re Anastasie. 'How hot and heavy is the evening, to be sure! I
have always had a fancy to be a fish in summer, Jean-Marie, here in the
Loing beside Gretz. I should lie under a water-lily and listen to the
bells, which must sound most delicately down below. That would be a
life--do you not think so too?'

'Yes,' said Jean-Marie.

'Thank God you have imagination!' cried the Doctor, embracing the boy
with his usual effusive warmth, though it was a proceeding that seemed to
disconcert the sufferer almost as much as if he had been an English
schoolboy of the same age. 'And now,' he added, 'I will take you to my
wife.'

Madame Desprez sat in the dining-room in a cool wrapper. All the blinds
were down, and the tile floor had been recently sprinkled with water; her
eyes were half shut, but she affected to be reading a novel as the they
entered. Though she was a bustling woman, she enjoyed repose between
whiles and had a remarkable appetite for sleep.

The Doctor went through a solemn form of introduction, adding, for the
benefit of both parties, 'You must try to like each other for my sake.'

'He is very pretty,' said Anastasie. 'Will you kiss me, my pretty little
fellow?'

The Doctor was furious, and dragged her into the passage. 'Are you a
fool, Anastasie?' he said. 'What is all this I hear about the tact of
women? Heaven knows, I have not met with it in my experience. You
address my little philosopher as if he were an infant. He must be spoken
to with more respect, I tell you; he must not be kissed and
Georgy-porgy'd like an ordinary child.'

'I only did it to please you, I am sure,' replied Anastasie; 'but I will
try to do better.'

The Doctor apologised for his warmth. 'But I do wish him,' he continued,
'to feel at home among us. And really your conduct was so idiotic, my
cherished one, and so utterly and distantly out of place, that a saint
might have been pardoned a little vehemence in disapproval. Do, do
try--if it is possible for a woman to understand young people--but of
course it is not, and I waste my breath. Hold your tongue as much as
possible at least, and observe my conduct narrowly; it will serve you for
a model.'

Anastasie did as she was bidden, and considered the Doctor's behaviour.
She observed that he embraced the boy three times in the course of the
evening, and managed generally to confound and abash the little fellow
out of speech and appetite. But she had the true womanly h