he became a manufacturer. He
understood that contempt for industry is like many other things,
a painted pot. Men made this pot and poets painted it in
beautiful colors, then the poets died of hunger. America holds in
reserve new horizons."

He spoke long, and was astonished himself at his own enthusiasm.

"I thought," said he, "that I should never know enthusiasm, and I
supposed even that it was a rheumatism of thought. Meanwhile I
feel enthusiasm, yes, enthusiasm! And it pervades me with a
delightful shiver. Do you not share it? Are you not attracted, as
well as I, by distant perspectives, new horizons, 'the divine
vibrations of blue seas, the silences traversed by worlds, by
angels '--And plagiarizing he repeated the addition made by
Maryan: 'And by millions'?"

Yes, she was attracted. Not by the millions; she was too familiar
with them, but the distant perspectives, the new horizons, the
shoreless expanses of oceans, and the endless quiet of spaces
which in the twinkle of an eye were unfolded before her
imagination. The dull pain, and the gloomy disgust which tortured
her not long before, cried out: "Yes! yes! go, fly far, as far as
possible under new skies, among people of another nationality!
Go, fly, seek."

With a slight flush on her cheeks, which were delicate to the
highest degree, she told all this to the baron, whose crumpled,
faded face was gleaming with delight.

"You make me happy, really happy!" whispered he, and added:
"Command me to bow down before you; I will obey and bow down."

Meanwhile a door-bell was heard every moment in the great shop,
and a wave of people passing by reminded Irene of the reason why
she was there. She turned to an elegant apartment, in which a
flood of materials disposed on the furniture was waiting for her.
The baron had a knowledge of the wearing apparel of ladies; he
liked to speak of it; and more than once, with the accuracy of a
tailor, and the pleasure of an artist, he told of the original
and peculiar toilets seen in capitals. On this occasion, in the
tailor's apartment between great mirrors, in the flood of
unfolded materials, he said:

"I beg you not to dress according to pattern; I beg you not to
spoil my delight by forcing me to see on you any of the
ridiculous styles of this city. I meet no ladies here of subtle
taste. There is wealth, frequently there is even taste, but
common, according to pattern. For you it is necessary to think
out something new--som