are the back numbers of _Le Vie Parisienne_" said M. Le Mesge
to me. "Amuse yourself with them, if you like, while I talk to your
friend."

"Sir," I replied brusquely, "it is true that I never studied with
Berlioux. Nevertheless, you must allow me to listen to your
conversation: I shall hope to find something in it to amuse me."

"As you wish," said the little old man.

We settled ourselves comfortably. M. Le Mesge sat down before the
desk, shot his cuffs, and commenced as follows:

"However much, gentlemen, I prize complete objectivity in matters of
erudition, I cannot utterly detach my own history from that of the
last descendant of Clito and Neptune.

"I am the creation of my own efforts. From my childhood, the
prodigious impulse given to the science of history by the nineteenth
century has affected me. I saw where my way led. I have followed it,
in spite of everything.

"In spite of everything, everything--I mean it literally. With no
other resources than my own work and merit, I was received as Fellow
of History and Geography at the examination of 1880. A great
examination! Among the thirteen who were accepted there were names
which have since become illustrious: Julian, Bourgeois, Auerbach.... I
do not envy my colleagues on the summits of their official honors; I
read their works with commiseration; and the pitiful errors to which
they are condemned by the insufficiency of their documents would amply
counterbalance my chagrin and fill me with ironic joy, had I not been
raised long since above the satisfaction of self-love.

"When I was Professor at the Lycee du Parc at Lyons. I knew Berlioux
and followed eagerly his works on African History. I had, at that
time, a very original idea for my doctor's thesis. I was going to
establish a parallel between the Berber heroine of the seventh
century, who struggled against the Arab invader, Kahena, and the
French heroine, Joan of Arc, who struggled against the English
invader. I proposed to the _Faculte des Lettres_ at Paris this title
for my thesis: _Joan of Arc and the Tuareg_. This simple announcement
gave rise to a perfect outcry in learned circles, a furor of
ridicule. My friends warned me discreetly. I refused to believe them.
Finally I was forced to believe when my rector summoned me before him
and, after manifesting an astonishing interest in my health, asked
whether I should object to taking two years' leave on half pay. I
refused indignantly. The rector