ive-petalled star which, though somewhat
faded, was still pink. The flower, my brother wrote, was from a shrub
that had taken root and blossomed beside his window, almost within his
Tahitian hut, which was actually invaded by the luxuriant vegetation
of the region. Oh! with what deep emotion;--with what avidity, if I may
express it thus, did I gaze at and touch the periwinkle which was
almost a fresh and living part of that unknown and distant land, of that
voluptuous nature.

Then I pressed it again with so much care that I possess it intact to
this day.

And after many years, when I made a pilgrimage to the humble dwelling in
which my brother lived during his stay in Tahiti, I saw that the shady
garden surrounding it was rosy with these periwinkles; they had even
pushed their way over the threshold of the door to blossom within the
deserted cabin.

CHAPTER XXXI.

After my ninth birthday my parents, for a time, spoke of putting me into
boarding-school, so that I might become habituated to the harder ways
of life, and since the matter was talked over by all the members of the
family, I went about for several days feeling as if I were on the eve
of being sent to prison, for I imagined that a boarding-school had high
walls and windows guarded by iron bars.

But, upon reflection, they considered that I was too frail and delicate
a human plant to be thrown in contact with those others of my kind
who, in all probability, would play roughly, and have bad manners; they
concluded, therefore, to keep me at home a little longer.

At any rate I was delivered from "Mr. Ratin." The old professor, rotund
of figure and kind of manner, who succeeded him, was less distasteful to
me, but I made just as little progress under his care. In the afternoon,
at about the time for his arrival, I would hastily begin to prepare my
lessons. I was then usually to be found at my window, hidden behind the
venetian blinds, with my book open at the page containing the lesson;
and when I saw him come into view at the turning near the bottom of the
street I commenced to study it.

And generally by the time he arrived I knew enough to receive, if not to
merit, a "pretty good," a mark over which I did not grumble.

I had also my English professor who came to me every morning,--and
whom I nicknamed Aristogiton (I do not now recall why). Following the
Robertson method, he had me paraphrase the history of Sultan Mahmoud.
Outside of that, th