q and a Cerizet."

"I am none the less grateful to you, monsieur," said la Peyrade; "and if
I had known you were that generous protector, whom I was never able to
discover, I should have been the first to seek occasion to meet you and
to thank you."

"A truce to compliments," said du Portail; "and, to come at once to the
serious side of our present conference, what should you say if I told
you that this uncle, whose protection and assistance you came to Paris
to obtain, was an agent of that occult power which has always been the
theme of feeble ridicule and the object of silly prejudice?"

"I do not seize your meaning," said la Peyrade, with uneasy curiosity;
"may I ask you to be more precise?"

"For example, I will suppose," continued du Portail, "that your uncle,
if still living, were to say to you to-day: 'You are seeking fortune and
influence, my good nephew; you want to rise above the crowd and to play
your part in all the great events of your time; you want employment
for a keen, active mind, full of resources, and slightly inclined to
intrigue; in short, you long to exert in some upper and elegant sphere
that force of will and subtlety which at present you are wasting in
the silly and useless manipulation of the most barren and tough-skinned
animal on earth, to wit: a bourgeois. Well, then, lower your head, my
fine nephew; enter with me through the little door which I will open to
you; it gives admittance to a great house, often maligned, but better
far than its reputation. That threshold once crossed, you can rise to
the height of your natural genius, whatever its spark may be. Statesmen,
kings even, will admit you to their most secret thoughts; you will be
their occult collaborator, and none of the joys which money and the
highest powers can bestow upon a man will be lacking to you."

"But, monsieur," objected la Peyrade, "without venturing to understand
you, I must remark that my uncle died so poor, you tell me, that public
charity buried him."

"Your uncle," replied du Portail, "was a man of rare talent, but he had
a certain weak side in his nature which compromised his career. He was
eager for pleasure, a spendthrift, thoughtless for the future; he wanted
also to taste those joys that are meant for the common run of men,
but which for great, exceptional vocations are the worst of snares and
impediments: I mean the joys of family. He had a daughter whom he madly
loved, and it was through her that his te