nitor, Conscience. "Do what you feel is right; obey me, and even in
the sloughs of want I will plant for you firm footing." And then, as I
walked fast along the road, there rose upon me a strange, inly-felt idea
of some Great Being, unseen, but all present, who in His beneficence
desired only my welfare, and now watched the struggle of good and evil
in my heart, and waited to see whether I should obey His voice, heard in
the whispers of my conscience, or lend an ear to the sophisms by which
His enemy and mine--the Spirit of Evil--sought to lead me astray.
Rough and steep was the path indicated by divine suggestion; mossy and
declining the green way along which Temptation strewed flowers; but
whereas, methought, the Deity of Love, the Friend of all that exists,
would smile well-pleased were I to gird up my loins and address myself
to the rude ascent; so, on the other hand, each inclination to the
velvet declivity seemed to kindle a gleam of triumph on the brow of the
man-hating, God-defying demon. Sharp and short I turned round; fast I
retraced my steps; in half an hour I was again at M. Pelet's: I sought
him in his study; brief parley, concise explanation sufficed; my manner
proved that I was resolved; he, perhaps, at heart approved my
decision. After twenty minutes' conversation, I re-entered my own room,
self-deprived of the means of living, self-sentenced to leave my present
home, with the short notice of a week in which to provide another.

CHAPTER XXI.

DIRECTLY as I closed the door, I saw laid on the table two letters; my
thought was, that they were notes of invitation from the friends of some
of my pupils; I had received such marks of attention occasionally, and
with me, who had no friends, correspondence of more interest was out
of the question; the postman's arrival had never yet been an event of
interest to me since I came to Brussels. I laid my hand carelessly on
the documents, and coldly and slowly glancing at them, I prepared to
break the seals; my eye was arrested and my hand too; I saw what excited
me, as if I had found a vivid picture where I expected only to discover
a blank page: on one cover was an English postmark; on the other, a
lady's clear, fine autograph; the last I opened first:--

"MONSIEUR,

"I FOUND out what you had done the very morning after your
visit to me; you might be sure I should dust the china, every day; and,
as no one but you had been in my room for a week, and as fairy