"What is needed the most down there is good soil. Really fertile
land costs as much as it does in France and is bought by wealthy
Parisians. The real colonists, the poor, are generally cast out into
the desert, where nothing grows for lack of water."

All eyes turned upon him. He colored. M. Walter asked: "Do you know
Algeria, sir?"

He replied: "Yes, sir, I was there twenty-eight months." Leaving the
subject of colonization, Norbert de Varenne questioned him as to
some of the Algerian customs. Georges spoke with animation; excited
by the wine and the desire to please, he related anecdotes of the
regiment, of Arabian life, and of the war.

Mme. Walter murmured to him in her soft tones: "You could write a
series of charming articles."

Forestier took advantage of the situation to say to M. Walter: "My
dear sir, I spoke to you a short while since of M. Georges Duroy and
asked you to permit me to include him on the staff of political
reporters. Since Marambot has left us, I have had no one to take
urgent and confidential reports, and the paper is suffering by it."

M. Walter put on his spectacles in order to examine Duroy. Then he
said: "I am convinced that M. Duroy is original, and if he will call
upon me tomorrow at three o'clock, we will arrange matters." After a
pause, turning to the young man, he said: "You may write us a short
sketch on Algeria, M. Duroy. Simply relate your experiences; I am
sure they will interest our readers. But you must do it quickly."