ther Haugoult, then, began
very obligingly to communicate to his pupils the wonderful events which
were to end on the morrow in the advent of the most singular of "new
boys." Games were at an end. All the children came round in silence to
hear the story of Louis Lambert, discovered, like an aerolite, by Madame
de Stael, in a corner of the wood. Monsieur Haugoult had to tell us all
about Madame de Stael; that evening she seemed to me ten feet high; I
saw at a later time the picture of Corinne, in which Gerard represents
her as so tall and handsome; and, alas! the woman painted by my
imagination so far transcended this, that the real Madame de Stael fell
at once in my estimation, even after I read her book of really masculine
power, _De l'Allemagne_.

But Lambert at that time was an even greater wonder. Monsieur Mareschal,
the headmaster, after examining him, had thought of placing him among
the senior boys. It was Louis' ignorance of Latin that placed him so low
as the fourth class, but he would certainly leap up a class every year;
and, as a remarkable exception, he was to be one of the "Academy." _Proh
pudor_! we were to have the honor of counting among the "little
boys" one whose coat was adorned with the red ribbon displayed by the
"Academicians" of Vendome. These Academicians enjoyed distinguished
privileges; they often dined at the director's table, and held two
literary meetings annually, at which we were all present to hear their
elucubrations. An Academician was a great man in embryo. And if every
Vendome scholar would speak the truth, he would confess that, in later
life, an Academician of the great French Academy seemed to him far less
remarkable than the stupendous boy who wore the cross and the imposing
red ribbon which were the insignia of our "Academy."

It was very unusual to be one of that illustrious body before attaining
to the second class, for the Academicians were expected to hold public
meetings every Thursday during the holidays, and to read tales in verse
or prose, epistles, essays, tragedies, dramas--compositions far above
the intelligence of the lower classes. I long treasured the memory of
a story called the "Green Ass," which was, I think, the masterpiece of
this unknown Society. In the fourth, and an Academician! This boy of
fourteen, a poet already, the protege of Madame de Stael, a coming
genius, said Father Haugoult, was to be one of us! a wizard, a youth
capable of writing a composition