nt to him, with
an accompanying letter, Nodier replied:--

"I have received with lively gratitude, my dear and illustrious friend,
your beautiful verses, and your charming and affectionate letter. I have
read them with great pleasure and profound admiration. A Although ill in
bed, I have devoured Franconnette and the other poems. I observe, with
a certain pride, that you have followed my advice, and that you think
in that fine language which you recite so admirably, in place of
translating the patois into French, which deprives it of its fullness
and fairness. I thank you a thousand times for your very flattering
epistle. I am too happy to expostulate with you seriously as to the
gracious things you have said to me; my name will pass to posterity in
the works of my friends; the glory of having been loved by you goes for
a great deal."

The time at length arrived for the presentation of the testimonial of
Toulouse to Jasmin. It consisted of a branch of laurel in gold. The
artist who fashioned it was charged to put his best work into the golden
laurel, so that it might be a chef d'oeuvre worthy of the city which
conferred it, and of being treasured in the museum of their adopted
poet. The work was indeed admirably executed. The stem was rough, as
in nature, though the leaves were beautifully polished. It had a ribbon
delicately ornamented, with the words "Toulouse a Jasmin."

When the work was finished and placed in its case, the Mayor desired to
send it to Jasmin by a trusty messenger. He selected Mademoiselle Gasc,
assisted by her father, advocate and member of the municipal council, to
present the tribute to Jasmin. It ought to have been a fete day for the
people of Agen, when their illustrious townsman, though a barber, was
about to receive so cordial an appreciation of his poetical genius from
the learned city of Toulouse. It ought also to have been a fete day for
Jasmin himself.

But alas! an unhappy coincidence occurred which saddened the day that
ought to have been a day of triumph for the poet. His mother was dying.
When Mademoiselle Gasc, accompanied by her father, the Mayor of Agen,
and other friends of Jasmin, entered the shop, they were informed
that he was by the bedside of his mother, who was at death's door. The
physician, who was consulted as to her state, said that there might only
be sufficient time for Jasmin to receive the deputation.

He accordingly came out for a few moments from his mother's b