The inn itself is gray with age, the roof sagging pleasantly here and
there; and an old wooden gallery runs the length of each wing, the
guest-chambers of the upper story opening upon it like the deck-rooms of
a steamer, with boxes of tulips and hyacinths along the gallery railings
and window ledges for the gayest of border-lines.

Beyond the great open archway, which gives entrance to the courtyard,
lies the quiet country road; passing this, my eyes followed the wide
sweep of poppy-sprinkled fields to a line of low green hills; and there
was the edge of the forest sheltering those woodland interiors which I
had long ago tried to paint, and where I should be at work to-morrow.

In the course of time, and well within the bright twilight, Amedee
spread the crisp white cloth and served me at a table on my pavilion
porch. He feigned anxiety lest I should find certain dishes (those which
he knew were most delectable) not to my taste, but was obviously so
distended with fatuous pride over the whole meal that it became a
temptation to denounce at least some trifling sauce or garnishment;
nevertheless, so much mendacity proved beyond me and I spared him and my
own conscience. This puffed-uppedness of his was to be observed only in
his expression of manner, for during the consumption of food it was his
worthy custom to practise a ceremonious, nay, a reverential, hush, and
he never offered (or approved) conversation until he had prepared the
salad. That accomplished, however, and the water bubbling in the coffee
machine, he readily favoured me with a discourse on the decline in glory
of Les Trois Pigeons.

"Monsieur, it is the automobiles; they have done it. Formerly, as when
monsieur was here, the painters came from Paris. They would come in the