Page:The life of Tolstoy.djvu/71

Rh In the beginning of May he left Paris for Switzerland, where he settled at Clarens on the Lake of Geneva. He rested here after the Paris bustle, and was delighted with the beauty of nature.

These are his travelling impressions:

“The 15th of May the weather was bright; the shining blue—dark blue—lake, dotted with its white and dark spots of sails and boats, lay glittering nearly three sides around me. Towards Geneva, far over the lake, the hot air was vibrating and darkening; on the other side rose abruptly the green Savoy mountains, with little, white houses at their foot, and the jagged rocks, one of which resembled a giant white woman in an old-fashioned costume. On the left, clearly outlined just above the brownish vineyards, in the deep green of orchards, Montreux appeared, with its graceful church rising from the slope of the mountain. Along the very border of the lake the houses of Villeneuve are spread out, their metallic roofs shining in the midday sun; the mysterious valley of the Rhone, with mountains rising one above the other; white, cold Chillon on the brink of the water, the much-sung islet, artificial, but lying, nevertheless, charmingly opposite Villeneuve.

“The lake rippled slightly. The sun struck