e, speaking to
Gwynplaine when Dea slept, and to Dea when Gwynplaine's back was
turned:--

"Dea, you must not be so fond of Gwynplaine. To live in the life of
another is perilous. Egoism is a good root of happiness. Men escape from
women. And then Gwynplaine might end by becoming infatuated with you.
His success is so great! You have no idea how great his success is!"

"Gwynplaine, disproportions are no good. So much ugliness on one side
and so much beauty on another ought to compel reflection. Temper your
ardour, my boy. Do not become too enthusiastic about Dea. Do you
seriously consider that you are made for her? Just think of your
deformity and her perfection! See the distance between her and yourself.
She has everything, this Dea. What a white skin! What hair! Lips like
strawberries! And her foot! her hand! Those shoulders, with their
exquisite curve! Her expression is sublime. She walks diffusing light;
and in speaking, the grave tone of her voice is charming. But for all
this, to think that she is a woman! She would not be such a fool as to
be an angel. She is absolute beauty. Repeat all this to yourself, to
calm your ardour."

These speeches redoubled the love of Gwynplaine and Dea, and Ursus was
astonished at his want of success, just as one who should say, "It is
singular that with all the oil I throw on fire I cannot extinguish it."

Did he, then, desire to extinguish their love, or to cool it even?

Certainly not. He would have been well punished had he succeeded. At the
bottom of his heart this love, which was flame for them and warmth for
him, was his delight.

But it is natural to grate a little against that which charms us; men
call it wisdom.

Ursus had been, in his relations with Gwynplaine and Dea, almost a
father and a mother. Grumbling all the while, he had brought them up;
grumbling all the while, he had nourished them. His adoption of them had
made the hut roll more heavily, and he had been oftener compelled to
harness himself by Homo's side to help to draw it.

We may observe, however, that after the first few years, when Gwynplaine
was nearly grown up, and Ursus had grown quite old, Gwynplaine had taken
his turn, and drawn Ursus.

Ursus, seeing that Gwynplaine was becoming a man, had cast the horoscope
of his deformity. "_It has made your fortune!_" he had told him.

This family of an old man and two children, with a wolf, had become, as
they wandered, a group more and more intimately