said the porter, somewhat
moved by a pertinacity that had nothing of rudeness in it.

With a calm resolve he sat down on a stone bench, and fell a-thinking
to himself. It was full three hours later when the Minister's carriage
rolled in, and the Minister, hastily descending, proceeded to mount the
stairs.

"One word, your Excellency," cried Jules, in a voice collected and firm,
but still of an almost imploring sound.

"Not now--at another time," said the Minister, as he took some papers
from his secretary.

"But one word, Sir--I crave no more," repeated Jules.

"See to that man, Delpierre," said the Minister to his secretary;
but Jules, passing hastily forward, came close to the Minister, and
whispered in his ear, "_M. le Ministre, je suis Octave_," the name under
which the "Siecle" articles appeared. A few words followed, and Jules
was ordered to follow the Minister to his cabinet. The article of the
"Siecle" did appear the next day, but miserably inefficient in point of
ability; and so false in fact-, that the refutation was overwhelming.
The "Moniteur" had a complete triumph, only to be exceeded by that
of the Minister's own in the Chamber. The Council of Ministers was in
ecstasy, and Jules de Russigny, who arrived in Paris by the mail from
Orleans--for thither he was despatched, to make a more suitable entry
into the great world--was installed as a clerk in the office of the
Finance Minister, with very reasonable hopes of future advancement. Such
was the fortune of him who was one, and, I repeat it, the pleasantest of
our _convives_.

This is the age of smart men--not of high intelligences. The race is
not for the thoroughbred, but the clever hackney, always "ready for his
work," and if seldom pre-eminent, never a dead failure.

Of my own brief experience, all the first-rate men, without exception,
have broke down. All the moderates--the "clever fellows"--have carried
the day. Now I could pick out from my contemporaries, at school and
university, some half-dozen brilliant, really great capacities, quite
lost--some, shipwrecked on the first venture in life--some, disheartened
and disgusted, have retired early from the contest, to live unheard
of and die brokenhearted. But the smart men! What crowds of them come
before my mind in high employ--some at home, some abroad, some waxing
rich by tens of thousands, some running high up the ambitious road of
honours and titles! There is something in inordinate self-est