Free Memoirs of a Physician by Alexandre Dumas Page B

alighted at Bougival, and turned to the left by the chestnut walk.
    This walk, which at present is so surpassingly beautiful, was then at least quite as much so ; for the portion of the rising ground which our explorers had to traverse, already planted by Louis XIV., had been the object of constant care since the king had taken a fancy to Marly.
    The chestnut trees with their ruddy bark, their gigantic branches, and their fantastic forms sometimes presenting in their knotty circumvolutions the appearance of a huge boa twining itself round the trunk sometimes that of a bull prostrate upon the butcher’s block and vomiting a stream of black and clotted blood the moss-covered apple trees and the colossal walnuts, whose foliage was already assuming the dark-blue shade of summer the solitude, the picturesque simplicity and grandeur of the landscape, which, with its old shadowy trees, stood out in bold relief against the clear blue sky ; all this, clothed with that simple and touching charm which nature ever lends to her productions, plunged Rousseau in a state of ecstasy impossible to be described.
    Gilbert was calm, but moody ; his whole being was absorbed in this one thought :
     
    58 MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
    ” Andre leaves the garden pavilion and goes to Trianon.”
    Upon the summit of the little hill, which the three botanists were climbing on foot, was seen the square tower of Luciennes.
    The sight of this building from which he had fled, changed the current of Gilbert’s thoughts, and recalled rather unpleasant recollections, unmingled, however, with fear. From his position in the rear of the party he saw two protectors before him ; and, feeling himself in safety, he gazed at Luciennes as a shipwrecked sailor from the shore looks upon the sand-bank upon which his vessel has struck.
    Rousseau, spade in hand, began to fix his looks on the ground, M. de Jussieu did the same, but with this difference, that the former was searching for plants, while the latter was only endeavoring to keep his stockings from the damp.
    ” What a splendid Lepopodium ! ” exclaimed Rousseau.
    ” Charming,” replied M. de Jnssien ; ” but let us pass on, if you have no objection. “
    ” Ah ! the Lysimachia Fenella ! it is ready for culling look ! “
    “Pluck it, then, if it gives you pleasure.”
    ” Oh ! just as you please. But are we not botanizing, then?”
    ” Yes, yes ; but I think we shall find better upon that height yonder.”
    “As you please let us go, then.”
    ” What hour is it ? ” asked M. de Jussieu ; ” in my hurry I forgot my watch.”
    Rousseau pulled a very large silver watch from his pocket.
    ” Nine o’clock,” said he.
    ” Have you any objection that we should rest a little ?” continued M. de Jussieu.
    ” Oh ! what a wretched walker you are,” said Rousseau. “You see what it is to botanize in fine shoes and silk stockings.”
     
    MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 59
    ” Perhaps I am hungry.”
    ” Well, then, let us breakfast ; the village is about a quarter of a league from this.”
    “Oh, uo ; we need not go so far.”
    ” How so ? Have you our breakfast in your carriage ?”
    ” Look yonder into that thicket ! ” said M. de Jussieu, pointing with his hand toward the part of the horizon he indicated.
    Rousseau stood upon tiptoe, and shaded his eyes with his hand.
    ” I can see nothing,” said he.
    ” What ! Do you not see that little rustic roof ? “
    ” No.”
    ” Surmounted by a weather-cock, and the walls thatched with red and white straw a sort of rustic cottage, in short ? “
    ” Yes, I think I see it now ; a little building seemingly erected.”
    ” A kiosk, that is it ? “
    ” Well ? “
    ” Well ! we shall find there the little luncheon I promised
    you.”
    ” Very good,” said Rousseau. ” Are you hungry, Gilbert?”’
    Gilbert, who had not paid any attention to this debate, and was employed in mechanically knocking off the heads of the wild flowers, replied :
    ” Whatever