ton, "you throw it away, I suppose."

"You accuse me of restlessness? Shall I explain what I think about that?
I'm restless because of ambition; I want to reconquer an independent
position. I put all my soul into my trials, but as soon as I see there's
no future for me in that line, I give it up and go elsewhere. 'Je ne
veux pas etre rond de cuir,' breaking my back to economise sixpence a
day, and save enough after forty years to drag out the remains of an
exhausted existence. That's not in my character." This ingenious
paraphrase of the words "I soon get tired of things" he pronounced with
an air of letting Shelton into a precious secret.

"Yes; it must be hard," agreed the latter.

Ferrand shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not all butter," he replied; "one is obliged to do things that are
not too delicate. There's nothing I pride myself on but frankness."

Like a good chemist, however, he administered what Shelton could stand in
a judicious way. "Yes, yes," he seemed to say, "you'd like me to think
that you have a perfect knowledge of life: no morality, no prejudices, no
illusions; you'd like me to think that you feel yourself on an equality
with me, one human animal talking to another, without any barriers of
position, money, clothes, or the rest--'ca c'est un peu trop fort'!
You're as good an imitation as I 've come across in your class,
notwithstanding your unfortunate education, and I 'm grateful to you, but
to tell you everything, as it passes through my mind would damage my
prospects. You can hardly expect that."

In one of Shelton's old frock-coats he was impressive, with his air of
natural, almost sensitive refinement. The room looked as if it were
accustomed to him, and more amazing still was the sense of familiarity
that he inspired, as, though he were a part of Shelton's soul. It came
as a shock to realise that this young foreign vagabond had taken such a
place within his thoughts. The pose of his limbs and head, irregular but
not ungraceful; his disillusioned lips; the rings of smoke that issued
from them--all signified rebellion, and the overthrow of law and order.
His thin, lopsided nose, the rapid glances of his goggling, prominent
eyes, were subtlety itself; he stood for discontent with the accepted.

"How do I live when I am on the tramp?" he said, "well, there are the
consuls. The system is not delicate, but when it's a question of
starving, much is permissible; besides, these gentleme