was beautiful, an artist's ideal, whom he
had the greatest difficulty to get Fanchette to _tutoyer_.

'But, my dear, I cannot say "thee" and "thou" to that beautiful lady,'
pleaded poor Fanchette.

'Nonsense, Fanchette! and why not? She is your daughter as much as I am
your boy.'

And the good Fanchette, with her eyes full of tears of joy, kissed
everybody and exclaimed:

'He has not changed a bit, you see. I told you so; I knew it.'

Then the young couple came twice a year to Brittany to live and love
with more freedom. Soon, instead of two, it was a trio that came, and
Fanchette declared that the loveliest baby in the world was the one
that she called hers.

'And,' she added, 'no one can accuse me of partiality, for everyone
knows how I laugh at the people who think their babies the finest in
the world.'

And the others would reply in chorus:

'Certainly not, Fanchette.'

Madame Proquet was overwhelmed with joy, the proudest and happiest of
mothers.

She went so far as to say to her neighbours, as well as to herself:
'Did I not do well after all to encourage Henri to be an artist!' I say
advisedly 'as well as to herself,' for by dint of innocently and
honestly deceiving others, one ends by innocently and honestly
deceiving one's self.

Madame Proquet had no more fear for her son's future. His fame was well
established, and he remained to her the same devoted son, perfectly
unaffected, his head turned neither by celebrity nor riches.

The good lady unhappily reckoned without that very absorbing mistress
called Art, who was to supplant her a little, if not in Henri's
affection, yet in his rule of conduct. The name of Henri Proquet was
not celebrated in Paris alone, but in all the capitals of the civilized
world. He one day wrote to his mother that he had just received from
England a most flattering invitation to go and paint the portrait of
the Queen and the principal members of the Royal Family, and that he
had resolved to settle in London with his family for several years; for
no doubt, after the Royal Family, his brush would be in demand by lords
and ladies, and he would return from the land of fogs laden with
guineas and glory.

'And,' he added, 'I embrace the opportunity with all the more alacrity,
having just lost 100,000 francs in a gold mine in the United States, a
loss which makes an ugly hole in my savings. Thank Heaven I am young,
full of life and energy, and in less than two years I shall h