CHAPTER I.THE GRAND TOUR OF JEAN JACQUES BARBILLE.
"Peace and plenty, peace and plenty"-- that was the phrase M.Jean Jacques Barbille, miller and moneymaster, applied to his home-scene, when he was at the height of his career.

Both winter and summer the place had a look of content and comfort, even a kind of opulence.

There is nothing like a grove of pines to give a sense of warmth in winter and an air of coolness in summer, so does the slightest breeze make the pine-needles swish like the freshening sea.

But to this scene, where pines made a friendly background, there were added oak, ash, and hickory trees, though in less quantity on the side of the river where were Jean Jacques Barbille's house and mills.

They flourished chiefly on the opposite side of the Beau Cheval, whose waters flowed so waywardly--now with a rush, now silently away through long reaches of country.