t? I am confident, nevertheless, that the expenditure
will not be altogether lost to the world. You are not
going to sleep upon your laurels. Oh, if I had only had
your fortune when I had your youth! I would have
dedicated my days to pure science, instead of losing
the best part of them among those poor young men who
got nothing from my lectures but an opportunity to read
Paul de Kock. I would have been ambitious!--I would
have striven to connect my name with the discovery of
some great general law, or at least with the invention
of some very useful apparatus. It is too late now; my
eyes are worn out, and the brain itself refuses to
work. Take your turn, my boy! You are not yet
twenty-six, the Ural mines have given you the
wherewithal to live at ease, and, for yourself alone,
you have no further wants to satisfy; the time has come
to work for humanity. That you will do so, is the
strongest wish and dearest hope of your doting old
father, who loves you and who waits for you with open
arms.

"J. RENAULT.

"P. S. According to my calculations, this letter ought
to reach Berlin two or three days before you. You have
been already informed by the papers of the 7th inst. of
the death of the illustrious Humboldt. It is a cause of
mourning to science and to humanity. I have had the
honor of writing to that great man several times in my
life, and he once deigned to reply, in a letter which I
piously cherish. If you happen to have an opportunity to
buy some personal souvenir of him, a bit of his
handwriting or some fragment of his collections, you
will bring me a real pleasure."

A month after the departure of this letter, the son so eagerly looked
for returned to the paternal mansion. M. and Mme. Renault, who went to
meet him at the depot, found him taller, stouter, and better-looking in
every way. In fact, he was no longer merely a remarkable boy, but a man
of good and pleasing proportions. Leon Renault was of medium height,
light hair and complexion, plump and well made. His large blue eyes,
sweet voice, and silken beard indicated a nature sensitive rather than
powerful. A very white, round, and almost feminine neck contrasted
singularly with a face bronzed by exposure. His teeth were beautiful,
very delicate, a little inclined backward, and very evenly shaped. When
he pulled off his gloves, he disp