Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/342

358 the remaining descent of the mountain amidst storms of rain.

At seven o'clock in the evening we were again at Martigny, where we found it very hot. We had in this day passed from the climate of Spitzbergen to that of northern Italy.

We should now have undertaken the journey to Monte Rosa, but that sun and fine weather were necessary, which at the present time we did not enjoy. The heavens were clothed in rain-clouds, and the barometer had fallen; we therefore determined to defer the journey, and return at once to Geneva.

In the early dusk of morning, we drove through the Rhone valley, from the swampy, sterile district around Martigny, to the woody and fertile neighborhood of Bex, magnificently embraced, both on the right and the left, by the mountain chains of Vaud and Valais.

We enjoyed the fresh air, freed from dust, which the rain had laid, the fantastic cloud-imagery which gathered around the mountains, and the ever-varying play of light, and shadow. Thus we sped along, on the wings of steam, from Bex to Villeneuve, and thence, by the steamer L'Hirondelle, across the waters of Lake Leman, and so to Geneva. And there, by lantern-light, I was able, thanks be to our Lord, to restore my beloved young companion safe and sound to her parents and relatives, who were waiting for her on the shore. And again I spent a few days with her in the good home which I am able to call mine, and