a later time, not until I was seventeen, and I did not learn to love it
until long after that,--doubtless that is why I loved it so ardently.
At first it oppressed me and induced a feeling of extreme sadness;
my brother Ives initiated me into its charm, a charm tinged with
melancholy, and it was he who persuaded me to explore its thatched
cottages and wooden chapels. And following this, the influence that a
young girl of Treguier exercised over my imagination, when I was
about twenty-seven, strengthened my love for Brittany, the land of my
adoption.




CHAPTER XLIII.



The day after my arrival at my uncle's I met some children named Peyrals
who became my playmates. According to the fashion of that part of the
country their baptismal names were spoken preceded by the definite
article. The two little girls respectively ten and twelve years old were
called "the Marciette" and "the Titi," and their younger brother, still
a little chap, who did not, therefore, figure so largely in our plays,
was called "the Medon."

As I was younger in my ways than most boys of twelve,--in spite of
my understanding of some things usually beyond the comprehension of
children,--we immediately became a congenial little band, and for
several summers we came together and enjoyed each other's companionship.