A complete change took place at the Castle of D’Hernilly; the master
of the house and his son arrived to pass the vacation at the castle.
The gentry of the neighbourhood also hastened there to enjoy the last
fine days of autumn. Several young companions of Victor renewed their
acquaintance with him, and they gave themselves up to games much less
sedentary than those played by the ladies. The young people of both
sexes very rarely met during the week-days, but they walked and
conversed together on the Sundays and holidays; sometimes during the
latter they amused themselves with country-dances in a temporary
ball-room raised in a grove. Victor, who played very well on the
flute, was occasionally one of the musicians, but more frequently
appeared among the dancers.
[Illustration: Girls playing with hoops]
When the boys had a holiday, they amused themselves in the park with
noisy sports, such as prison bar, leap frog, _le cheval fondu_, &c.
&c. The little ones played at the poison ball, the skipping-rope, and
the hoop. Madame D’Hernilly’s daughters were very frequently the
witnesses of these sports; they admired the cleverness which the boys
shewed, but they did not envy them their amusement.
One day, Victor and his friends went with their preceptor, a walk of
some miles to join in a village feast. Adriana and Ernestina found in
the hall several of their playthings mingled with the books, maps,
&c., which they used at their studies. Among the rest they found a
hoop, and a skipping-rope. They were impatient to try whether they
could use these with any dexterity; though at the same time, they were
a little ashamed to be seen at such masculine exercises. Their young
neighbour Valeria conquered their scruples; she said, that she had
been in a school where the young ladies were permitted to play at
these games, because their governess considered that they afforded a
healthful exercise, but the players were obliged to observe that
moderation, which the delicacy of their sex, as well as their tender
age, required.
They found Valeria’s reasoning very good, and they determined to
practise the games with that moderation which she recommended. The
weather, which till then had been very warm, changed on a sudden; a
cold sharp wind had succeeded to the most suffocating heat. Nothing
could be more healthful, therefore, than those games which required
activity.
As there were only two hoops, they resolved to make use of them by
turns. Each had recourse to the assistance of a stick to enable her to
manage the hoop, which she trundled sometimes forward, sometimes on
one side, and sometimes she turned it round. It was agreed that the
game should be adjudged to be won, by the lady whose hoop arrived
first at the goal without its having fallen to the ground.
This was a matter which could not be managed without great difficulty,
on account of the turnings and windings which they had to pass; the
trees, hedges, and other obstacles also made the hoop upset every
moment. Added to this, the young ladies in imitation of what they had
seen their brothers do, were mischievous enough to try to take
advantage of those who played with them, and by pushing their hoops a
contrary way, to occasion those of their competitors to fall, in order
that they themselves might have a better chance of being first at the
goal.
While two of them were amusing themselves at this game, the others
having seized on a skipping-rope, made their young friends skip
alternately. The two young ladies who held the cord moved it
circuitously, but gently; a third, and sometimes several of them
jumped with their feet close together through it. Sometimes they
practised the most difficult steps which they had learned from their
dancing-master, or tried who could rise the highest from the ground in
cutting capers. The most boisterous endeavoured to imitate the boys,
and like them they asked for _vinegar_, that is the term which they
use when they want the rope to go more quickly.
When Victor and his companions returned, they were quite delighted to
find that the young ladies had been playing at their games. Victor
proposed the next day that they should all play together; but the
young ladies very properly refused. They contented themselves with
being spectators. The boys, who were some of them first-rate players
both at the hoop, and the rope, shewed considerable skill and
strength. Victor excelled in the double leaps, the chevaliers or
knights’ cross, and he even performed several triplets with infinite
grace and lightness.
The player who performed, without interruption, the greatest number of
the knights’ double crosses, won the game. The cord turned with so
much swiftness in Victor’s hands, that you could hardly believe he
held it if you had not heard it whiz in the air, for it passed between
his feet and the floor of the apartment without touching either, and
it was almost imperceptible to the sight.
When they had each amused themselves singly, as long as they liked
with the rope, they formed into groups of six or eight, to dance in
the middle of the long skipping-rope. The first who touched the rope
with his foot stopped the play; he was obliged, by way of penance, to
stand on one side, and was left out of the game till some one else had
failed in it.