hotel keepers aver, that she offered me a handsome percentage on any
visitors I would send her. In the most delicate manner I could command,
I gave her to understand that my inquiries about Pougues were not made
from a business point of view, but that I should certainly proclaim its
many attractions on the house-tops.




CHAPTER XI.


NEVERS AND MOULINS.

I found the well-remembered Hotel de France much as I had left it, just
upon twenty years before, every whit as quiet, comfortable, and moderate
in price, indeed, one of the best provincial hotels of France. The dear
old woman then employed as waitress, had, of course, long since gone to
her rest, and the landlord and landlady were new to me. But, the
traditions of an excellent house were evidently kept up, accommodation,
meanwhile, having been greatly enlarged.

A place is like a book; if worth knowing at all, to be returned to again
and again. After the first brief visit so many years ago, I wrote, "I
envy the traveller who for the first time stands on the bridge of
Nevers." And more imposing, more exhilarating still, seemed the view
from the same spot now; under the brilliant sky, in the clear
atmosphere, every feature standing out as in a mosaic proudly dominating
all, the Cathedral, with its mass of sombre architecture; stretching
wide to right and left, the gay, prosperous-looking city; white villas