er to Canalis; his eyes,
fixed sorrowfully on Modeste, were full of deep meditation. The Duc
d'Herouville took up Butscha's argument and reproduced it with much
intelligence, saying finally that the ecstasies of Saint-Theresa were
far superior to the creations of Lord Byron.

"Oh, Monsieur le duc," exclaimed Modeste, "hers was a purely personal
poetry, whereas the genius of Lord Byron and Moliere benefit the world."

"How do you square that opinion with those of Monsieur le baron?" cried
Charles Mignon, quickly. "Now you are insisting that genius must be
useful, and benefit the world as though it were cotton,--but perhaps you
think logic as antediluvian as your poor old father."

Butscha, La Briere, and Madame Latournelle exchanged glances that were
more than half derisive, and drove Modeste to a pitch of irritation that
kept her silent for a moment.

"Mademoiselle, do not mind them," said Canalis, smiling upon her, "we
are neither beaten, nor caught in a contradiction. Every work of art,
let it be in literature, music, painting, sculpture, or architecture,
implies a positive social utility, equal to that of all other commercial
products. Art is pre-eminently commerce; presupposes it, in short. An
author pockets ten thousand francs for his book; the making of books
means the manufactory of paper, a foundry, a printing-office, a
bookseller,--in other words, the employment of thousands of men. The
execution of a symphony of Beethoven or an opera by Rossini requires
human arms and machinery and manufactures. The cost of a monument is
an almost brutal case in point. In short, I may say that the works of
genius have an extremely costly basis and are, necessarily, useful to
the workingman."

Astride of that theme, Canalis spoke for some minutes with a fine luxury
of metaphor, and much inward complacency as to his phrases; but it
happened with him, as with many another great speaker, that he found
himself at last at the point from which the conversation started, and in
full agreement with La Briere without perceiving it.

"I see with much pleasure, my dear baron," said the little duke, slyly,
"that you will make an admirable constitutional minister."

"Oh!" said Canalis, with the gesture of a great man, "what is the use
of all these discussions? What do they prove?--the eternal verity of one
axiom: All things are true, all things are false. Moral truths as well
as human beings change their aspect according to their surr