"As you please," the stranger replied; and, putting his pipe in his mouth, he walked away from the inn. A few moments later, the three young men, having commended their effects to the inn-keeper’s care, left Clermont, and took the crossroad said to lead to Saint-Amand.
VII
A WALK THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS
On leaving Clermont, the three travellers followed at first the road that had been pointed out to them as leading to the little town of Saint-Amand. But they had walked barely half a league into the mountains, when the desire to obtain a fine view, to climb a rock, or to take a more picturesque path, led them insensibly away from the road they should have followed. In vain did Robineau, who did not share the enthusiasm of his companions for the varied beauties of the landscape, sometimes wild and sometimes cultivated, stop again and again, and exclaim angrily:
"That isn’t the way, messieurs! You’re going astray; we shall lose our road and walk a hundred times farther than we need."
But Alfred and Edouard did not listen to him; they continued to go their own way, and, pausing a moment on the summit of some hill, they would cry:
"What a picturesque country! What a variety of scenery! On one side steep rocks, barren mountains, and a calcareous soil, of volcanic origin; at our feet green pastures, vineyards, fields, trees laden with fruit!"
"Let us go higher," Edouard said, "to the top of yonder hill; it seems to me that I see a field of grain."
"Oh! that would be curious, we must see that," Alfred replied, following Edouard; and they scaled the rocks, running and jumping, and laughing all the time; while Robineau, who had remained behind, made a horrible grimace, saying:
"It seems to me, messieurs, that my château isn’t perched up there. You will have time enough to make excursions in the neighborhood when we are settled in my château. It’s ridiculous to tire yourselves out climbing so high!"
The two friends continued their ascent; they reached the top, which seemed to be more than a league in circumference, and there in fact they found a large field of grain. Engrossed by the pleasure which that magnificent prospect afforded them, Alfred and Edouard stopped. They smiled at each other; they were happy! And when one is conscious of a sentiment of pleasure, one tries to make it last a long while, to detain it in one’s soul. It is rare that one is happy in the present! We almost always rejoice in dreams of the future.