med the most beautiful country in the world
to him. Evidently there was a change in him; something was awakened in
his soul; for the first time he discovered that the hollow and muscular
conoid organ called the heart had a use besides for the circulation of
blood.

What a surprise and what a disappointment! Was he going to be simpleton
enough to love this young girl and entangle his life, already so hard
and heavily weighted, with a woman? A fine thing, truly, and nature had
built him to play the lover! It is true that only those who wish it fall
in love, and he knew the power of will by experience.

But he soon lost confidence in himself. Away from Phillis he could do as
he wished, but with her it was as she wished. With one look she mastered
him. He met her, furious at the influence she exercised over him, and
against which he had struggled since their last meeting; he left her,
ravished at feeling how profoundly he loved her.

To a man whose life had been ruled by reason and logic until this
moment, these contradictions were exasperating; and he only excused
himself for submitting to them by saying that they could in no way
modify the line of conduct that he had traced out for himself, nor make
him deviate from the road that he followed.

Rich, or even with a small fortune, he might--when he was with her and
in her power--let himself be carried away; but when he was dying of
hunger he was not going to commit the folly of taking a wife. What would
he have to give her? Misery, nothing but misery; and shame, in default
of any other reason, would forever prevent him from offering himself to
her.

She was the daughter of an artist who, after years of struggle, died at
the moment when fortune was beginning to smile upon him. Ten years more
of work, and he would have left his family, if not rich, at least in
comfortable circumstances. In reality, he left nothing but ruin.
The hotel he built was sold, and, after the debts were paid, nothing
remained but some furniture. His widow, son, and daughter must work. The
widow, having no trade, took in sewing; the son left college to become
the clerk of a money-lender named Caffie; the daughter, who, happily
for her, had learned to draw and paint under her father's direction,
obtained pupils, and designed menacs for the stationers, and painted
silk fans and boxes. They lived with great economy, submitting to many
privations. The brother, weary of his monotonous existence and of