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I understood immediately that this room, which was the one formerly occupied
by the now absent son, had been given to me as the most comfortable in the
house.

I then took a fancy, while Maria was busily engaged in making the fire, and
preparing warm water, to take an inventory of the furniture of my room, thinking
it might give me some idea of the character of him who formerly occupied it.

From the project, I proceeded immediately to the execution of my plan, by
turning on my left heel, and thus making a circular movement round my own
centre, which permitted me to take a view of all the articles by which I was
surrounded.

The furniture was quite modern, a circumstance which in this part of the
island, where civilization had not yet reached, I considered an evidence of a
refined and elegant taste. It consisted of an iron bedstead, provided with three
mattresses and a pillow, of a divan, four arm-chairs, six chairs, two book-cases
and a writing-desk, all in mahogany, and evidently proceeding from the shop of
the first cabinet-maker of Ajaccio.

The divan, the armchairs and chairs, were covered with flower-printed calico,
curtains of the same material surrounded the bed and shaded the windows.

I had proceeded thus far with my inventory, when Maria left the room, and
thus permitted me to go further in my investigation.

I opened the library, and found there a collection of all our great poets:
Corneille, Racine, Molière, Lafontaine, Ronsard, Victor Hugo and Lamartine; our
historians, Mézeray, Chateaubriand, A. Thierry; our scientific men, Cuvier,
Beudant, Elias de Beaumont; lastly, some volumes of novels, amongst which I
discovered, with a certain pride, my Impressions de Voyage.

The keys were left on the drawers of the writing desk; I opened one of them.

It contained some manuscripts, fragments of a history of Corsica, a sketch on
the means of abolishing the custom of the vendetta, some French verses, and a
few Italian sonnets.

This was all I wanted, and I had the presumption to think that I needed
nothing more to form a correct opinion of Mons. Louis de Franchi’s character.

I fancied he must of course be a peaceable, studious young man, and an
admirer of French improvements and reform.

I then understood his reasons for going to Paris to study the law. There was
no doubt a project of civilization in this pursuit.

These reflections I made while I was dressing. My toilette, as I had said to
Madame de Franchi, though not lacking the picturesque, required some apology. It
consisted of a black velvet jacket, open at the seams of the sleeves, in order
to admit the air during the hottest part of the day, and through which crevàs é
l’Espagnole appeared a striped silk shirt; a similar pair of breeches; Spanish
spatterdashes covering the leg from the knee down to the foot, open at the side,
and embroidered in silk of various colors, and a felt hat completed my toilette,
the latter taking almost any form that I might give it, but most particularly
that of a sombrero.

I was just putting a finish to this dress, which I recommend to travelers as
the most comfortable that I know of, when my door opened, and the same man who
had received me appeared. He came to inform me that his young master, Signor
Lucien de Franchi, had just arrived, and requested the honor of welcoming me,
provided I was visible.

I told him that I was ready to receive Signor Lucien de Franchi, and that all
the honor of his visit would be conferred on me.

A moment after, I heard some one rapidly mounting the stairs, and my host
immediately made his appearance.