A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy

The next morning—a Sunday, Yorick notices—he dresses in a new, impressive outfit and now possesses a “look of festivity in everything about him” (58). The reason for the outfit–and the hesitancy the night before, Yorick realizes— is that La Fleur would like to take the day off. La Fleur has a date to attend, so Yorick grants him his wish.

When La Fleur leaves, Yorick passes the time by entertaining himself in his room. He writes letters to his friends, including Eliza. He spends time trying to translate a fragment of a page that he finds in his room, but struggles to understand the archaic French.

Eventually, he translates the text and discovers that it is a story about a notary and his wife. It describes Paris and, in particular, the Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge across the River Seine. The notary is walking through a windy Paris when he is called into the home of a gentleman who has fallen on hard times; the notary is asked to draw up a will. As the gentleman begins to tell his story, one which “will rouse up every affection in nature” (62), Yorick reaches the end of the scrap of parchment and askes the returning La Fleur where the rest of it has gone.