I had followed with the closest attention the effect produced upon my hearers. M. Parseval blinked his eyelids and simply twirled his thumbs one round the other; M. Pieyre opened his eyes very wide and smiled, his mouth also wide open. Old Bichet, as curious as I was as to the impression I was making on his two friends, seeing that this impression was favourable, shook his head delightedly, saying under his breath-- "Just like Piron! Just like Piron! When I had finished, they burst out into applause, which was followed by all sorts of encouraging advice. I did not know whether I stood on my head or my heels. Imagine the feelings of Ovid, exiled among the Thracians, when he found a sun more radiant than that at Rome, and on carpets of flowers more fragrant than those of Pæstum, under trees that lent a cooler shade than those by the Tiber, listened to the applause given his _Tristia_ and his _Metamorphoses._ I gave thanks to the gods who, unsolicited, had granted me this moment of peace. We shall see that it was to be of but short duration. [Footnote 1: Madame de le Peyrouse avait promis à son mari de rester voilée jusqu'à son retour; madame de la Peyrouse a tenu parole, et a gardé son voile jusqu'à la mort.] CHAPTER X The painter Lethière--Brutus unveiled by M. Ponsard--Madame Hannemann--Gohier--Andrieux--Renaud--Desgenettes--Larrey, Augereau and the Egyptian mummy--Soldiers of the new school--My dramatic education--I enter the offices of the Forestry Department--The cupboard full of empty bottles--Three days away from the office--Am summoned before M. Deviolaine In the meantime, as I have stated, I had become master of my evenings as I had no longer to see after the portfolio, and I took advantage of my liberty to taste a little of life. My mother recollected an old friend of my father, and we ventured to call upon him. He belonged to the good-natured order of human beings, and gave us a warm welcome. He was the famous artist Lethière, painter of _Brutus Condamnant ses fils_, a heroism that always seemed to me a trifle too Spartan, but which M. Ponsard's _Lucrèce_ has since made clearer to me. M. Ponsard was the first to reveal the great conjugal mystery that the sons of Brutus were not the sons of Brutus, but only the fruit of adultery: by beheading them Brutus exhibited revenge, not his devotion to them!