snows whitened the roof, followed by the fierce
winds of March; and finally a new spring, with its lilacs and violets,
gladdened the hearts of the inmates of the cottage. Nothing was changed
there. D'Argenton, perhaps, had two or three new symptoms, dignified
by Doctor Hirsch with singular names. Charlotte was as totally without
salient characteristics, as pretty and sentimental, as she had always
been. Jack had grown and developed amazingly, and having studied
industriously, knew quite as much as other boys of his age.

"Send him to school now," said Doctor Rivals to his mother, "and I
answer for his making a figure."

"Ah, doctor, how good you are!" cried Charlotte, a little ashamed, and
feeling the indirect reproach conveyed in the interest expressed by a
stranger, as contrasted with her own indifference.

D'Argenton answered coldly that he would reflect upon the matter, that
he had grave objections to a school, &c., and when alone with Charlotte,
expressed his indignation at the doctor's interference, but from that
time took more interest in the movements of the boy.

"Come here, sir," said Labassandre, one day, to Jack. The child obeyed
somewhat anxiously. "Who made that net in the chestnut-tree at the foot
of the garden?"

"It was I, sir."

Cecile had expressed a wish for a living squirrel, and Jack had
manufactured a most ingenious snare of steel wire.

"Did you make it yourself, without any aid?"

"Yes, sir," answered the child.

"It is wonderful, very wonderful," continued the singer, turning to the
others. "The child has a positive genius for mechanics."

In the evening there was a grand discussion. "Yes, madame/," said
Labassandre, addressing Charlotte; "the man of the future, the coming
man, is the mechanic. Rank has had its day, the middle classes theirs,
and now it is the workman's turn. You may to-day despise his horny
hands, in twenty years he will lead the world."

"He is right," interrupted D'Argenton, and Doctor Hirsch nodded
approvingly. Singularly enough, Jack, who generally heard the
conversation going on about him without heeding it, on this occasion
felt a keen interest, as if he had a presentiment of the future.

Labassandre described his former life as a blacksmith at the village
forge. "You know, my friends," he said, "whether I have been successful.
You know that I have had plenty of applause, and of medals. You may
believe me or not, as you please, but I assure you I would part