He was ignorant of facts susceptible of proof that might be called
geometric; he feared persons of education; he rejected superiority,
and scoffed, perhaps with some reason, at progress. I discovered in
his nature a number of sensitive fibres which it required the utmost
caution not to wound; so that a conversation with him of any length
was a positive strain upon the mind. When I had, as it were, felt of
his defects, I conformed to them with the same suppleness that his
wife showed in soothing him. Later in life I should certainly have
made him angry, but now, humble as a child, supposing that I knew
nothing and believing that men in their prime knew all, I was
genuinely amazed at the results obtained at Clochegourde by this
patient agriculturist. I listened admiringly to his plans; and with an
involuntary flattery which won his good-will, I envied him the estate
and its outlook--a terrestrial paradise, I called it, far superior to
Frapesle.

"Frapesle," I said, "is a massive piece of plate, but Clochegourde is
a jewel-case of gems,"--a speech which he often quoted, giving credit
to its author.

"Before we came here," he said, "it was desolation itself."

I was all ears when he told of his seed-fields and nurseries. New to
country life, I besieged him with questions about prices, means of
preparing and working the soil, etc., and he seemed glad to answer all
in detail.

"What in the world do they teach you in your colleges?" he exclaimed
at last in astonishment.