ld be the temple of the humbler virtues,' responded the Doctor
with a savoury gusto. 'Perhaps one of the reasons why I love my little
hamlet as I do, is that we have a similar history, she and I. Have I
told you that I was once rich?'

'I do not think so,' answered Jean-Marie. 'I do not think I should have
forgotten. I am sorry you should have lost your fortune.'

'Sorry?' cried the Doctor. 'Why, I find I have scarce begun your
education after all. Listen to me! Would you rather live in the old
Gretz or in the new, free from the alarms of war, with the green country
at the door, without noise, passports, the exactions of the soldiery, or
the jangle of the curfew-bell to send us off to bed by sundown?'

'I suppose I should prefer the new,' replied the boy.

'Precisely,' returned the Doctor; 'so do I. And, in the same way, I
prefer my present moderate fortune to my former wealth. Golden
mediocrity! cried the adorable ancients; and I subscribe to their
enthusiasm. Have I not good wine, good food, good air, the fields and
the forest for my walk, a house, an admirable wife, a boy whom I protest
I cherish like a son? Now, if I were still rich, I should indubitably
make my residence in Paris--you know Paris--Paris and Paradise are not
convertible terms. This pleasant noise of the wind streaming among
leaves changed into the grinding Babel of the street, the stupid glare of
plaster substituted for this quiet pattern of greens and greys, the
nerves shattered, the digestion falsified--picture the fall! Already you
perceive the consequences; the mind is stimulated, the heart steps to a
different measure, and the man is himself no longer. I have passionately
studied myself--the true business of philosophy. I know my character as
the musician knows the ventages of his flute. Should I return to Paris,
I should ruin myself gambling; nay, I go further--I should break the
heart of my Anastasie with infidelities.'

This was too much for Jean-Marie. That a place should so transform the
most excellent of men transcended his belief. Paris, he protested, was
even an agreeable place of residence. 'Nor when I lived in that city did
I feel much difference,' he pleaded.

'What!' cried the Doctor. 'Did you not steal when you were there?'

But the boy could never be brought to see that he had done anything wrong
when he stole. Nor, indeed, did the Doctor think he had; but that
gentleman was never very scrupulous when in