In and out of Three Normady Inns   By: Anna Bowman Dodd

IN AND OUT OF THREE NORMANDY INNS

BY

ANNA BOWMAN DODD

[Illustration: GUILLAUME LE CONQUERANT DIVES]

TO EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.

My Dear Mr. Stedman:

To this little company of Norman men and women, you will, I know, extend a kindly greeting, if only because of their nationality. To your courtesy, possibly, you will add the leaven of interest, when you perceive as you must that their qualities are all their own, their defects being due solely to my own imperfect presentment.

With sincere esteem ,

ANNA BOWMAN DODD.

New York .

CONTENTS.

VILLERVILLE.

I. A LANDING ON THE COAST OF FRANCE II. A SPRING DRIVE III. FROM AN INN WINDOW IV. OUT ON A MUSSEL BED V. THE VILLAGE VI. A PAGAN COBBLER VII. SOME NORMAN LANDLADIES VIII. THE QUARTIER LATIN ON THE BEACH IX. A NORMAN HOUSEHOLD X. ERNESTINE

ALONG AN OLD POST ROAD.

XI. TO AN OLD MANOIR XII. A NORMAN CURE XIII. HONFLEUR NEW AND OLD

DIVES.

XIV. A COAST DRIVE XV. GUILLAUME LE CONQUERANT XVI. THE GREEN BENCH XVII. THE WORLD THAT CAME TO DIVES XVIII. THE CONVERSATION OF PATRIOTS XIX. IN LA CHAMBRE DES MARMOUSETS

TWO BANQUETS AT DIVES.

XX. A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY REVIVAL XXI. THE AFTER DINNER TALK OF THREE GREAT LADIES XXII. A NINETEENTH CENTURY BREAKFAST

A LITTLE JOURNEY ALONG THE COAST.

XXIII. A NIGHT IN A CAEN ATTIC XXIV. A DAY AT BAYEUX AND ST. LO XXV. A DINNER AT COUTANCES XXVI. A SCENE IN A NORMAN COURT XXVII. THE FETE DIEU A JUNE CHRISTMAS XXVIII. BY LAND TO MONT ST. MICHEL

MONT ST. MICHEL.

XXIX. BY SEA TO THE POULARD INN XXX. THE PILGRIMS AND THE SHRINE AN HISTORICAL OMELETTE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

GUILLAUME LE CONQUERANT DIVES A VILLAGE STREET VILLERVILLE ON THE BEACH VILLERVILLE A SALE OF MUSSELS VILLERVILLE A VILLERVILLE FISH WIFE A DEPARTURE VILLERVILLE THE INN AT DIVES GUILLAUME LE CONQUERANT CHAMBRE DE LA PUCELLE DIVES CHAMBRE DES MARMOUSETS DIVES MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ CHAMBRE DE LA PUCELLE DIVES CHATEAU FONTAINE LE HENRI, NEAR CAEN AN EXCITING MOMENT A COUTANCES INTERIOR A STREET IN COUTANCES EGLISE SAINT PIERRE MONT SAINT MICHEL MONT SAINT MICHEL SNAIL GATHERERS

VILLERVILLE.

AN INN BY THE SEA.

CHAPTER I.

A LANDING ON THE COAST OF FRANCE.

Narrow streets with sinuous curves; dwarfed houses with minute shops protruding on inch wide sidewalks; a tiny casino perched like a bird cage on a tiny scaffolding; bath houses dumped on the beach; fishing smacks drawn up along the shore like so many Greek galleys; and, fringing the cliffs the encroachment of the nineteenth century a row of fantastic sea side villas.

This was Villerville.

Over an arch of roses; across a broad line of olives, hawthorns, laburnums, and syringas, straight out to sea

This was the view from our windows.

Our inn was bounded by the sea on one side, and on the other by a narrow village street. The distance between good and evil has been known to be quite as short as that which lay between these two thoroughfares. It was only a matter of a strip of land, an edge of cliff, and a shed of a house bearing the proud title of Hôtel sur Mer.

Two nights before, our arrival had made quite a stir in the village streets. The inn had given us a characteristic French welcome; its eye had measured us before it had extended its hand. Before reaching the inn and the village, however, we had already tasted of the flavor of a genuine Norman welcome. Our experience in adventure had begun on the Havre quays.

Our expedition could hardly be looked upon as perilous; yet it was one that, from the first, evidently appealed to the French imagination; half Havre was hanging over the stone wharves to see us start.

" Dame , only English women are up to that!" for all the world is English, in French eyes, when an adventurous folly is to be committed.