able to procure three thousand francs within two days, I shall be obliged
to leave Paris, to give up my studies and my work here, and go and bury
myself in my native town and become a plain country doctor."

Glady did not flinch; if he had not foreseen the amount he expected the
demand, and he continued gazing at his feet.

"You know," continued Saniel, "that I am the son of peasants; my father
was marshal in a poor village of Auvergne. At school I gave proof of a
certain aptitude for work above my comrades, and our cure conceived an
affection for me and taught me all he knew. Then he made me enter a
small seminary. But I had neither the docile mind nor the submissive
character that was necessary for this education, and after several years
of pranks and punishments, although I was not expelled, I was given to
understand that my departure would be hailed with delight. I then became
usher in a small school, but without salary, taking board and lodging as
payment. I passed a good examination and was preparing for my degree,
when I left the school owing to a quarrel. I had made some money by
giving private lessons, and I found myself the possessor of nearly eighty
francs. I started for Paris, where I arrived at five o'clock one morning
in June, and where I knew, no one. I had a small trunk containing a few
shirts, which obliged me to take a carriage. I told the coachman to
take me to a hotel in the Latin Quarter. 'Which hotel?' he asked; 'I do
not care,' I answered. 'Do you wish to go to the Hotel du Senat?'
The name pleased me; perhaps it was an omen. He took me to the Hotel du
Senat, where, with what I had left of my eighty francs, I paid a month in
advance. I stayed there eight years."

"That is remarkable."