In and Out of Three Normandy Inns

In and Out of Three Normandy Inns

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Title: In and Out of Three Normady Inns
Author: Anna Bowman Dodd
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7961] [This file was first posted on June 5, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, IN AND OUT OF THREE NORMADY INNS ***

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IN AND OUT OF THREE NORMANDY INNS
BY
ANNA BOWMAN DODD

[Illustration: GUILLAUME-LE-CONQUERANT-DIVES]
TO EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.
_My Dear Mr. Stedman:
To this little company of Norman men and women, you will, I know, extend a kindly greeting, if only because of their nationality. To your courtesy, possibly, you will add the leaven of interest, when you perceive--as you must--that their qualities are all their own, their defects being due solely to my own imperfect presentment.
With sincere esteem_,
ANNA BOWMAN DODD.
New York.

CONTENTS.
VILLERVILLE.
I. A LANDING ON THE COAST OF FRANCE II. A SPRING DRIVE III. FROM AN INN WINDOW IV. OUT ON A MUSSEL-BED V. THE VILLAGE VI. A PAGAN COBBLER VII. SOME NORMAN LANDLADIES VIII. THE QUARTIER LATIN ON THE BEACH IX. A NORMAN HOUSEHOLD X. ERNESTINE
ALONG AN OLD POST-ROAD.
XI. TO AN OLD MANOIR XII. A NORMAN CURE XIII. HONFLEUR--NEW AND OLD
DIVES.
XIV. A COAST DRIVE XV. GUILLAUME-LE-CONQUERANT XVI. THE GREEN BENCH XVII. THE WORLD THAT CAME TO DIVES XVIII. THE CONVERSATION OF PATRIOTS XIX. IN LA CHAMBRE DES MARMOUSETS
TWO BANQUETS AT DIVES.
XX. A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY REVIVAL XXI. THE AFTER-DINNER TALK OF THREE GREAT LADIES XXII. A NINETEENTH CENTURY BREAKFAST
A LITTLE JOURNEY ALONG THE COAST.
XXIII. A NIGHT IN A CAEN ATTIC XXIV. A DAY AT BAYEUX AND ST. LO XXV. A DINNER AT COUTANCES XXVI. A SCENE IN A NORMAN COURT XXVII. THE FETE-DIEU--A JUNE CHRISTMAS XXVIII. BY LAND TO MONT ST. MICHEL
MONT ST. MICHEL.
XXIX. BY SEA TO THE POULARD INN XXX. THE PILGRIMS AND THE SHRINE--AN HISTORICAL OMELETTE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
GUILLAUME-LE-CONQUERANT--DIVES A VILLAGE STREET--VILLERVILLE ON THE BEACH--VILLERVILLE A SALE OF MUSSELS--VILLERVILLE A VILLERVILLE FISH-WIFE A DEPARTURE--VILLERVILLE THE INN AT DIVES--GUILLAUME-LE-CONQUERANT CHAMBRE DE LA PUCELLE--DIVES CHAMBRE DES MARMOUSETS--DIVES MADAME DE SéVIGNé CHAMBRE DE LA PUCELLE--DIVES CHATEAU FONTAINE LE HENRI, NEAR CAEN AN EXCITING MOMENT--A COUTANCES INTERIOR A STREET IN COUTANCES--EGLISE SAINT-PIERRE MONT SAINT MICHEL MONT SAINT MICHEL SNAIL-GATHERERS

VILLERVILLE.
AN INN BY THE SEA.

CHAPTER I.
A LANDING ON THE COAST OF FRANCE.
Narrow streets with sinuous curves; dwarfed houses with minute shops protruding on inch-wide sidewalks; a tiny casino perched like a bird-cage on a tiny scaffolding; bath-houses dumped on the beach; fishing-smacks drawn up along the shore like so many Greek galleys; and, fringing the cliffs--the encroachment of the nineteenth century--a row of fantastic sea-side villas.
This was Villerville.
Over an arch of roses; across a broad line of olives, hawthorns, laburnums, and syringas, straight out to sea--
This was the view from our windows.
Our inn was bounded by the sea on one side, and on the other by a narrow village street. The distance between good and evil has been known to be quite as short as that which lay between these two thoroughfares. It was only a matter of a strip of land, an edge of cliff, and a shed of a house bearing the proud title of H?tel-sur-Mer.
Two nights before, our arrival had made quite a stir in the village streets. The inn had given us a characteristic French welcome; its eye had measured us before it had extended its hand. Before reaching the inn and the village, however, we had already tasted of the flavor of a genuine Norman welcome. Our experience in adventure had begun on the Havre quays.
Our expedition could hardly be looked upon as perilous; yet it was one that, from the first, evidently appealed to the French imagination; half Havre was hanging over the stone wharves to see us start.
"Dame, only English women are up to that!"--for all the world is English, in French eyes, when an adventurous folly is to be committed.
This was one view of our temerity; it was the comment of