M. Laroche-Mathieu looks very intelligent."

The old poet murmured: "Do you think so?"

The younger man hesitated in surprise: "Why, yes! Is he not
considered one of the most capable men in the Chamber?"

"That may be. In a kingdom of blind men the blind are kings. All
those people are divided between money and politics; they are
pedants to whom it is impossible to speak of anything that is
familiar to us. Ah, it is difficult to find a man who is liberal in
his ideas! I have known several, they are dead. Still, what
difference does a little more or a little less genius make, since
all must come to an end?" He paused, and Duroy said with a smile:

"You are gloomy to-night, sir!"

The poet replied: "I always am, my child; you will be too in a few
years. While one is climbing the ladder, one sees the top and feels
hopeful; but when one has reached that summit, one sees the descent
and the end which is death. It is slow work ascending, but one
descends rapidly. At your age one is joyous; one hopes for many
things which never come to pass. At mine, one expects nothing but
death."

Duroy laughed: "Egad, you make me shudder."

Norbert de Varenne continued: "You do not understand me now, but
later on you will remember what I have told you. We breathe, sleep,
drink, eat, work, and then die! The end of life is death. What do