full of such, and
some of them are works of genius in themselves. After all, it is the
people who must immortalize us, and we must feed them with what they are
in the habit of eating."

"What induced you to come here, sir?" asked the professor, abruptly.

"I never should have come of myself," answered the young man, with
entire frankness. "I never heard your name mentioned until less than a
year ago. It was the first time my father was expecting to die. He told
me you were a wise man, and learned besides; he had known you when you
were young; you would have some interest in teaching me; he would feel
more at ease to die, if he knew you were directing me. I thought it
over, as I said, and decided to come. Understand, I knew of no one
except you, and I didn't want to go to a theological school."

"Humph!" grunted the professor, who was by no means well satisfied with
the prospect, yet had reasons of his own for taking up the matter if
possible. He smoked for a while longer, and Bressant resumed his book.

"By-the-way, about this _incognito_ of yours," said the former at
length, laying aside his pipe, and taking off his straw hat: he had
forgotten to remove it on entering, and it had been oppressing him with
a sense of vague inconvenience ever since. "What is the meaning of it?
Do you mean to keep it strict? Is the idea you own?"

"Oh, no! I heard nothing of it till after my father was dead. It was
Mrs. Vanderplanck--she who wrote you the letter--who first spoke to me
of it, and said he had desired it. I don't know what the necessity of it
is, but it must be kept a strict secret. Should any one besides you know
who I am, I stand in danger of losing my fortune."

"Ah, ha! lose your fortune!" exclaimed the professor, frowning so
portentously as to unseat his spectacles. "How does that happen, sir?"

Bressant looked considerably amused at the old gentleman's evident
emotion; the more as he saw no occasion for it. "I never had the
curiosity to ask how," said he, pulling at his beard. "I shall run no
risks with my fortune. I'm satisfied to know there might be danger;
there's no difficulty in keeping silence about a name."

Professor Valeyon rose from his chair and walked to the window. A mighty
host of gray clouds, piled thickly one upon another, and torn and
tunneled by feverish wind-gusts, were hastening swiftly and silently
across the sky from the west. Beyond, where they were thickest and
angriest, a yellowish, luri