In these humble homes she found children with skins as white, with hair as fair and bright, as her own, and if the traveller wander so far from the beaten track, he can verify my statement.

For in Var, by some racial freak--which, like all such matters, is in point of fact inexplicable--a large proportion of the people are of fair or ruddy complexions.
Had the Vicomtesse desired it, the neighbourhood offered society of a loftier, and, as some consider, more interesting, nature, but that lady did not hold much by social gatherings, and it was only from a sense of duty that she invited a few friends, about the time of Lucille's birthday--her twenty-first birthday, indeed--to pass some days at La Pauline.
These friends were bidden for the 26th December, and among them were the Baron Giraud and his son Alphonse.
Alphonse arrived on horseback in a costume which would have done credit to the head-groom of a racing stable.

The right-hand twist of his mustache was eminently successful, but the left-hand extremity drooped with a lamentable effect, which he was not able to verify until after he had greeted the ladies, whom he met in the garden, as he rode toward the chateau.
"My father," he cried, as he descended from the saddle, "that dear old man, arrives on the instant.

He is in a carriage--a close carriage, and he smokes.

Picture it to yourselves--when there is this air to breathe--when there are horses to ride.