boy whom I protest I cherish like a
son? Now, if I were still rich, I should indubitably make my residence in
Paris--you know Paris--Paris and Paradise are not convertible terms. This
pleasant noise of the wind streaming among leaves changed into the
grinding Babel of the street, the stupid glare of plaster substituted for
this quiet pattern of greens and greys, the nerves shattered, the
digestion falsified--picture the fall! Already you perceive the
consequences: the mind is stimulated, the heart steps to a different
measure, and the man is himself no longer. I have passionately studied
myself--the true business of philosophy. I know my character as the
musician knows the ventages of his flute. Should I return to Paris, I
should ruin myself gambling; nay, I go further--I should break the heart
of my Anastasie with infidelities."

This was too much for Jean-Marie. That a place should so transform the
most excellent of men transcended his belief. Paris, he protested, was
even an agreeable place of residence. "Nor when I lived in that city did
I feel much difference," he pleaded.

"What!" cried the Doctor. "Did you not steal when you were there?"

But the boy could never be brought to see that he had done anything wrong
when he stole. Nor, indeed, did the Doctor think he had; but that
gentleman was never very scrupulous when in want of a retort.

"And now," he concluded, "do you begin to understand? My only friends
were those who ruined me. Gretz has been my academy, my sanatorium, my
heaven of innocent pleasures. If millions are offered me, I wave them
back: _Retro, Sathanas!_--Evil one, begone! Fix your mind on my example;
despise riches, avoid the debasing influence of cities. Hygiene--hygiene
and mediocrity of fortune--these be your watchwords during life!"

The Doctor's system of hygiene strikingly coincided with his tastes; and
his picture of the perfect life was a faithful description of the one he
was leading at the time. But it is easy to convince a boy, whom you
supply with all the facts for the discussion. And besides, there was one
thing admirable in the philosophy, and that was the enthusiasm of the
philosopher. There was never any one more vigorously determined to be
pleased; and if he was not a great logician, and so had no right to
convince the intellect, he was certainly something of a poet, and had a
fascination to seduce the heart. What he could not achieve in his
customary humour of a radiant admir