t, and
ran after him.

I heard people saying, "There's Joseph, Bertha," and in a moment I was
in the house, and in Catherine's arms. Then I embraced M. Goulden, and
an hour later Aunt Gredel arrived.

Jean Buche would not stay and dine with us, but hurried home to Harberg.
I have often seen him since; and Zebede, too, who remained in the army.

Many insulting things were said about us by the Pinacles, but I had
happiness in my family circle, especially when Catherine presented me
with a little Joseph.

I am an old man now, but M. Goulden always said the principles of
freedom and liberty would triumph, and I have lived long enough to see
his words come true.

* * * * *

OCTAVE FEUILLET

Romance of a Poor Young Man

Octave Feuillet, born at Saint Lo, in France, on August 11,
1821, was the son of a Norman gentleman who regarded
literature as an ignoble profession. When Octave ran away to
Paris in order to pursue a literary career, his father refused
to help him, and for some years the young writer had a very
hard struggle. But on taking to novel-writing, Feuillet
quickly acquired fame and fortune. His "Romance of a Poor
Young Man" ("Le Roman d'un Jeune Homme Pauvre"), which
appeared in 1858, made him the most popular author of the day.
Standing midway between the novelists of the romantic school
and the writers of the realistic movement, he combined a sense
of the poetry of life with a gift for analysing the finer
shades of feeling. The plot of the "Romance of a Poor Young
Man" is certainly extraordinary; but in the present case some
allowance must be made for the fact that the hero is induced
to accept the humble position in which he finds himself by his
old family lawyer, who secretly designs to marry him to the
daughter of his new employers. A scheme of this sort would not
Strike a French reader as improbable, for marriage in France
is often more a business arrangement than a love affair.
Feuillet spent the latter part of his life in retirement, and
died on December 29, 1890.

_I.--A Nobleman in Difficulties_

Here I am, then, in the situation that Lawyer Laubepin obtained for me.
I am alone at last, thank goodness, sitting in a gloomy room in this old
Breton castle, in which the former steward to the Laroque family used to
live. My position is certainly