on the results
he obtained from them. He said that he worked with prudent energy. "The
earth," he said, "is like women. The earth does not wish one to treat
it with either timidity or brutality." The Ave Maria rang in all
the campaniles, seeming to make of the sky an immense instrument of
religious music. "Darling," said Miss Bell, "do you observe that the air
of Florence is made sonorous and silvery at night by the sound of the
bells?"

"It is singular," said Choulette, "we have the air of people who are
waiting for something."

Vivian Bell replied that they were waiting for M. Dechartre. He was a
little late; she feared he had missed the train.

Choulette approached Madame Marmet, and said, gravely "Madame Marmet,
is it possible for you to look at a door--a simple, painted, wooden
door like yours, I suppose, or like mine, or like this one, or like any
other--without being terror-stricken at the thought of the visitor who
might, at any moment, come in? The door of one's room, Madame Marmet,
opens on the infinite. Have you ever thought of that? Does one ever
know the true name of the man or woman, who, under a human guise, with a
known face, in ordinary clothes, comes into one's house?"

He added that when he was closeted in his room he could not look at the
door without feeling his hair stand on end. But Madame Marmet saw the
doors of her rooms open without fear. She knew the name of every one who
came to see her--charming persons.

Choulette looked at her sadly, and said, shaking his head: "Madame
Marmet, those whom you call by their terrestrial names have other names
which you do not know, and which are their real names."

Madame Martin asked Choulette if he thought that misfortune needed to
cross the threshold in order to enter one's life.

"Misfortune is ingenious and subtle. It comes by the window, it goes
through walls. It does not always show itself, but it is always there.
The poor doors are innocent of the coming of that unwelcome visitor."

Choulette warned Madame Martin severely that she should not call
misfortune an unwelcome visitor.

"Misfortune is our greatest master and our best friend. Misfortune
teaches us the meaning of life. Madame, when you suffer, you know what
you must know; you believe what you must believe; you do what you must
do; you are what you must be. And you shall have joy, which pleasure
expels. True joy is timid, and does not find pleasure among a
multitude."

Prince Alber