By noon the morning's work is over, including
the consumption of a cup of soup, the ablution without which no true
believer is happy, and the obligations of a Frankish toilet. Then comes
a stroll to the fencing-school, kept by an excellent broadswordsman, and
old German trooper. For an hour Captain and Mrs. Burton fence in the
school, if the weather be cold; if it be warm, they make for the water,
and often swim for a couple of hours.
"Then comes a spell of work at the Consulate. 'I have my Consulate,' the
chief explains, 'in the heart of the town. I do not want my Jack Tar in
my sanctum; and when he wants me he has generally been on the spree, and
got into trouble.' While the husband is engaged in his official duties,
the wife is abroad promoting a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, a necessary institution in southern countries, where, on the
purely gratuitous hypothesis that the so-called lower animals have no
soul, the utmost brutality is shown in the treatment of them. 'You
see,' remarks our host, 'that my wife and I are like an elder and younger
living _en garcon_. We divide the work. I take all the hard and the
scientific part, and make her do all the rest. When we have worked all
day, and have said all we have to say to each other, we want relaxation.
To that end we have formed a little "Mess" with fifteen friends at the
_table d'hote_ of the Hotel de la Ville, where we get a good dinner and
a pint of the country wine made on the hillside for a florin and a half.
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