“I have far less difficulty, Lizzy, believing women capable of any occupation that does not depend upon simple, brute strength, than believing men—certainly the men we have observed in such an employment—capable of properly performing any task usually ascribed to the domestic sphere, such as the utility of the male sex as house-keepers. Under the latter arrangement, the rooms are invariably filthy, the beds and other furnishings untidy, and the men responsible for the dirt and disorder appear, universally, to have a ‘live and let live’ principle with respect to the armies of vermin in residence.”

“To be sure,” continued Elizabeth, “the condition of the rooms is positively at variance with any notion of real cleanliness and comfort. However, I would more willingly excuse their inattention to the plight of the rooms, were I spared the pointless intrusion by the hommes de chambre, who seem to regard it as their appointed duty to drift in and out of our rooms at all hours, to little or no effect but the discomfiture of those who are their guests.”

Georgiana simply wished herself back in Derbyshire.

CHAP. 7.

THE DARCYS TRAVELLED to the southwest environs of Bordeaux, touring the seaside and the vineyards before turning eastward, passing through the châteaux of d’Yquem and de Roquetaillade, and the towns of Bergerac, Tulle, Vichy, and Lyon, stopping again at the latter for several days, before continuing onto Geneva. The descent into Bordeaux was magnificent: the river made a broad, wide bend, across which rose the spires of the cathedral. The Garonne was as wide again as the Thames, and the opposite bank of this splendid crescent was densely framed by woods, vineyards, and villas. Construction was begun for a bridge of immense length spanning this section of the river—which was later learnt to have been the result of a contest as to whether such a structure could even be devised, or if the Garonne would continue to flow unsurmounted, as it had for centuries innumerable. There were the beginnings of buildings very grand in scale along the Quai des Chartrons, and the Chapeau-Rouge was so complete as to justly deserve the appellation as the finest street in Europe, with its theatre and the exchange. Indeed, everything in Bordeaux was built on a grand scale: elegant promenades and imposing public buildings were regular sights throughout the city. The cathedral was a superb example of the Gothic, and was, as Abbeville, the construction of the English during the time they ruled the country.