which path he had
obtained a certain success in Guadaloupe; but he had not taken into
account his horrible colonial accent, of which, notwithstanding every
effort, he was never able to rid himself. The first time he spoke in
public, the shouts of laughter that greeted him proved conclusively that
he could never make a name, for himself in Paris as a public speaker. He
then resolved to write, but he was clever enough to understand that
it was far easier to win a reputation at Pointe-a-Petre than in Paris.
Haughty and tenacious, and spoiled by small successes, he passed from
journal to journal, without being retained for any length of time on the
staff of any one. Then began those hard experiences of life which either
crush a man to the earth or harden him to iron. He joined the army of
the ten thousand men who live by their wits in Paris, who rise each
morning dizzy with hunger and ambitious dreams, make their breakfast
from off a penny-roll, black the seams of their coats with ink, whiten
their shirt-collars with billiard-chalk, and warm themselves in the
churches and libraries.

He became familiar with all these degradations and miseries,--to credit
refused at the low eating-house, to the non-admittance to his garret at
eleven o'clock at night, and to the scanty bit of candle, and to shoes
in holes.

He was one of those professors of--it matters not what, who write
articles for the encyclopaedias at a half centime a line, a history
of the Middle Ages in two volumes, at twenty-five francs per volume,
compile catalogues, and copy plays for the theatres.

He was dismissed from one institution, where he taught English, for
having struck one of the pupils in his passionate, Creole fashion.

After three years of this miserable existence, when he had eaten an
incalculable number of raw artichokes and radishes, when he had lost his
illusions and ruined his stomach, chance sent him to give lessons in
a young ladies' school kept by three sisters. The two eldest were over
forty; the third was thirty,--small, sentimental, and pretentious. She
saw little prospect of marriage, when Moronval offered himself and was
accepted.

Once married, they lived some time in the house with the elder sisters;
both made themselves useful in giving lessons. But Moronval had retained
many of his bachelor habits, which were far from agreeable in that
peaceful and well-ordered boarding-school. Besides, the Creole treated
his pupils too much as