proof and commenced to read in a loud voice, "The Bethlehem Society
and Mr. Bernard Jansoulet," a long dithyramb in favour of artificial
lactation, written from notes made by Jenkins, which were recognisable
through certain fine phrases much affected by the Irishman, such as "the
long martyrology of childhood," "the sordid traffic in the breast," "the
beneficent nanny-goat as foster-mother," and finishing, after a pompous
description of the splendid establishment at Nanterre, with a eulogy
of Jenkins and a glorification of Jansoulet: "O Bernard Jansoulet,
benefactor of childhood!" It was a sight to see the vexed, scandalized
faces of the guests. What an intriguer was this Moessard! What an
impudent piece of sycophantry! And the same envious, disdainful smile
quivered on every mouth. And the deuce of it was that a man had to
applaud, to appear charmed, the master of the house not being weary as
yet of incense, and taking everything very seriously, both the article
and the applause it provoked. His big face shone during the reading.
Often, down yonder, far away, had he dreamed a dream of having his
praises sung like this in the newspapers of Paris, of being somebody
in that society, the first among all, on which the entire world has its
eyes fixed as on the bearer of a torch. Now, that dream was becoming
a reality. He gazed upon all these people seated at his board, the
sumptuous dessert, this panelled dining-room as high, certainly, as the
church of his native village; he listened to the dull murmur of Paris
rolling along in its carriages and treading the pavements beneath his
windows, with the intimate conviction that he was about to become
an important piece in that active and complicated machine. And then,
through the atmosphere of physical well-being produced by the meal,
between the lines of that triumphant vindication, by an effect of
contrast, he beheld unfold itself his own existence, his youth,
adventurous as it was sad, the days without bread, the nights without
shelter. Then suddenly, the reading having come to an end, his joy