he conclusively said as he deposited another thousand-franc
note, which, within a few moments, accrued to the French
government.


Longchamps was but the beginning of a series of days and nights
which wore upon my constitution--not indeed with the intensity
of mortification which my former conspicuosity had engendered,
yet my sorrows were stringent. It is true that I had been, since
the age of seventeen, no stranger to the gaieties and
dissipations afforded by the capitals of Europe; I may say I had
exhausted these, yet always with some degree of quiet, including
intervals of repose. I was tired of all the great foolishnesses
of youth, and had thought myself done with them. Now I found
myself plunged into more uproarious waters than I had ever known
I, who had hoped to begin a life of usefulness and peace, was
forced to dwell in the midst of a riot, pursuing my
extraordinary charge.

There is no need that I should describe those days and nights.
They remain in my memory as a confusion of bad music, crowds,
motor-cars and champagne of which Poor Jr. was a distributing
centre. He could never be persuaded to the Louvre, the
Carnavalet, or the Luxembourg; in truth, he seldom rose in time
to reach the museums, for they usually close at four in the
afternoon. Always with the same inscrutable meekness of
countenance, each night he methodically danced the cake-walk at
Maxim's or one of the Montemarte restaurants, to the cheers of
acquaintances of many nationalities, to whom he offered
libations with prodigal enormity. He carried with him, about the