[Illustration: WINDOWS OF THE HÔTEL VAULUISANT] [Illustration: HÔTEL VAULUISANT] _Before leaving, take a few steps up the Rue Saint-Thibaut_ to glance at the "+Hôtel-Dieu+," the former palace of the Countesses of Blois and of Champagne. In the vestibule (view below), on the left is a Renaissance reredos in stone. The donatrice (the wife of a bailiff of Provins) is represented in the central panel kneeling to the Virgin. The vaulted hall, which follows, is very large, and beneath is a crypt of the same dimensions. _This brief visit to Provins and its curiosities being over, regain the hotel for dinner and bed by taking the Rue du Val, the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, and the Rue de la Cordonnerie. Turn to the right at Saint-Ayoul into the Rue Edmond-Nocard continued by the Rue Victor-Arnoul where stands the hotel._ [Illustration: VESTIBULE OF THE HÔTEL-DIEU] _Next morning in leaving Provins make for the Place Saint-Ayoul, and turn to the right into the Rue Abailard which skirts the church. Here take the Rue Courloison on the left. After crossing the Courloison Bridge, turn to the left into D. 4, which climbs in zig-zags the slope of the hill to the north of Provins. We entered the town by this same road._ [Illustration: REREDOS HÔTEL-DIEU] _During the morning we shall visit the field of operations of the Fifth French Army and arrive at Sézanne for lunch._ VISIT TO THE FIELD OF OPERATIONS OF THE FIFTH & NINTH FRENCH ARMIES FROM PROVINS TO CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE =FROM PROVINS TO SÉZANNE= (80 km.) (See map inserted between pp. 116-117) +Via Voulton, Augers, Montceaux, Courgiveaux, Esternay, Champguyon, Charleville, and La Villeneuve.+ [Illustration: VOULTON CHURCH] _At the top of the zig-zag hill at the exit of Provins is a fork in the road. Turn to the right; then take, on the left, the road not lined with trees_ (G. C. 71) _going to =Voulton= (9 km.)._ On the right of the road, in the village, is the church (historical monument) which dates from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The interior is worth a visit as the photographs opposite indicate. If the door of the church is locked, ask the "curé" for the key. (The "presbytère" (rectory) is the house with a little garden before it, lying to the left front of the church.) When the battle of the Marne began on the morning of September 6 the 18th Corps was at Voulton and to the east of this village. [Illustration: NAVE OF VOULTON CHURCH] _After Voulton, cross through =Rupéreux=, when =Augers= may be seen in_ the distance, with its much damaged +CHURCH+ (photograph p. 148). The heights which formed the principal German position shut in the horizon. The task of the left of the 18th French Corps was to push back the advance-guards of the Third German Corps between Voulton and Augers. On the evening of the 6th, the French camped round Augers. [Illustration: CAPITAL IN VOULTON CHURCH]