mber sprang alive and took on an interest which they had lost.

For months past his intellectual growth had been compressed like a young
tree which is struck in full blossoming by the "saints of the ice." He
did not belong to those practical boys who profit by the indulgence
offered at universities to the younger classes just about to be called
to the colors in order to pull out hastily a diploma from under the
indulgent eyes of the examiners. Nor was he one to feel the despairing
eagerness of the young man who sees death approaching and so takes
double mouthfuls and devours the arts and sciences which he will never
have a chance to test and verify in life. That perpetual feeling of
emptiness at the end, emptiness that is underneath and everywhere hidden
beneath the cruel and absurd illusion of the world--this it was that
swept aside all his enthusiasms. He would throw himself on a book, on a
thought--then he stopped, discouraged. Whither would that lead? What the
use of learning? What is the point of getting riches if it be necessary
to lose everything, leave everything, if nothing really belongs to you?
In order that activity, in order that science should have any sense, it
is necessary that life should have some. This sense no effort of the
mind, no supplication from the heart had been able to produce for
him.--And yet, lo and behold, all of itself, this sense had come....
Life had some sense....

What then?--And seeking to find whence came this inner smile--he beheld
the parted lips upon which his mouth was burning to press itself.

* * * * *

IN ordinary times, no doubt, this wordless fascination would not have
persisted. At that period of upgrowth when one is a lover of love, one
sees love in every eye; the greedy and uncertain heart gathers it
flitting from one to the other, and nothing forces it to settle down;
the heart is just beginning its day.

But the day at the present period will be a short one: it is necessary
to hurry up.

The heart of this young fellow was in a hurry all the greater because it
was so much behindhand. Great cities which from a distance appear like
the smoking solfataras of sensuality really harbor fresh souls and
ingenuous bodies. How many young men and young girls there are who
respect love and keep their senses virgin up to the marriage day! Even
in the refined circles where mental curiosity is precociously excited,
what singular ignorances conceal themselves under the fre