So spake Etienne Ribeyre. Among other valuable tips, he had just proved to me that in life it may often happen that a casual acquaintance can do more for you than a friend. Oh, lovely October moon, gazing down on Paris! The Seine flowed in a soft purple mist. I posted my note in the Rue de Bourgogne at the corner by the Chamber of Deputies. Then I felt I must have a walk to be alone with my thoughts. Ten thousand marks! Twelve thousand, five hundred francs! Money does not mean happiness! Then what on earth does? What had given me that confident step, that self-assurance, that lightness of heart? The Rue de Varenne, the Rue Barbet-de-Jouy, the Boulevard Montparnasse, in turn witnessed my triumphal march. I took no notice of my fellowmen, for I was in my hour. I do not know how my gaze happened to fall, near the Observatory, on a figure moving furtively under a lamp. It was a slip of a girl, with a fleece of red-gold hair. My joy was too great that evening for me to bear it alone. But, standing by her, not for a moment did I think that her body was really her own. The slight form was that of the women of the Champs-Elysées, of the beauties of Maxim's, nay, of those maidens, incomparably fairer, who were doubtless even then awaiting me in a far away German Court, on the banks of a Wagnerian river, beguiling the weary hours with the sweetest strains of the Intermezzo. * * * * * * Ten o'clock, and the appointment with M. Thierry which I had almost forgotten. He was reading in a corner by the fire, and when I entered he came forward with a beatific smile. "I have arranged everything with M. Berthomieu. You are to go to him." "My dear master," I replied, "I'm afraid I have given you all the trouble for nothing." And I told him all that had happened the previous evening. In spite of my wish to appear unmoved, I could not manage to conceal my pleasure. I was disappointed that he did not seem to share it at once. He looked at me with astonishment, even with disapproval, I thought. These university people are all the same, I reflected, no salvation outside the University. I abandoned the pose I found so unnatural to proclaim far and wide my pride in my new glories. "And, after all," I wound up, "I ask myself how many examinations I should have to pass, how many years I should have to wait to reach the position which is open to me at the start, ten thousand marks a year." "That's true," he murmured, musing. He looked into the fire for a minute, then got up and went to the bookcase, from which he returned with a large volume in one of those dull-coloured, gilded, but tasteless bindings which characterize many English and German books. "Are you certain that the proposal has been made to you on behalf of the Grand Duke of Lautenburg-Detmold?" he asked. "Yes," I replied, "on behalf of the Grand Duke Frederick-Augustus." "That's the man. To be tutor to his only son, Duke Joachim."