The Elm-tree on the Mall

'The Elm-tree on the Mall' is a satire-comedy novel by Anatole France. The story revolves around conversations that occur underneath the elm tree, and begins with the readers's introduction to M. Lantaigne, the principal of the high seminary, who was working in his study. The whitewashed walls of the space, which were three parts covered by deal shelves loaded with the dark bindings of his working library, the whole of Migne's Patrologie, and cheap editions of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Baronius, and Bossuet. A Virgin in the manner of Mignard surmounted the door, with a dusty sprig of box sticking out of the old gilt frame. Uninviting horsehair chairs stood on the red tiles in front of the windows, through which the stale smell of the refectory ascended to the cotton window-curtains.