"You must learn. You will ride with Kessel, a marvellous horseman. Of course you must come to lunch at the Legation. I have a weird little sketch by Poiret, of which you must give me news. You will see it when I get back in ten days' time. You leave before me as you are expected as soon as possible. If you catch the 10 P.M. the day after tomorrow, you will be in Lautenburg about nine on Sunday morning." "Very well," I said. "Very well. Remember me gratefully to the Grand Duke, and convey my respectful homage to Her Highness the Grand Duchess. Oh, Heavens! What am I forgetting!" He rose, and took a sealed envelope from his wallet. "The Grand Chamberlain, Herr von Soldau, asked me to give you this," he said discreetly. "Travelling expenses. Good-bye and good luck. Excuse me, Madame Mazerat. I am now _entirely_ at your service." * * * * * * I had never spent a penny on a cab in Paris, except when luggage made one necessary going on or returning from holidays. As soon as I came out, however, I took one straight to my lodgings, so great was my haste to see what was inside that envelope I dared not open in the street. Indeed, I soon began to feel the benefits that accrue from the society of the great. "The Herr Tutor," ran a document, with the heading of the Ducal chancery, "will please find within the first quarter's salary and a thousand marks for travelling expenses." Three thousand five hundred marks accompanied this pleasant invitation. Four thousand francs and more! I, who had entered Paris only the day before without knowing what I should have to live on in a week's time, possessed four thousand francs and more! My call on M. Thierry was on my mind, and I decided to get it over at once, telling him I should be leaving the next day. I found him in his room. "I can see by your face," he said, "that everything is going well with you. I am glad of it, as perhaps I have alarmed you unnecessarily. When do you start?" "Tomorrow," I said. "So this is your last visit, dear boy. What can I say to you? I am sure you will carry out your pedagogic functions admirably. Don't forget the great maxim of Pascal's father: 'Try to keep your pupil ever worthy of his task.' That principle cannot be observed by the ordinary schoolmaster who has to address himself to the average of a class. But when you are dealing with a single pupil you can, and should, apply it." The splendid old man then gave me some suggestions as to the choice of books in preparing my courses of study. He insisted on my taking his _History of German Literature_, which I was to find extremely valuable on many occasions at Lautenburg.