There are few more beautiful rides than that from Geneva to Aix-les-Bains, and, especially on the return, one is impressed with the enchanting vistas over mountain, valley, and lakes. The roads are both good and indifferent. The former in France, the latter in Switzerland, and one is again impressed with the belief that France is the land for auto touring. To the lover of flowers this section is fairy-land just now; especially is the wisteria beautiful; such masses of it over almost every cottage and church, and the terrace at the Hôtel Splendide in Aix is festooned from end to end with the dainty fragrant blossoms. Masses of lilacs bank the houses, while apple blossoms are abroad over all the land round about. Lake Bourget gleams like a vast emerald framed by the shadowy mountains, and there are some glimpses of the greater glory of the snows. The auto sings and hums and rushes down the slopes into the streets of Geneva, and swirls up before the door of the Beau-Rivage and the long tour is over. In my memory it will rank with that winter on Old Nile in a dihabiah. To-day as George came in to say goodbye and as I watched my red carriage rush off and disappear down the streets of Geneva, I felt a positive bereavement, even as though a friend had vanished forever, and truly that car has been a friend. It has carried me safely nearly seven thousand kilos. The journey has been all sunshine and pleasure; rushing over broad highways, under the shadows of stately mountains, by fair rivers, through smiling meadows; pausing here to loiter in an old château, or again to wander the streets of a mediæval city full of romance and story; yet again amidst the beauties and glories of the capital and then off to the mountains and forests; all joy, all delight, yet I do regret that old dog dead down on that long dusty highway under the shadows of the Pyrenees. INDEX Abbaye aux Dames, 151, 152 Abbeville, 164, 167 Abbey of Men, Church of the, 151 Abbey of Women, Church of the, 151, 152 Adour, the, 58 Aix, 10-16 Aix-les-Bains, 12, 242 Albigensian "heresy," the, 33 "Aliscamps," the, 21 Alphonse, Comte de Poitou, 93 Alten Schloss, the, 233 Amboise, George, Cardinal of, 155, 156 Amiens, 162-164, 169, 172 Anet, Château of, 155 Angers, 130, 138 Angers, Castle of, 14, 138 Anjou, 138 Anne of Austria, 66, 128, 191 Anne of Brittany, 128 Arbrissel, Robert of, 136 Ardennes, Wild Boar of, 211 Arles, 17-21 Armoises, Robert des, 159 Artois, Comte d', 182 Asqs, Seigneur d', 54 Automobile Club of France, 74 Auvergne, 84 Auvergne, Count of, _see_ Guy, Count of Auvergne Auxonne, 213 Aveyron, mountains of the, 172 Azay-le-Rideau, 130 Baden-Baden, 232, 233 Bagatelle, 182, 183 Ballon d'Alsace, 218 Balue, Cardinal, 118, 120, 121-123 Barry, Madame du, 129, 184 Bastille, the, 121-124 Bayard, Chevalier, 111 Bayonne, 54, 58, 69, 70 Béarn, 52 Beaucaire, 23