Therefore, Though The Making Of Excursions Had Been The Purpose Of My Stay, I Thought It Vain, While I Started For Bourges, To Determine To Which Category That Little Expedition Might Belong.

It was not till the third day that I re- turned to Tours; and the distance, traversed for the most part after dark, was even greater than I had sup- posed.

That, however, was partly the fault of a tire- some wait at Vierzon, where I had more than enough time to dine, very badly, at the _buffet_, and to observe the proceedings of a family who had entered my rail- way carriage at Tours and had conversed unreservedly, for my benefit, all the way from that station, - a family whom it entertained me to assign to the class of _petite noblesse de province_. Their noble origin was confirmed by the way they all made _maigre_ in the refreshment oom (it happened to be a Friday), as if it had been possible to do anything else. They ate two or three omelets apiece, and ever so many little cakes, while the positive, talkative mother watched her children as the waiter handed about the roast fowl. I was destined to share the secrets of this family to the end; for when I had taken place in the empty train that was in waiting to convey us to Bourges, the same vigilant woman pushed them all on top of me into my com- partment, though the carriages on either side con- tained no travellers at all.

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