CANNES, _February 21, 1860_.
Two of my friends have been visiting me, and my duties of guide, which
have dragged me into several long excursions, have left me no leisure to
reply to you promptly. Besides, it was only day before yesterday that I
heard from my cousin about the Byzantine clasps. I send you her literal
opinion. She thinks they are charming, too charming for her, and much
too young. Nevertheless, for fear that her criticism has been too
severe, she adds that she has just ordered a new gown expressly to wear
with the clasps. If you are not satisfied with your success, you are
difficult to please.
I am still about the same--that is, very far from well. On the one hand,
a cold; on the other, a pain in the heart, of rheumatic variety, which
is extremely uncomfortable and strange, for it does not prevent me from
walking, and causes me suffering only when I sit down. This is what I
endure when I draw after sunset on the sea-shore.
The weather just now is not fine. The sun shines, but the air is
chilly, and the mornings and evenings are sometimes most unpleasant, on
account of the wind blowing from the Alps. Never before have I seen them
so covered with snow, from base to summit. Snow fell this morning on the
Estérel mountain, and a few flakes even on the square in front of my
windows. This is something unheard of in Cannes, which even the oldest
inhabitants can not remember having seen before. My only consolation is
the thought that you in the north are much worse off. The newspapers
make my teeth chatter with their accounts of ten degrees below zero,
three feet of snow in Lyons, in Valence, and so forth. Nevertheless, I
must leave my oasis and go to shiver in Paris.
I am thinking of starting next week, and as I am obliged to stop on the
way to examine some monuments, I shall not reach Paris in time for the
Imperial Assembly, which no doubt will lose much of its interest on
account of my absence. So far as I can now tell, I shall arrive the 3d
or 4th of March, and shall hope to find you in good health. I shall
welcome you once more with great joy, so you may expect it.
Write to me at Marseilles, to be called for. It is probable that I shall
go to Nice for a day or two, to form an opinion of an annexation, and
then return to pack my trunks. You have not sent me your account, which
I fear is a formidable one. Whatever the material of the clasps,
apparently they are not cheap. I hope, however, to bring back money
enough to pay the bill without the necessity of selling my books.
By the way, have you not my copy of the _Voyage en Asie_, by M. de
Gobineau? I looked for it here in vain the other day. If you have it,
keep it for me.
I took my friends, day before yesterday, to the _pont de Gardonne_. It
is a natural bridge uniting some of the rocks on a point of the Estérel.
Through a small doorway you enter a grotto, from which you emerge by
another door which opens directly on the sea. On this day the sea was
wild and angry, and the grotto seemed to be a boiling caldron. The
sailors had not dared to venture within, and we had to content ourselves
with going around the abyss. It was wonderfully beautiful with its color
and movement.
Good-bye. Keep well, and do not go out too much at night.