st shot, and that the whole world was ordered
entirely to his mind.

Alphonse was in the highest degree a spoilt child of fortune; he
acquired everything without effort; existence fitted him like an elegant
dress, and he wore it with such unconstrained amiability that people
forgot to envy him.

And then he was so handsome. He was tall and slim, with brown hair and
big open eyes; his complexion was clear and smooth, and his teeth shone
when he laughed. He was quite conscious of his beauty, but, as everybody
had petted him from his earliest days, his vanity was of a cheerful,
good-natured sort, which, after all, was not so offensive. He was
exceedingly fond of his friend. He amused himself and sometimes others
by teasing him and making fun of him; but he knew Charles's face so
thoroughly that he saw at once when the jest was going too far. Then
he would resume his natural, kindly tone, until he made the serious and
somewhat melancholy Charles laugh till he was ill.

From his boyhood Charles had admired Alphonse beyond measure. He himself
was small and insignificant, quiet and shy. His friend's brilliant
qualities cast a lustre over him as well, and gave a certain impetus to
his life.

His mother often said: "This friendship between the boys is a real
blessing for my poor Charles, for without it he would certainly have
been a melancholy creature."

When Alphonse was on all occasions preferred to him, Charles rejoiced;
he was proud of his friend. He wrote his exercises, prompted him at
examination, pleaded his cause with the masters, and fought for him with
the boys.

At the commercial academy it was the same story. Charles worked for
Alphonse, and Alphonse rewarded him with his inexhaustible amiability
and unfailing good-humor.

When subsequently, as quite young men, they were placed in the same
banker's office, it happened one day that the principal said to Charles:
"From the first of May I will raise your salary."

"I thank you," answered Charles, "both on my own and on my friend's
behalf."

"Monsieur Alphonse's salary remains unaltered," replied the chief, and
went on writing.

Charles never forgot that morning. It was the first time he had been
preferred or distinguished before his friend. And it was his commercial
capacity, the quality which, as a young man of business, he valued most,
that had procured him this preference; and it was the head of the firm,
the great financier, who had himself accorded h