Page:Forget Me Not (1824).djvu/75

 combined the freshness and vigour of the most unsophisticated native of the Alps, with the dignity and grace of the most accomplished of our leaders of fashion. Such was the female who intended to pass the night here!

I approached her respectfully, and accosted her in polite terms as the mistress of the place; she, with true Swiss cordiality, gave me her soft little hand and bade me welcome. After the first salutations, I expressed my joy at spending so lovely an evening in such society, sent me, as it were, by Providence itself. “It is lucky for us, indeed,” replied she, “that I have come up, else you would certainly have passed an uncomfortable night on our Alp; for you would have had nothing but hay to lie on. As it is, I shall give up to you my closet, where you will sleep more commodiously.”

With these words she led me into the hut, and ushered me into the closet just mentioned. I had been at Trianon, Versailles, St. Cloud, and many other mansions of the great of that gaudy world which lay spread out at my feet. More superb chambers I had certainly beheld, but none that was neater, or wore an air of superior comfort. The furniture, of maple or black poplar wood, was extremely tasteful; and the walls were hung with SwisSwiss [sic] landscapes by the most eminent native artists, many of them of very great value. The queen of my Alp threw up the