and Monsieur Clapart; but
you, Oscar, what could you do? You have no means, and you must earn
some, for you must live. There are but four careers for a young man
like you,--commerce, government employment, the licensed professions, or
military service. All forms of commerce need capital, and we have none
to give you. In place of capital, a young man can only give devotion and
his capacity. But commerce also demands the utmost discretion, and your
conduct yesterday proves that you lack it. To enter a government office,
you must go through a long probation by the help of influence, and you
have just alienated the only protector that we had,--a most powerful
one. Besides, suppose you were to meet with some extraordinary help, by
which a young man makes his way promptly either in business or in
the public employ, where could you find the money to live and clothe
yourself during the time that you are learning your employment?"

Here the mother wandered, like other women, into wordy lamentation: What
should she do now to feed the family, deprived of the benefits Moreau's
stewardship had enabled him to send her from Presles? Oscar had
overthrown his benefactor's prosperity! As commerce and a government
clerkship were now impossible, there remained only the professions of
notary and lawyer, either barristers or solicitors, and sheriffs. But
for those he must study at least three years, and pay considerable sums
for entrance fees, examinations, certificates, and diplomas; and here
again the question of maintenance presented itself.

"Oscar," she said, in conclusion, "in you I had put all my pride, all my
life. In accepting for myself an unhappy old age, I fastened my eyes on
you; I saw you with the prospect of a fine career, and I imagined you
succeeding in it. That thought, that hope, gave me courage to face the
privations I have endured for six years in order to carry you through
school, where you have cost me, in spite of the scholarship, between
seven and eight hundred francs a year. Now that my hope is vanishing,
your future terrifies me. I cannot take one penny from Monsieur
Clapart's salary for my son. What can you do? You are not strong enough
to mathematics to enter any of the technical schools; and, besides,
where could I get the three thousand francs board-money which they
extract? This is life as it is, my child. You are eighteen, you are
strong. Enlist in the army; it is your only means, that I can see, to
earn you