ow intense happiness.
Henceforth I will devote all my energies to getting money."

He set to work with a greedy activity, which increased each day. He
tried all the many speculations open to adventurers. Alternately he
traded in furs, worked in a mine, and cultivated lands.

Five times he went to bed rich, and waked up ruined; five times, with
the patience of the castor, whose hut is swept away by each returning
tide, he recommenced the foundation of his fortune.

Finally, after long weary years of toil and struggle, he was worth a
million in gold, besides immense tracts of land.

He had often said that he would never leave Brazil, that he wanted to
end his days in Rio. He had forgotten that love for his native land
never dies in the heart of a Frenchman. Now that he was rich, he wished
to die in France.

He made inquiries, and found that the law of limitations would permit
him to return without being disturbed by the authorities. He left his
property in charge of an agent, and embarked for France, taking a large
portion of his fortune with him.

Twenty-three years and four months had elapsed since he fled from home.

On a bright, crisp day in January, 1866, he once again stepped on
French soil. With a sad heart, he stood upon the quays at Bordeaux, and
compared the past with the present.

He had departed a young man, ambitious, hopeful, and beloved; he
returned gray-haired, disappointed, trusting no one.

Gold could not supply the place of affection. He had said that riches
would bring happiness: his wealth was immense, and he was miserable.

His health, too, began to suffer from this sudden change of climate.
Rheumatism confined him to his bed for several months. As soon as
he could sit up, the physicians sent him to the warm baths, where he
recovered his health, but not his spirits. He felt his lonely condition
more terribly in his own country than when in a foreign land.

He determined to divert his mind by engaging in some occupation which
would keep him too busy to think of himself and his disappointment.
Charmed with the beauty of the Pyrenees, and the lovely valley of Aspe,
he resolved to take up his abode there.

An iron-mill was for sale near Oloron, on the borders of the Gara; he
bought it with the intention of utilizing the immense quantity of wood,
which, for want of means of transportation, was being wasted in the
mountains.

He was soon settled comfortably in his new home, and enjoying a bu