t
delay on the books he was giving him to bind, and walked out of
the shop. After the bookbinder had seen him to his carriage:

"Jean, my boy," said he, "that is Monsieur Bargemont; I have
spoken to him about you and you have heard what he had to say;
he is going to help you to get into the Treasury Office, where
he holds a high post. You understand what he told you about the
examinations; you know more about such things, praise God! than
I do. I am only an ignoramus, my lad, but I am your father. Now
listen; I want to have a word of explanation with you, so that
from this day on till I go to where your dear mother is we can
look each other calmly in the face and understand one another
at the first glance. Your mother loved you right well, Jean.
There's not a gold mine in the world could give a notion of the
wealth of affection that woman possessed. From the first moment
you saw the light, she lived, so to say, more in you than in
herself. Her love was stronger than she could bear. Well, well,
she is dead. It was nobody's fault."

The old man turned his eyes involuntarily towards the darkest
corner of the shop, and Jean, looking in the same direction,
caught sight of the sharp angles of the hand-press in the gloom.

Monsieur Servien went on:

"On her death-bed your mother asked me to make an educated man
of you, for well she knew that education is the key that opens
every door.

"I have done what she wished. She was no longer with us, Jean,
and when a voice comes back to you from the grave and bids you do
a thing 'that a blessing may come,' why, one must needs obey. I
did my best; and no doubt God was with me, for I have succeeded.
You have your education; so far so good, but we must not have
a blessing turn into a curse. And idleness is a curse. I have
worked like a packhorse, and given many a hard pull at the collar,
in harness from morning to night. I remember in particular one
lot of cloth covers for the firm of Pigoreau that kept me on
the job for thirty-six hours running. And then there was the
year when your examination fees had to be paid and I accepted
an order in the English style; it was a terrible bit of work,
for it's not in my way at all, and at my time of life a man is
not good at new methods. They wanted a light sort of binding,
with flexible boards as flimsy as paper almost. I shed tears
over it, but I learned the trick! Ah! it is a famous tool, is a
workman's hand! But an educated man's brain