attractions,"
were all at the command of him rich enough to indulge his indolence.
"There must surely be something applicable to me in all those varied
wants," thought I; and I entered a great room where several knots of men
and women, of different ranks and conditions, were gathered around large
tablets of advertisements.

Some were in search of lost articles of dress or jewelry, a runaway
child or a missing spaniel; some inquiring for cheap apartments, or
economical modes of travel with others going the same road: but the
greater number were in pursuit of some means of livelihood,--and what
a host they were! Professors of every art, science, and language;
journalists, poets, tenors, gardeners, governesses, missionaries,
rope-dancers, frail little damsels who performed as goddesses in a
pantomime, and powerful fellows who performed the "life-models" of
academies, together with a number of well-dressed gentlemen of a certain
age who announced themselves as "discreet friends to any party engaged
in a delicate and difficult transaction."

My heart sunk within me as I saw the mass of capability by which I was
surrounded. "What could the world want with me," thought I, "in such a
glut of acquirements as I see here?" And I was about to turn away,
when my attention was drawn to a very little elderly man who was most
importunately entreating one of the clerks to do him some service or
other. The old man's eagerness was actually painful to witness. "I will
sell it for a mere nothing," said he, "although it cost me five hundred
francs!"

"You'll be fortunate if you get one hundred for it," said the clerk.

"I would accept of even one hundred,--nay! I'd take eighty," sighed the
old man.

"So you ought," said the other. "These things are all at a discount now;
men like more active and energetic situations. Retirement is not the
taste of our day."

"Retirement!" thought I; "that may be exactly what would suit _me_ at
this moment," and I drew near to listen.

"Find me a purchaser with seventy francs," ejaculated the old man, "and
I'll close with him."

"What is it, Monsieur?" said I, bowing civilly to both.

"A 'quatorzieme,' sir," said the clerk, interposing, that he might earn
his commission, in the event of a deal. "A quatorzieme; and I am bound
to say one of the best in this quarter of Paris. It takes in the Rue
de la Chuine, the Place de la Boucherie, with a very large sweep of the
Boulevard Mont Parnasse."

"A q