ou say, the _Lorraine_ is to sail?"

"Yes. On the 7th."

And they said no more.

Pierre was considering. It certainly would be a way out of many
difficulties if he could embark as medical officer on board the
steamship. By-and-by he could see; he might perhaps give it up.
Meanwhile he would be gaining a living, and asking for nothing from
his parents. Only two days since he had been forced to sell his watch,
for he would no longer hold out his hand to beg of his mother. So he
had no other resource left, no opening to enable him to eat the bread
of any house but this which had become uninhabitable, or sleep in any
other bed, or under any other roof. He presently said with some little
hesitation:

"If I could, I would very gladly sail in her."

Jean asked:

"What should hinder you?"

"I know no one in the Transatlantic Shipping Company."

Roland was astounded:

"And what has become of all your fine schemes for getting on?"

Pierre replied in a low voice:

"There are times when we must bring ourselves to sacrifice everything
and renounce our fondest hopes. And after all it is only to make a
beginning, a way of saving a few thousand francs to start fair with
afterward."

His father was promptly convinced.

"That is very true. In a couple of years you can put by six or seven
thousand francs, and that well laid out, will go a long way. What do
you think of the matter, Louise?"

She replied in a voice so low as to be scarcely audible:

"I think Pierre is right."

Roland exclaimed:

"I will go and talk it over with M. Poulin; I know him very well. He
is assessor of the Chamber of Commerce and takes an interest in the
affairs of the Company. There is M. Lenient, too, the ship-owner, who
is intimate with one of the vice-chairmen."

Jean asked his brother:

"Would you like me to feel my way with M. Marchand at once?"

"Yes, I should be very glad."

After thinking a few minutes, Pierre added:

"The best thing I can do, perhaps, will be to write to my professors
at the College of Medicine who had a great regard for me. Very
inferior men are sometimes shipped on board those vessels. Letters of
strong recommendation from such professors as Mas-Roussel, Remusot,
Flache, and Borriquel would do more for me in an hour than all the
doubtful introductions in the world. It would be enough if your friend
M. Marchand would lay them before the board."

Jean approved heartily.

"Your idea is really capital." And