e of ideas too exclusive," said Ernest
de La Briere, in a quiet and melodious voice, which formed a sudden
contrast to the peremptory tones of the poet, whose flexible organ had
abandoned its caressing notes for the strident and magisterial voice
of the rostrum. "Genius must be estimated according to its utility;
and Parmentier, who brought potatoes into general use, Jacquart, the
inventor of silk looms; Papin, who first discovered the elastic quality
of steam, are men of genius, to whom statues will some day be erected.
They have changed, or they will change in a certain sense, the face of
the State. It is in that sense that Desplein will always be considered
a man of genius by thinkers; they see him attended by a generation of
sufferers whose pains are stifled by his hand."

That Ernest should give utterance to this opinion was enough to make
Modeste oppose it.

"If that be so, monsieur," she said, "then the man who could discover a
way to mow wheat without injuring the straw, by a machine that could do
the work of ten men, would be a man of genius."

"Yes, my daughter," said Madame Mignon; "and the poor would bless him
for cheaper bread,--he that is blessed by the poor is blessed of God."

"That is putting utility above art," said Modeste, shaking her head.

"Without utility what would become of art?" said Charles Mignon. "What
would it rest on? what would it live on? Where would you lodge, and how
would you pay the poet?"

"Oh! my dear papa, such opinions are fearfully flat and antediluvian!
I am not surprised that Gobenheim and Monsieur de La Briere, who are
interested in the solution of social problems should think so; but you,
whose life has been the most useless poetry of the century,--useless
because the blood you shed all over Europe, and the horrible sufferings
exacted by your colossus, did not prevent France from losing ten
departments acquired under the Revolution,--how can _you_ give in to
such excessively pig-tail notions, as the idealists say? It is plain
you've just come from China."

The impertinence of Modeste's speech was heightened by a little air
of contemptuous disdain which she purposely put on, and which fairly
astounded Madame Mignon, Madame Latournelle, and Dumay. As for Madame
Latournelle, she opened her eyes so wide she no longer saw anything.
Butscha, whose alert attention was comparable to that of a spy, looked
at Monsieur Mignon, expecting to see him flush with sudden and violent