but that did not dismay me; and then the honest
sailors, with their simple, open, resolute faces, attracted me
irresistibly I used to envy them their risky life, as I watched their
boats from the jetty at Treport, running in before the gale. That
settled the matter; I was regularly fascinated, in short. And that love
of my life will last as long as I do. Besides the sailoring charm which
Treport had for me, many a pleasant memory of my life is bound up with
Eu and Randan. My parents were accustomed in holiday times to take us
for a little trip either to Eu or to Randan, a large property in the
Auvergne belonging to my aunt. During these journeys, lessons and school
hours and study of every kind were intermitted, and this alone sufficed
to give them a sovereign charm. It should be added that in those days
travelling was not what it is now, and that these trips gave rise to
many little adventures, for which we were always on the look out. My
father had had a big carriage built with room for twelve people in it,
which held the whole family, and which, with all due deference, was very
like a travelling menagerie-van. A courier used to ride on ahead to
order post horses; another rode just in front of the carriage. When each
stage was finished, the six horses that were to draw us for the next
were led up: wicked, cross-grained stallions they were, that squealed
and bit and kicked. They got harnessed somehow or other; and then out
came the dapper postilions, with their hats trimmed with gay ribbons,
cocked on one side, some of them still wearing powder and with their
hair tied in a club. They had waistcoats trimmed with dozens of silver
buttons, and close-fitting pantaloons covered their legs. Margot would
bring out the great iron-bound boots, into which they shoved those same
legs; they were hoisted laboriously on to their horses; the postmaster
shouted, "Now then, in with your spurs, and let them go!" and off we