acquaint me, I suppose, that their baths had the honour of possessing
Prince Orloff, "avec sa grande maitresse, son Chamberlain et quelques
Dames d'Honneur:" moreover, that his Highness came hither to refresh
himself after his laborious employments at the Court of Petersburg,
and expected (grace aux eaux!) to return to the domains his august
sovereign had lately bestowed upon him in perfect health, and to
become the father of his people.

Wishing Monsieur d'Orloff all possible success, I should have left
the company at a great distance, had not a violent shower stopped my
career, and obliged me to return to my apartment. The rain growing
heavier, intercepted the prospect of the mountains, and spread such a
gloom over the vale as sank my spirits fifty degrees; to which a
close foggy atmosphere not a little contributed. Towards night the
clouds assumed a more formidable aspect. Thunder rolled awfully
along the distant cliffs, and several rapid torrents began to run
down the steeps. Unable to stay within, I walked into an open
portico, listening to the murmur of the river, mingled with the roar
of falling waters. At intervals a blue flash of lightning discovered
their agitated surface, and two or three scared women rushing through
the storm and calling all the saints in Paradise to their assistance.

Things were in this state, when the orator who had harangued so
brilliantly on the nothingness of ascending mountains, took shelter
under the porch, and entering immediately into conversation, regaled
my ears with a woful narration of murders which had happened the
other day on the precise road I was to follow next morning.

"Sir," said he, "your route is, to be sure, very perilous: on the
left you have a chasm, down which, should your horses take the