[Illustration] _As a writer of romance, Octave Feuillet holds an absolutely unique place. For thirty years he was the sole representative of that delicate, high-minded school of writing which owes to him, and to him alone, its rescue from the realistic deluge._ _He wrote “The Romance of a Poor Young Man” “Julie de Trécœur,” and a host of those exquisite “proverbes,” like “Circé,” that delighted with their delicacy of observation, the grace and spirit of their style; and yet Feuillet has a most exacting realism of his own, suave, urbane._ _Octave Feuillet was born at Saint-Lô in 1821. His life was beautifully simple, coherent, and filled with work. He wrote many admirable plays, “Montjoye,” “Dalila,” and others, and a sketch, “Le Curé de Bourron,” almost perfect in its art, drawn from his own observation as librarian at Fontainebleau. In 1862 he was elected to the Academy and in 1890 he died at Paris._ [Illustration] CIRCÉ[10] A PARISIAN SCENE BY OCTAVE FEUILLET PERSONS THE PRINCE, thirty years old. THE COUNTESS, twenty-six years old. SCENE--_The Countess’s Boudoir._ _The Countess._ How do you do, Prince? _Prince._ What, not out? Ah, I am fortunate, upon my word! _Countess._ But you wrote me that you would come-- _Prince._ I wrote you that, really? Ah, that’s odd. Ah, ah, that is amusing! Madame, your mother is well? _Countess._ Very well--a little tired, that’s all--she’s just going up to her room. But sit down. _Prince_ (_seating himself_). Do you know what brings me here? _Countess._ What? _Prince._ I come to ask your advice. Imagine that I dined at the Embassy. They got talking about little drawing-room comedies, about _proverbes_ or parables, about those little things, you know, that they play at private theatricals, and of the difficulty one experiences in finding any that are not too hackneyed, that one has not seen everywhere, and that are agreeable. _Countess._ Yes--and then? _Prince._ Very well, then. I was in rather a good humor; the spirit was upon me to compose during the week one of those witty trifles. A wager, serious enough, in fact, was connected with it. Briefly, since yesterday I have been thinking, without boring myself about other matters. _Countess._ And you have hit upon something? _Prince._ I have not yet thought of anything. But it will come. I conceived the idea of talking it over with you. We will do the thing together, if you are quite willing. It is very easy, you will see. _Countess._ But I don’t know, for my part, that it is so very easy. _Prince._ Positively. Nothing more simple. Will you try? _Countess._ Mon Dieu, I should like to--but you must hold the pen. _Prince._ That’s understood.