t stony rind,--yet every where
and always, throughout my wild career, has it been the last
sought--but surest, sweetest, and truest of devoted friends!

_Aide toi, et Dieu t'aidera!_--was my motto from that moment. For
years it was the first lesson of intellectual power and self-reliance
that had checkered a life of outlawry, in which adventurous impatience
preferred the gambling risks of fortune to the slow accretions of
regular toil. I was a schoolmaster!

Madame Sorret's plan was perfectly successful. In less than a week I
was installed in her chamber, with a class formed of my lady's lads, a
son and friend of my lawyer, and a couple of sons of officers in the
chateau; the whole producing a monthly income of fifty francs. As I
assumed my vocation with the spirit of a needy professor, I gained the
good will of all the parents by assiduous instruction of their
children. Gradually I extended the sphere of my usefulness, by adding
penmanship to my other branches of tuition; and so well did I please
the parents, that they volunteered a stipend of eighteen _francs_
more.

I would not dare affirm, that my pupils made extraordinary progress;
yet I am sure the children not only acquired cleverly, but loved me as
a companion. My scheme of instruction was not modelled upon that of
other pedagogues; for I simply contented myself, in the small class,
with reasoning out each lesson thoroughly, and never allowing the boys
to depart till they comprehended every part of their task. After this,
it was my habit to engage their interest _in language_, by familiar
dialogues, which taught them the names of furniture, apparel,
instruments, implements, animals, occupations, trades; and thus I led
them insensibly from the most simple nomenclature to the most
abstract. I deprived the interview, as much as I could, of task-like
formality; and invariably closed the school with a story from my
travels or adventures. I may not have ripened my scholars into
classical Anglo-Saxons, but I have the happiness to know that I earned
an honest living, supported my companions, and obtained the regard of
my pupils to such a degree, that the little band accompanied me with
tears to the ship, when, long afterwards, I was sent a happy exile
from France.

CHAPTER XLVII.

I have said that our genteel felon was not only refined in manners but
shy towards his new companions; nor, for several weeks, could all our
efforts rub off his reserve. I was n