Castles in the Air

at year of grace 1816-so poor, indeed, that a dish of roast pork was lo

ntil the country had paid its debts to her foreign invaders, and thousands of our own men still straggling home through Germany and Belgium-the remnants of Napoléon's Grand Army-ex-prisoners of war, or scattered units who had found their weary way ho

s which had caused thrones to totter and tyrants to quake, and who had brought more criminals and intriguers to book than any other man alive-I now sat in my office in the Rue Daunou day afte

at shameless traitor-that I had in very truth nurtured a serpent in my bosom. But I am proverbially tender-hearted. You will believe me or not, I simply could not turn that vermin out into the street. He deserved it! Oh, even he would have admitted w

I made as little difference as I could in my intercourse with him. I continued to treat him almost as an equal. The only difference I did make in our mode of life was that I no longer gave him

s head off, and with that, grumble, grumble all the time, threatening to leave me, if you please, to leave my service for more remun

s in April, after I had consumed my scanty repast, and whilst Theodore in the anteroom was snoring like a hog. At even, when tired out and thirsty, I would sit for a while outside a humble café on the outer boulevards, I watched the amorous couples

timid rat-tat at the outer door of the apartment roused Theodore from his brutish slumbers. I heard him shuffling up to the door, and I hurriedly

be it quite accurately. It was timid, if you will understand me, and yet bold, as coming from one w

sight of a lovely woman, beautifully dressed, young, charming, s

me who are not pestered with creditors. She wore two beautiful diamond rings upon her hands outside her perfectly fitting glove, and her bo

s like tiny mirrors, whilst her dainty ankles were

her, gave me a look that sent my susceptible heart a-flutter and caused me to wish that I had not taken that bottle-green coat of

on as she was seated, "and I

or a moment or two while he attends to the enormous pressure of correspondence which, if allowed to accumulate for five minutes, would immediately overwhelm him. I signed and folded the lette

u deign to tell me what procure

obvious impatience, a frown upon her exquisite bro

go I was poor and had to earn my living by working in a milliner's shop in the Rue St. Honoré. The concierge in the house where I used to lodge is my only friend, but she cannot help me for reasons which will presently be made

had an aunt of whom he had never as much as breathed a word. He had an aunt, and that aunt a concierge-ipso facto, if I may so express it, a woman of some substance, who, no doubt, would often have been only too pleased to extend hospitality to the man who had so signally befriended her nephew; a woman, Sir, who was undoubtedly possessed of savi

my mind and to insist upon an introduction to his aunt

e child, leaving my poor mother to struggle along for a livelihood as best she could. My mother died last year, Mon

y interested

lish lawyer in London telling me that my father, Jean Paul Bachelier-that was his name, Monsieur-h

, for my throat felt p

usand franc

nglish lawyers were to pay me the interest on the money until I married or reache

creature, to whom the sum of one hundred thousand francs was to be paid over when she married

pray you," I contrived t

or whom I worked. He is a kind, affable gentleman and was most helpful to me. He was, as a matter of fact, just going over to England the very next d

had paused a moment,

on your

oung to live alone and needed a guardian to look after my interests, they would appoint him my guardian, and suggested that I should make my home with him until I was married or had attained the age of twenty-one. Mr. Farewell told me that though this arrangeme

rd!" I exclaimed in an ungua

gazing at me with eyes full of astonishment not unmixed with distrust, "I am anticip

number sixty-five

ied man?" I a

widower,

dle-

lderly,

ed with joy. I was

g from business-he is, as I said, a commercial tra

francs!-a lovely creature!-an unscrupulous widower!-an equally dangerous young nephew. I rose and

ned to my desk, and was able once more to as

my best professional manner, "I do not

te blush suffused her damask cheeks. "You must know that at first I was very happy in the house of m

time-and the blush became deepe

s too old,"

" she assented

h joy had not a sharp pang, like a

said as jocosely, as i

. Cazalè

perfect indifference. "

e jumped up and danced with glee. The happy thoughts were hammering away in my mind: "The old one is much too old-the young one she never sees!" and I could have knelt down and kissed the

, and with perfect sang-froid once more asked the beaute

e intolerable. He pursues me with his attentions, and he has become insanely jealous. He will not allow me to speak to anyone, and has

ear. "Not that she cares about that! Tra la, la, la, la, la!" Wha

te with the English lawyers in your name and suggest to them the advisability of appoin

in somewhat impatiently, "seeing that I can

queried,

r names nor their re

d. "Will you expl

diligent inquiries as to her whereabouts when he felt that he was going to die. Thus, he discovered that she had died the previous year and that I was working in the atelier of Madame Cécile, the well-known milliner. When the English lawy

tears and excla

who I am! Mr. Farewell took everything, even the or

e forced by the law to give

mber either their name or their address; and if I did, how could I prove my identity to their satisfaction? I don't know a soul in Paris save a few irresponsible millinery apprentices and Madame

ble in grief than she

pyrean whilst conceiving daring plans for my body's permanent abode in elysium. At this present moment, for instance-to name but a few of the beatific visions which literally dazzled me with their radiance-I could see my fair client as a lovely and blushing bride by my side, even whilst Messieurs X. and X., th

d address of the English lawyers, but I will have communicated with them on your behalf, and all your papers proving your identity will be in your hands. Then we can come to a decision with regard to a happier and more comfortable ho

and with a gesture of exquisite grace she extracted a hund

d with splendid dignity, "

I expect you to work for me and not to know if, in the end, I should repay you for all your trouble? I pray you to take this small sum witho

y to her interests, I accompanied her to the door, and anon saw her grace

undred-franc note which my fair client had left on the table. I secured the note and I didn't g