On the wall were two engravings, that of Monseigneur Pie, the holy Bishop of Poitiers, and that of General de Sonis, on foot, with his wooden leg, and a painting representing St.Francois, the patron of the house.

Those were the only artistic decorations of the modest habitation.

The nobleman often said: "I have freed myself from the tyranny of objects." But with that marvellous background of grandiose ruins and that sky, the simple spot was an incomparable retreat in which to end in meditation and renouncement a life already shaken by the tempests of the senses and of the world.
The hermit of that Thebaide rose to greet his two visitors, and pointing out to Chapron an open volume on his table, he said to him: "I was thinking of you.

It is Chateauvillars's book on duelling.

It contains a code which is not very complete.