“Boys hear of such things early enough, I assure you--far earlier than you ladies would deem possible. For the rest, he must hear of them one day; and I think it quite as well that he should hear of them, since hear he must, with the comments of an old man, and that old man his best friend, than find them out by the teachings and judge of them according to the light views of his young and excitable associates. He who is forewarned is fore-weaponed. I was kept pure, as it is termed--or, in other words, kept ignorant of myself and of the world I was destined to live in--until one fine day I was cut loose from the apron-strings of my lady-mother, and the tether of my abbé-tutor, and launched head-foremost into that vortex of temptation and iniquity, the world of Paris, like a ship without a chart or a compass. A precious race I ran in consequence, for a time; and if I had not been so fortunate as to meet you, Marie--whose bright eyes brought me out, like a blessed beacon, safe from that perilous ocean--I know not but I should have suffered shipwreck, both in fortune, which is a trifle, and in character, which is everything. No, no; if that is all in which you doubt, your fears are causeless.” “But that is not all. In this you may be right--I know not; at all events, you are a fitter judge than I! But are you wise in encouraging so very strongly his fancy for Melanie d’Argenson?” “I’ faith, it is something more than a fancy, I think: the boy loves her!” “I see that, Louis, clearly; and you encourage it.” “And wherefore should I not? She is a good girl--as good as she is beautiful!” “She is an angel!” “And her mother, Marie, was your most intimate, your bosom friend.” “And now a saint in heaven!” “Well, what more? She is as noble as a De Rohan or a Montmorency; she is an heiress with superb estates adjoining our own lands of St. Renan; she is, like our Raoul, an only child; and what is the most of all, I think, although it is not the mode in this dear France of ours to attach much weight to that, it is no made-up match, no cradle-plighting between babes--to be made good, perhaps, by the breaking of hearts--but a genuine, natural, mutual affection between two young, sincere, innocent, artless persons; and a splendid couple they will make. What can you see to alarm you in that prospect?” “Her father.” “The sieur d’Argenson! Well, I confess, he is not a very charming person; but we all have our own faults or weaknesses: and, after all, it is not he whom Raoul is about to marry.” “I doubt his good faith, very sorely.”