trictly as regards expense. Whether you study or not, whether you
employ your time profitably and creditably, or whether you pass it in
indolence, is a matter that completely regards yourself. As for me,
my conscience is acquitted when I provide you with the means of
acquirement, and I no more engage you to benefit by these advantages
than I do to see you eat the food that is placed before you. The compact
that unites us enjoins distinct duties from each. You need not write
to me till I desire you to do so; and when I think it proper we should
meet, I will tell you."

If, while he spoke these harsh words to me, the slightest touch of
feeling--had one trace of even sorrow crossed his face, my whole heart
would have melted at once, and I would have thrown myself at his feet
for forgiveness. There was, however, a something so pitiless in his
tone, and a look so full of scorn in his steadfast eye, that every
sentiment of pride within me--that same pride I inherited from
himself--stimulated me to answer him, and I said boldly: "If the people
I saw here last night were not as well born as your habitual guests,
sir, I 'll venture to say there was nothing in their manner or
deportment to be ashamed of."

"I am told that Mademoiselle Pauline Delorme was charming," said he; and
the sarcasm of his glance covered me with shame and confusion. He had no
need to say more: I could not utter a word.

"This is a topic I will not discuss with you, sir," said he, after a
pause. "I intended you to be a gentleman, and to live with gentlemen.
_Your_ tastes incline differently, and I make no opposition to them. As
I have told you already, I was willing to launch you into life; I 'll
not engage to be your pilot. Any interest I take or could take in you
must be the result of your own qualities. These have not impressed me
strongly up to this; and were I to judge by what I have seen, I should
send you back to those you came from."

"Do so, then, if it will only give me back the nature I brought away
with me!" cried I, passionately; and my throat swelled till I felt
almost choked with emotion.

"That nature," said he, with a sneer on the word, "was costumed, if I
remember right, in a linen blouse and a pair of patched shoes; and I
believe they have been preserved along with some other family relics."

I bethought me at once of the tower and its humble furniture, and a
sense of terror overcame me, that I was in presence of one who could
cher