He recommended it to St. Aubert
to take that route, and the latter determined to do so.
'The road from this hamlet,' said Valancourt, 'and that to Beaujeu,
part at the distance of about a league and a half from hence; if you
will give me leave, I will direct your muleteer so far. I must
wander somewhere, and your company would make this a pleasanter
ramble than any other I could take.'
St. Aubert thankfully accepted his offer, and they set out together,
the young stranger on foot, for he refused the invitation of St.
Aubert to take a seat in his little carriage.
The road wound along the feet of the mountains through a pastoral
valley, bright with verdure, and varied with groves of dwarf oak,
beech and sycamore, under whose branches herds of cattle reposed.
The mountain-ash too, and the weeping birch, often threw their
pendant foliage over the steeps above, where the scanty soil scarcely
concealed their roots, and where their light branches waved to every
breeze that fluttered from the mountains.
The travellers were frequently met at this early hour, for the sun
had not yet risen upon the valley, by shepherds driving immense
flocks from their folds to feed upon the hills.
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