CHAPTER XL.
And yet the return home from Limoise Thursday evenings would have had
a great charm but for the remorse I almost always felt because of
neglected duties.
My friends took me as far as the river in the carriage, or I rode on a
donkey, or we walked. Once past the stony plateau on the south bank of
the river, and once over it and upon the home side I found my father
and sister awaiting me; I walked gayly beside them in the straight
path lying between the extensive meadows that led to our house. I went
at a brisk pace in my eagerness to see mamma, my aunts and our dear
home.
When we entered the town, by the old disused gate, it was always dusk,
the dusk of a spring or summer night; as we passed the barracks we
heard the familiar drums and bugles sounding the hour for the sailors'
all-too-early bed.
And when we arrived at the house I usually spied my beloved ones
(clothed in their black dresses) seated in the honeysuckle arbor at
the end of the yard, or they were sitting out under the stars.
Or, if the others had gone in, I was sure to find aunt Bertha there
alone; she was a very independent person, and she dared defy even the
dew and evening chill. After kissing and embracing me she pretended to
smell of my clothes, and after sniffing a minute, to make me laugh,
she would say: "Ah! you smell of Limoise, my darling."
And indeed I did have something of the fragrance of Limoise about me.
When I came from there I was always impregnated with the odor of wild
thyme and the other aromatic plants peculiar to that part of the
country.
