pring. French
citizens, beware of love!_' just as they put: '_Beware of paint._'

"However, as the government will not do this, I must supply its place,
and I say to you: 'Beware of love,' for it is just going to seize you,
and it is my duty to inform you of it, just as in Russia they inform
anyone that his nose is frozen."

I was much astonished at this individual, and assuming a dignified
manner, I said:

"Really, Monsieur, you appear to me to be interfering in a matter which
is no business of yours."

He made an abrupt movement, and replied:

"Ah! Monsieur! Monsieur! If I see that a man is in danger of being
drowned at a dangerous spot, ought I to let him perish? So just listen to
my story, and you will see why I ventured to speak to you like this.

"It was about this time last year that it occurred. But, first of all, I
must tell you that I am a clerk in the Admirality, where our chiefs, the
commissioners, take their gold lace and quill-driving officers seriously,
and treat us like fore-top men on board a ship. Well, from my office I
could see a small bit of blue sky and the swallows, and I felt inclined
to dance among my portfolios.

"My yearning for freedom grew so intense, that, in spite of my
repugnance, I went to see my chief, who was a short, bad-tempered man,
who was always in a rage. When I told him that I was not well, he looked
at me, and said: 'I do not believe it, Monsieur, but be off with you! Do
you think that any office can go on, with clerks like you?' I started at
once, and went down the Seine. It was a day like this, and I took the
_mouche_, to go as far as Saint Cloud. Ah! What a good thing it would
have been if my chief had refused me permission to leave the office for
the day!

"I seemed to myself to expand in the sun. I loved it all; the steamer,
the river, the trees, the houses, my fellow-passengers, everything. I
felt inclined to kiss something, no matter what; it was love, laying its
snare. Presently, at the Trocadero, a girl, with a small parcel in her
hand, came on board and sat down opposite to me. She was certainly
pretty; but it is surprising, Monsieur, how much prettier women seem to
us when it is fine, at the beginning of the spring. Then they have an
intoxicating charm, something quite peculiar about them. It is just like
drinking wine after the cheese.

"I looked at her, and she also looked at me, but only occasionally, like
that girl did at you, just now; but at last, by