at the handkerchief did not fall from my pocket."

"Well, by saying that you have told two lies, sir; for I saw it fall."

"Oh ho! you take it up that way, do you, Master Gascon? Well, I will
teach you how to behave yourself."

"And I will send you back to your pulpit, Master Priest. Draw, if you
please, and instantly--"....

"Prudence is a virtue useless enough to musketeers, I know, but
indispensable to churchmen; and as I am only a temporary musketeer, I
hold it best to be prudent. At two o'clock I shall have the honor of
expecting you at Treville's. There I will point out the best place and
time to you."

The two bowed and separated. Aramis went up the street which led to
the Luxembourg; while D'Artagnan, seeing that the appointed hour was
coming near, took the road to the Carmes-Deschaux, saying to himself,
"I certainly can not hope to come out of these scrapes alive; but if I
am doomed to be killed, it will be by a royal musketeer."

GEORGE SAND

Born in France in 1804, died in 1876; her real name Aurore
Dupin, Baroness Dudevant; entered a convent in Paris in
1817, remaining until 1820; married in 1822; sought a life
of independence in 1831 with Jules Sandeau, with whom she
collaborated in writing; became an advanced Republican,
active in politics; wrote for newspapers and started a
newspaper of her own; published "Indiana" in 1831,
"Consuelo" in 1842; "Elle et Lui" in 1858; "Nanon" in 1872;
author of many other books.

LELIA AND THE POET[60]

"The prophets are crying in the desert to-day, and no voice answers,
for the world is indifferent and deaf: it lies down and stops its ears
so as to die in peace. A few scattered groups of weak votaries vainly
try to rekindle a spark of virtue. As the last remnants of man's moral
power, they will float for a moment about the abyss, then go and join
the other wrecks at the bottom of that shoreless sea which will
swallow up the world."

"O Lelia, why do you thus despair of those sublime men who aspire to
bring virtue back to our iron age? Even if I were as doubtful of their
success as you are, I would not say so. I should fear to commit an
impious crime."

[Footnote 60: From "Lelia," which was published in 1833, during an
eventful period in its author's life. The character of Lelia was drawn
from George Sand herself as a personification of human nature at war
with itself. The original of Stenio was Alfre