"Then the people," continued Doctor Louis; "they are so much superior, so much more refined, so much higher--"
"Indeed," I said, with a touch of earnestness, "that has been truly proved to me."
"No, no," said Doctor Louis, "I am not to be turned from the track by sentiment. It has been left to our young friend to discover--all honour to him--that, taking us altogether, we in the little village of Nerac here are a very exceptional lot. Now, I have only to make this public to bring us an inch nearer to the sun. The least we can do for him is to present him with a testimonial."
"Which he is ready to accept," I said gaily; "but, doctor, you omitted to mention one important thing."
"What is it?"
"My health; it will take a considerable time to establish it, and it cannot be established elsewhere."
"A poor compliment to my skill," observed Doctor Louis, quizzically. "Ah, I always thought I was a pretender, but until this moment no one has had the courage to tell me so to my face."
"Be serious, Louis," said his wife.
"I am dumb," he rejoined, with a comical look.
I then unfolded my plan. It was my desire to take a house in Nerac, not at too great a distance from the house of Doctor Louis, in which I could reside, with two or three servants to attend to it and me. I had seen such a house on the borders of a forest about a mile and a half away, which appeared to me to have been long uninhabited. The grounds in which it was built and the gardens by which it was surrounded had been neglected by man, but there was much wild beauty in them, and a little care and attention would soon bring them into order. The place had attracted me, and I had spent an hour in wandering through the grounds, and had attempted, also, to enter the house to examine it, but the doors were locked. Attached to the house was a cottage, which I supposed had been the gardener's cottage. This little dwelling was literally imbedded in climbing wild roses, which had grown in wonderful luxuriance upon all its walls. There were stables also, which I judged would afford accommodation for half a dozen horses.