Conscience -- Volume 1

ined staring at the sidewalk, slightly dazed. It

he murmured. "Beho

e parapet, watched the sombre, rapidly flowing Seine, its small waves fringed with white foam. The rain had ceased, but the wind blew in squalls, roughening the surface of the river and making the red and green lights of th

What better

ter. One plunge, and he would end the fierce battle in which he had so

Glady. But he knew him, and knew that his avarice, about which every one joked, had a certain reason for its existence. However, he said to himself that if the landed proprietor obstinately refused a friendly loan, which would only pay the debts of youth, the poet would willingly fill the role

ad dealings. In reality, his creditors had not harassed him very much until lately, but this state of affairs would not last when they saw him prosecuted; they also would sue him, and how could he defend himself? How should he live? Hi

eams were not realized-if he

that of others; with Hamlet he said: "To die, to sleep, no more," but without adding: "To die, to sleep, perchance to

aslight, and threw a shadow over him that made him straighten himself up. Wh

emplates throwing himself into the river, and the poli

said to the a

stinctly the steps of the policeman following him, wh

this surveillance ceased, and he could then indulge freely in refle

ves; the strong fight

, he was not yet a

fairs, preferring the bad to the good-of successions, marriages, interdictions, extortions; and if he had not been to him it was for fear of being refused, as much as from the dread of putting himself in s

in the directory. It was but a step, and he decided to run the risk; there was need of haste. Discouraged by all the applications that he had made up to this time, disheartened b

was the concierge's lodge. Saniel knocked at the door in vain; it was locked and would not open. He waited several minutes, and in his nervous impatience walked restlessly up and down the court. At last an old woman appeared carrying a sma

seemed long to him, before there was an answer. At last he heard a slow and heav

do you

eur Ca

e. Who

or Sa

t sent for

tor that I am her

e hour when I r

u are a

is a

pen the door, asked Saniel

nto my

or furniture; it communicated with the office of the business man, which was larger, but

fie said, "and when I am alone

, and, seating himself before his desk, lighted by

m ready to l

the shade

th Glady. He owed three thousand francs to the upholsterer who had furnished his a

fie asked, while holding his

Boulevard

fter three quarters of the sum has been paid, and he has become rich a

at I have paid in instalments,

ill owe thr

es

is n

admiration for this

to offer for this loan

t position, I confess, a

ure, while the business man, with his cheek resting on his hand, lis

finished his explanation. "You

future's smile un

Sunday's sun may cha

y with you,

the end of my energy, and I assure you that

y can do. Tell a Greek who is dying o

ens in coelum,

that you have st

the country, deputy judge, and if unmerited evils had obliged him to resign and to hide the unpleasant circumstances in Paris, he never lost an opportunity to prove that by e

e I am not Greek," Sani

of my country have gr

shook h

in your whole person, which inspire me with confidence in you; but I have no money to put into such speculations. I can only be, as usual, a go-between-that is to say, I can propose the loan

el r

oing?" cri

ut

lties in the way, but I do not say there is no way to extricate you from embarrassment. I must look around. I have known you

g mouth all the compliments addressed to him. Why did he inspire a sudden interest in this man who had the re

for your symp

e you secure for the present. But will they assure your future? that is, will they permit you to continue the important works of which you have spoken to me, and on which your future depends? No. Your struggles will soon begin again. And