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I was botanizing lately in the woods of Luciennes, with one of my friends, a distinguished Orientalist and renowned botanist, who had, a few years since, traveled six thousand miles, and risked his life twenty times, in order to obtain a handful of plants from the slopes of the Taurus or the plains of Asia Minor. After we had wandered for some time through the woods, gathering here and there some dry grass and orchis, merely to renew an acquaintance with them, we lounged toward the handsome village of Gressets and the delightful valley of Beauregard, directing our steps toward a breakfast, which we hoped to find a little further on, when, beneath an alley of lofty poplars, on the left of the meadows of the Butard, we saw two persons, a man and a woman, both young, approaching us.
My companion made a gesture of surprise at the sight of them.
“Do you know those persons?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Of what class, genus and species are they?” I used the words merely in their botanical sense.
“Analyze, observe and divine,” replied my illustrious traveler.
I determined then on applying to my individuals, not the system of Linnæus, but that of Jussien, that of affinities and analogies. The latter appeared to me to be more suitable and easier than the former. The young man was dressed in a very simple and even negligent style, wearing those high heeled shoes, three-quarter boots, which have succeeded the half boots, (boots, since the introduction of comfort among us, having steadily lessened,) and had not even straps to his pantaloons. A pearl colored sack, colored shirt, and traveling cap with a large visor, completed his costume.
Near him walked a young woman, of the middle height and finely formed, but with such an air of indolence in her movements, flexibility of the body, and jogging of the haunches, as proclaimed a southern origin or a want of distinction. They advanced with their heads down, speaking without looking up, and walking side by side without taking arms, but from time to time one leant on the shoulder of the other, with a movement full of affection.
It was not until we crossed them that I could see their figures; until then I had been able to study only their costume and general outline.