which was launched from the landing-stage to the side of the miniature steam-packet, and disappeared round a corner of the rue de Honfleur. I never saw her again and shall never see her again, probably, except in the valley of Jehoshaphat; but, whether I see her again, there or elsewhere--in this world, which seems to me almost impossible, or in the other, which seems to me almost improbable--I will guarantee that I shall recognise her at the first glance. We were hardly at Honfleur before we were making inquiries as to the best means of being transported to Trouville. There were two ways of going, by land or by sea. By land they offered us a wretched wagon and two bad horses for twenty francs, and we should travel along a bad road, taking five hours to reach Trouville. Going by sea, with the outgoing tide, it would take two hours, in a pretty barque rowed by four vigorous oarsmen; a picturesque voyage along the coast, where I should see great quantities of birds, such as sea-mews, gulls and divers, on the right the infinite ocean, on the left immense cliffs. Then if the wind was good--and it could not fail to be favourable, sailors never doubt that!--it would only take two hours to cross. It was true that, if the wind was unfavourable, we should have to take to oars, and should not arrive till goodness knows when. Furthermore, they asked twelve francs instead of twenty. Happily my travelling companion--for I have forgotten to say that I had a travelling companion--was one of the most economical women I have ever met; although she had been very sick in crossing from Havre to Honfleur, this saving of eight francs appealed to her, and as I had gallantly left the choice of the two means of transport to her she decided on the boat. Two hours later we left Honfleur as soon as the tide began to turn. [1] Young workman of the Parisian faubourgs. CHAPTER XII Appearance of Trouville--Mother Oseraie--How people are accommodated at Trouville when they are married--The price of painters and of the community of martyrs--Mother Oseraie's acquaintances--How she had saved the life of Huet, the landscape painter--My room and my neighbour's--A twenty-franc dinner for fifty sous--A walk by the seashore--Heroic resolution