"Why, crossing the stone bridge there over the _Seen_"--

"_Seine_"--interrupted the Doctor, giving the French
pronunciation.--"Always get a new word right in the first place,
my friend, and you will never get it wrong afterwards."

"Well, I was crossing the bridge there, and who should hail me, but
a suspicious-looking man, who, under pretence of seeking to polish my
boots, wanted slyly to unscrew their heels, and so steal all these
precious papers I've brought you."

"My good friend," said the man of gravity, glancing scrutinizingly upon
his guest, "have you not in your time, undergone what they call hard
times? Been set upon, and persecuted, and very illy entreated by some of
your fellow-creatures?"

"That I have, Doctor; yes, indeed."

"I thought so. Sad usage has made you sadly suspicious, my honest
friend. An indiscriminate distrust of human nature is the worst
consequence of a miserable condition, whether brought about by innocence
or guilt. And though want of suspicion more than want of sense,
sometimes leads a man into harm, yet too much suspicion is as bad as too
little sense. The man you met, my friend, most probably had no artful
intention; he knew just nothing about you or your heels; he simply
wanted to earn two sous by brushing your boots. Those blacking-men
regularly station themselves on the bridge."

"How sorry I am then that I knocked over his box, and then ran away.
But he didn't catch me."