relaxed them, 'young folk
are apt to commit follies which draw down the wrath of their elders upon
their heads, and you may happen to want money at some time or other;
if so, come to me. Your father helped me nobly once upon a time, and
I shall always have a few crowns to spare for you; but never tell any
lies, and do not be ashamed to own to your faults. I myself was young
once; we shall always get on well together, like two good comrades.'

"My father found lodgings for me with some quiet, middle-class people
in the Latin Quarter, and my room was furnished nicely enough; but this
first taste of independence, my father's kindness, and the self-denial
which he seemed to be exercising for me, brought me but little
happiness. Perhaps the value of liberty cannot be known until it has
been experienced; and the memories of the freedom of my childhood had
been almost effaced by the irksome and dreary life at school, from which
my spirits had scarcely recovered. In addition to this, my father had
urged new tasks upon me, so that altogether Paris was an enigma. You
must acquire some knowledge of its pleasures before you can amuse
yourself in Paris.

"My real position, therefore, was quite unchanged, save that my
new _lycee_ was a much larger building, and was called the Ecole de
Medecine. Nevertheless, I studied away bravely at first; I attended
lectures diligently; I worked desperately hard and without relaxation,
so strongly was my imagination affected by the abundant treasures of
knowledge to be gained in the capital. But very soon I heedlessly
made acquaintances; danger lurks hidden beneath the rash confiding
friendships that have so strong a charm for youth, and gradually I was
drawn into the dissipated life of the capital. I became an enthusiastic
lover of the theatre; and with my craze for actors and the play, the
work of my demoralization began. The stage, in a great metropolis,
exerts a very deadly influence over the young; they never quit the
theatre save in a state of emotional excitement almost always beyond
their power to control; society and the law seem to me to be accessories
to the irregularities brought about in this way. Our legislation has
shut its eyes, so to speak, to the passions that torment a young man
between twenty and five-and-twenty years of age. In Paris he is assailed
by temptations of every kind. Religion may preach and Law may demand
that he should walk uprightly, but all his surroundings and