The roads gradually improved, as the carriages drew closer to Paris, leading Mr. Darcy to note that travel in France, since his own tour thirty years before, had been materially improved through the construction of new roads, replacing the old by-ways with their rough and often steep terrain. The pretty woods on either side provided ample picturesque scenery, home as they were to a number of small huts built on wheels. Mr. Darcy stopt to enquire of a prosperous-looking peasant as to the purpose of the wheels under the constructions, which were inferior in size and condition to a dog’s kennel in England. The good man replied that the shepherd’s family followed their sheep-folds as they moved to their spring and summer pastures, the huts serving as their year-round accommodation! Elizabeth responded to her husband that the inhabitants were indeed fortunate that the area had not earthquakes, lest they find themselves in pursuit of their houses, in addition to suffering every other inconvenience.

Post-houses were not as predictable as in England. The smallest, least prepossessing inn might as likely offer superior accommodations, excellent fare, and pleasant, active hosts as the more celebrated establishments of the cities. However, they all shared one disadvantage: at every stop, the travellers were escorted to the door of the inn by troops of ragged persons of all ages and sexes, all imploring “Charité pour l’amour de Dieu!” Not content with clamouring at the door of the post-house, these industrious mendicants would accordingly follow the carriage for a remarkable distance (despite many claims of lameness), and if the coach should ascend an hill, enabling these solicitors to catch it, they importuned most persistently and disagreeably until the traveller relented and produced some trifling payment. It appeared that they all operated under the dictum, “Never lose anything for want of asking.” To complete the ensemble, even as the carriage was not yet stopt, the village forgeron would emerge from his dwelling and “discover” some loose or otherwise threatening portion of the carriage that necessitated its immediate repair. Fortunately for the Darcys, Mr. Harmon—with Georgiana’s able assistance with the French language, fluently translating the strange pronunciation of the Normans—was in every way equal to the task of disputing the spurious claims of the blacksmiths, who returned to their sheds to sulk and await less capable prey.