the dusk of a spring or summer night; as we passed the barracks we
heard the familiar drums and bugles sounding the hour for the sailors'
all-too-early bed.

And when we arrived at the house I usually spied my beloved ones
(clothed in their black dresses) seated in the honeysuckle arbor at the
end of the yard, or they were sitting out under the stars.

Or, if the others had gone in, I was sure to find aunt Bertha there
alone; she was a very independent person, and she dared defy even the
dew and evening chill. After kissing and embracing me she pretended to
smell of my clothes, and after sniffing a minute, to make me laugh, she
would say: "Ah! you smell of Limoise, my darling."

And indeed I did have something of the fragrance of Limoise about me.
When I came from there I was always impregnated with the odor of
wild thyme and the other aromatic plants peculiar to that part of the
country.




CHAPTER XLI.



Speaking of Limoise I will be vain enough to speak here of an act of
mine that I consider as brave as it was obedient, for it fell in with a
promise that I had given.