nt, and
continued,--

"He did not complain to me. He simply informed me of your decision. I
told him to come at once to his mother, and to you, and entreat you to
reconsider your determination, and not degrade him in this way."

"I deny the degradation," shouted Labassandre. "Manual labor does not
degrade a man. The Saviour of the world was a carpenter."

"That is true," murmured Charlotte, before whose eyes at once floated a
vision of her boy as the infant Jesus in a procession on some feast-day.

"Do not listen to such utter nonsense, dear ma-dame," cried the doctor,
exasperated out of all patience. "To make your boy a mechanic is to
separate from him forever. You might send him to the other end of the
world, and yet he would not be so far from you. You will see when it is
too late; the day will come that you will blush for him, when he
will appear before you, not as the loving, tender son, but humble and
servile, as holding a social position far inferior to your own."

Jack, who had not yet said a word, dismayed at this vivid picture of the
future, started up from his seat in the corner.

"I will not be a mechanic!" he said, in a firm voice.

"O, Jack!" cried his mother, in consternation.

But D'Argenton thundered out, "You will not be a mechanic, you say? But
you will eat, and sleep, and be clothed at my expense! No, sir; I have
had enough of you, and I never cared much for parasites." Then, suddenly
cooling down, he concluded in a lower tone by a command to the boy to
retire to his bedroom. There the child heard a loud and angry discussion
going on below, but the words were not to be understood. Suddenly the
hall-door opened, and Mr. Rivals was heard to say,--

"May I be hanged if I ever cross this threshold again!"

At this moment Charlotte came in, her eyes red with weeping. For the
first time she seemed to have lost all consciousness of self, and had
laid aside her role of the coquettish, pretty woman. The tears she had
shed had been those that age a mother's face, and leave ineffaceable
marks upon it.

"Listen to me, Jack," she said, tenderly. "You have made me very
unhappy. You have been impertinent and ungrateful to your best friends.
I know, my child, that you will be happy in your new life. I acknowledge
that at first I was troubled at the idea; but you heard what they said,
did you not? A mechanic is very different nowadays from what it was
once. And, besides, at your age you should rely on the