'If these ladies,' he said in country fashion, thus addressing ourselves--if these ladies will let me drive them to Millau, they can have my most comfortable carriage, as the roads are excellent. They can sleep at a good auberge on the way. From Millau it is only five hours by railway to Mende, and from Mende only a four hours' drive to St. Énimie.' We joyfully hailed the proposal. It seemed a roundabout way to St. Énimie, but it did seem a way; and, at any rate, if we were going back, we were not going back to the precise point from which we had started. My companion still persisted in the melancholy conviction that we should never get to the Causses, but I comforted her with the observation that if we did not get to the Causses, we should at all events get somewhere. Before starting, our host presented us with a letter of introduction to the master of the auberge at our halting-place for the night--the little village of Nant, half-way between Le Vigan and Millau. 'It is only an auberge,' he said apologetically; 'you must not expect much. But the patron is a friend of mine; he will do his very best for you after what I have written.' The letter of introduction being, of course, an open one, we read it. 'Permit me to commend to your attentive care,' wrote the royal cook, 'two respectable ladies----' Here amusement got the better of curiosity; we laid down the missive and had a hearty laugh over what seemed at best a strange, almost ludicrous, compliment. Surely he might have substituted an adjective of a more flattering nature, accorded us some more winning attribute--charming, amiable, learned. Could we lay claim to none of these? I summed up the matter in our favour, after all. Such a testimony coming from a courtier, as the chef of a king's cuisine must be called, was, perhaps, the very highest he felt able to give; and to be respectable means more than meets the ear. Does not La Bruyère say: 'Un homme de bien est respectable par lui-même et indépendamment de tous les dehors'? He had, perhaps, that axiom in his mind.