“Yes,” said he, slowly, “I see poverty and misery; half-fed and half-clad shepherds; figures of bandit rugged-ness and savagery. I see these, and I feel that to live amongst them, even for a brief space, would be to endure a horrid nightmare.” He moved away as he spoke, and sauntered slowly out of the room, down the stairs, and into the street. “Follow him, Jasper,” cried Polly, eagerly; “he is dispirited and depressed,--the journey has fatigued him, and he looks unwell. Go with him; but do not speak till he addresses you.” I did not much fancy the duty, but I obeyed without a word. He seemed to have quickened his pace as he descended; for when I reached the street, I could detect his figure at some distance off in the twilight. He walked rapidly on, and when he arrived at the bridge, he stopped, and, leaning against the balustrade, looked up the valley. “Are you weary of this, boy?” asked he, while he pointed up the glen. I shook my head in dissent. “Not tired of it,” he exclaimed, “not heartsick of a life of dreary monotony, without ambition, without an object! When I was scarcely older than you I was a garde du corps; at eighteen I was in the household, and mixing in all the splendor and gayety of Paris; before I was twenty I fought the Duc de Valmy and wounded him. At the Longchamps of that same year I drove in the carriage with La Marquese de Rochvilliers; and all the world knows what success that was! Well, all these things have passed away, and now we have a republic and the coarse pleasures and coarser tastes of the 'canaille.' Men like me are not the 'mode,' and I am too old to conform to the new school. But you are not so; you must leave this, boy,--you must enter the world, and at once, too. You shall come back with me to Paris.” “And leave my mother?” “She is not your mother,--you have no claim on her as such; I am more your relative than she is, for your mother was my cousin. But we live in times when these ties are not binding. The guillotine loosens stronger bonds, and the whisper of the spy is more efficacious than the law of divorce. You must see the capital, and know what life really is. Here you will learn nothing but the antiquated prejudices of Raper, or the weak follies of--others.” He only spoke the last word after a pause of some seconds, and then moodily sank into silence. I did not venture to utter a word, and waited patiently till he resumed, which he did by saying,--