a very low ebb, I started in search of work."

Paul smiled. He, too, remembered _his_ first day in Paris. He was
twenty-two years of age, and had forty francs in his pocket.

"I wanted to make money--for I felt I needed it--to enable me to pursue
my studies. A stout man was seated near me at breakfast, and to him I
addressed myself.

"'Look here,' said I, 'I am thirteen, and much stronger than I look. I
can read and write. Tell me how I can earn a living.'

"He looked steadily at me, and in a rough voice answered, 'Go to the
market to-morrow morning, and try if one of the master masons, who are
on the lookout for hands, will employ you.'"

"And you went?"

"I did; and was eagerly watching the head masons, when I perceived my
stout friend coming toward me.

"'I like the looks of you, my lad,' he said; 'I am an ornamental
sculptor. Do you care to learn my trade?'

"When I heard this proposal, it seemed as if Paradise was opening before
me, and I agreed with enthusiasm."

"And how about your painting?"

"That came later on. I worked hard at it in all my hours of leisure. I
attended the evening schools, and worked steadily at my art and other
branches of education. It was a very long time before I ventured to
indulge in a glass of beer. 'No, no, Andre,' I would say to myself,
'beer costs six sous; lay the money by.' Finally, when I was earning
from eighty to a hundred francs a week, I was able to give more time to
the brush."

The recital of this life of toil and self-denial, so different from his
own selfish and idle career, was inexpressibly mortifying to Paul; but
he felt that he was called upon to say something.

"When one has talents like yours," said he, "success follows as a matter
of course."

He rose to his feet, and affected to examine the sketches on the walls,
though his attention was attracted to the covered picture on the easel.
He remembered what the garrulous old portress had said about the veiled
lady who sometimes visited the painter, and that there had been some
delay in admitting him when he first knocked. Then he considered, for
whom had the painter dressed himself with such care? and why had he
requested him not to smoke? From all these facts Paul came to the
conclusion that Andre was expecting the lady's visit, and that the
veiled picture was her portrait. He therefore determined to see it;
and with this end in view, he walked round the studio, admiring all the
paintings on the walls,