butt of the Opposition newspapers, and ridiculed unmercifully. The whole
history of his sonnets was given to the public. Dauriat was said to
prefer a first loss of a thousand crowns to the risk of publishing the
verses; Lucien was called "the Poet sans Sonnets;" and one morning, in
that very paper in which he had so brilliant a beginning, he read the
following lines, significant enough for him, but barely intelligible to
other readers:

*** "If M. Dauriat persistently withholds the Sonnets of the
future Petrarch from publication, we will act like generous foes.
We will open our own columns to his poems, which must be piquant
indeed, to judge by the following specimen obligingly communicated
by a friend of the author."

And close upon that ominous preface followed a sonnet entitled "The
Thistle" (_le Chardon)_:

A chance-come seedling, springing up one day
Among the flowers in a garden fair,
Made boast that splendid colors bright and rare
Its claims to lofty lineage should display.

So for a while they suffered it to stay;
But with such insolence it flourished there,
That, out of patience with its braggart's air,
They bade it prove its claims without delay.

It bloomed forthwith; but ne'er was blundering clown
Upon the boards more promptly hooted down;
The sister flowers began to jeer and laugh.

The owner flung it out. At close of day
A solitary jackass came to bray--
A common Thistle's fitting epitaph.

Lucien read the words through scalding tears.

Vernou touched elsewhere on Lucien's gambling propensities, and spoke
of the forthcoming _Archer of Charles IX._ as "anti-national" in its
tendency, the writer siding with Catholic cut-throats against their
Calvinist victims.

Another week found the quarrel embittered. Lucien had counted upon his
friend Etienne; Etienne owed him a thousand francs, and there had been
besides a private understanding between them; but Etienne Lousteau
during the interval became his sworn foe, and this was the manner of it.

For the past three months Nathan had been smitten with Florine's charms,
and much at a loss how to rid himself of Lousteau his rival, who was in
fact dependent upon the actress. And now came Nathan's opportunity,
when Florine was frantic with distress over the failure of the
Panorama-Dramatique, which left her without an engagement. He went as
Lucien's colleague to beg Coralie to ask for a part for Florine in a