dicine; it is a
difficult task to achieve distinction, but the reward is great, for in
Paris fame always means fortune. The unselfish girl devoted herself
to me, shared in every interest, even the slightest, of my life, and
managed so carefully and wisely that we lived in comfort on my narrow
income. I had more money to spare, now that there were two of us, than
I had ever had while I lived by myself. Those were my happiest days. I
worked with enthusiasm, I had a definite aim before me, I had found the
encouragement I needed. Everything I did or thought I carried to her,
who had not only found the way to gain my love, but above and beyond
this had filled me with sincere respect for her by the modest discretion
which she displayed in a position where discretion and modesty seemed
well-nigh impossible. But one day was like another, sir; and it is only
after our hears have passed through all the storms appointed for us that
we know the value of a monotonous happiness, and learn that life holds
nothing more sweet for us than this; a calm happiness in which the
fatigue of existence is felt no longer, and the inmost thoughts of
either find response in the other's soul.

"My former dreams assailed me again. They were my own vehement longings
for the pleasures of wealth that awoke, though it was in love's name
that I now asked for them. In the evenings I grew abstracted and moody,
rapt in imaginings of the pleasures I could enjoy if I were rich,
and thoughtlessly gave expression to my desires in answer to a tender
questioning voice. I must have drawn a painful sigh from her who had
devoted herself to my happiness; for she, sweet soul, felt nothing more
cruelly than the thought that I wished for something that she could not
give me immediately. Oh! sir, a woman's devotion is sublime!"

There was a sharp distress in the doctor's exclamation which seemed
prompted by some recollection of his own; he paused for a brief while,
and Genestas respected his musings.

"Well, sir," Benassis resumed, "something happened which should have
concluded the marriage thus begun; but instead of that it put an end to
it, and was the cause of all my misfortunes. My father died and left
me a large fortune. The necessary business arrangements demanded my
presence in Languedoc for several months, and I went thither alone.
At last I had regained my freedom! Even the mildest yoke is galling
to youth; we do not see its necessity any more than we see the