rywhere, and the end is sorrow. Wherever I
set my foot, the ground round about me seemed to burn. My readiness to
acquiesce was considered weakness though if I unsheathed my talons, like
a man conscious that he may some day wield the thunderbolts of power, I
was thought ill-natured; to others, the delightful laughter that
ceases with youth, and in which in later years we are almost ashamed to
indulge, seemed absurd, and they amused themselves at my expense. People
may be bored nowadays, but none the less they expect you to treat every
trivial topic with befitting seriousness.

"A hateful era! You must bow down before mediocrity, frigidly polite
mediocrity which you despise--and obey. On more mature reflection, I
have discovered the reasons of these glaring inconsistencies. Mediocrity
is never out of fashion, it is the daily wear of society; genius and
eccentricity are ornaments that are locked away and only brought out on
certain days. Everything that ventures forth beyond the protection of
the grateful shadow of mediocrity has something startling about it.

"So, in the midst of Paris, I led a solitary life. I had given up
everything to society, but it had given me nothing in return; and my
child was not enough to satisfy my heart, because I was not a woman. My
life seemed to be growing cold within me; I was bending under a load of
secret misery when I met the woman who was to make me know the might of
love, the reverence of an acknowledged love, love with its teeming hopes
of happiness--in one word--love.

"I had renewed my acquaintance with that old friend of my father's who
had once taken charge of my affairs. It was in his house that I first
met her whom I must love as long as life shall last. The longer we live,
sir, the more clearly we see the enormous influence of ideas upon the
events of life. Prejudices, worthy of all respect, and bred by noble
religious ideas, occasioned my misfortunes. This young girl belonged to
an exceeding devout family, whose views of Catholicism were due to the
spirit of a sect improperly styled Jansenists, which, in former times,
caused troubles in France. You know why?"

"No," said Genestas.

"Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres, once wrote a book which was believed to
contain propositions at variance with the doctrines of the Holy See.
When examined at a later date, there appeared to be nothing heretical in
the wording of the text, some authors even went so far as to deny that
the heretic