tered.

It is true the invalid sometimes half suspects, not only that he is
governed, but somewhat despotically, too, by the worthy and
affectionate creature, whose sole study it is to take care of his
health. He considers it hard to be debarred from sending for one of his
old friends to play a party at picquet, or a game at chess with him,
during the long winter evenings; and he thinks it would be pleasanter
to have some of his female relatives occasionally to dinner: but as the
least hint on these subjects never fails to produce ill-humour on the
part of the "good Jeanette," who declares that such unreasonable
indulgence would inevitably destroy the precious health of Monsieur, he
submits to her will; and while wholly governed by an ignorant and
artful servant, can still smile that he is free from being henpecked by
a wife.

CHAPTER XI.

In no part of Paris are so many children to be seen us in the gardens
of the Luxembourg. At every step may be encountered groups of playful
creatures of every age, from the infant slumbering in its nurse's arms,
to the healthful girl holding her little brother or sister by the hand
as her little charge toddles along; or the manly boy, who gives his arm
to his younger sister with all the air of protection of manhood.

What joyous sounds of mirth come from each group--the clear voices
ringing pleasantly on the ear, from creatures fair and blooming as the
flowers of the rich _parterres_ among which they wander! How each group
examines the other--half-disposed to join in each other's sports, but
withheld by a vague fear of making the first advances--a fear which
indicates that even already civilisation and the artificial habits it
engenders, have taught them the restraint it imposes!

The nurses, too, scrutinise each other, and their little masters and
misses, as they meet. They take in at a glance the toilettes of each,
and judge with an extraordinary accuracy the station of life to which
they appertain.

The child of noble birth is known by the simplicity of its dress and
the good manners of its _bonne_; while that of _the parvenu_ is at once
recognised by the showiness and expensiveness of its clothes, and the
superciliousness of its nurse, who, accustomed to the purse-proud
pretensions of her employers, values nothing so much as all the
attributes that indicate the possession of wealth.

The little children look wistfully at each other every time they meet;
then begin