things in the world. He had run through all his money at gambling and
with pretty girls, and so became, as it were, a soldier of fortune, who
amused himself whenever and however he could, and was at that time
quartered at Versailles.

"I knew him to the very depths of his childish heart, which was only too
easily penetrated and sounded, and I loved him like some old bachelor
uncle loves a nephew who plays him some tricks, but who knows how to
make him indulgent towards him, and how to wheedle him. He had made me
his confidant far more than his adviser, kept me informed of his
slightest tricks, though he always pretended to be speaking about one of
his friends, and not about himself, and I must confess that his youthful
impetuosity, his careless gaiety and his amorous ardor sometimes
distracted my thoughts and made me envy the handsome, vigorous young
fellow who was so happy at being alive, so that I had not the courage to
check him, to show him his right road, and to call out to him, 'Take
care!' as children do at blind man's buff.

"And one day, after one of those interminable _cotillons_, where the
couples do not leave each other for hours, but have the bridle on their
neck and can disappear together without anybody thinking of taking
notice of it, the poor fellow at last discovered what love was, that
real love which takes up its abode in the very center of the heart and
in the brain, and is proud of being there, and which rules like a
sovereign and tyrannous master, and so he grew desperately enamored of a
pretty, but badly brought up girl, who was as disquieting and as wayward
as she was pretty.

"She loved him, however, or rather she idolized him despotically, madly,
with all her enraptured soul, and all her excited person. Left to do as