"I did it with all my heart; I wish I times since. One was a selection of had succeeded," I replied. When I had locked the door, we turned down the street, which was full of snow, walking at about thirty steps' distance one from the other; he in front, and I behind, as if we were perfect strangers going the same way. When I entered the church he was already in the Rantzau pew by his brother's side. I hurried up to the organ, and mass began. CHAPTER XIV. FROM that time forward George did not look in as before. "Good day, Monsieur Florent," he would call out, going by, and that was all we heard or saw of him. I think he mistrusted me, fancying I was of the same mind as his father; but knowing in what a delicate position I was at the Mairie, and how cautious I had to be, he bore me no ill-will. I called on Monsieur Jean from time to time and had a little music at his house; for after having been invited I could not keep quite away; but my presence was not agreeable to Monsieur Lebel, who was no friend of mine. He looked vexed as soon as he saw me come in, and treated me with hauteur; he moreover called our most beautiful anthems fusty old tunes, an expression that set me against him. Duets and romances were his forte; he played a few chords here and there by way of accompaniment which did not reveal any very deep study in harmony, but his voice was agreeable, and had his manner not been so repulsive I should have gone to hear him sing oftener. Louise was always delighted to see me, but it struck me she had grown pensive and pale. Whenever it was time for me to leave she took me to the gate, holding my hands, as if to delay my departure, saying, with beseeching looks, "Do come oftener, Monsieur Florent; if you only knew how happy I am when you are here!" These words and her voice impressed me I imagined she was not very happy, that she did not like singing with Monsieur Lebel. I was not quite sure, but I had an idea there was something amiss. Benjamin Franklin's "Maxims;" the other a "Discourse on the Transformation of our Globe," by George Cuvier. I was so happy to spend my leisure over these books, up in my little study, that I forgot everything else. I scarcely marked the return of the fine season, the hill, or the gardens. The orchards had been some time in blossom before I even thought of spending my Thursdays and Sundays out of doors. What a sensible man that Benjamin Franklin was! Nothing can surpass the wisdom of his precepts, especially to working-men. For instance, he says, Experience is a very dear school; but the only one in which fools learn anything. Good mechanics are all desirous to perfect themselves in their business, and they appreciate the advantages of travel. In order to travel with profit, they should let nothing pass over without close examination, and without inquiring, "What is this used for?" If you do not travel in this way it is as well to stop at see green trees, white houses, and four-footed animals anywhere. When you come to a village full of ruins, you may be sure it is full of loungers and idlers. home, for you can When you meet no ploughman out in the fields at sunrise you may be certain they sit over beer until midnight. Where girls look thin and wan, there is a good deal of dancing, and no work. Beware of bankrupts when you see tradesPeople take holidays on weekdays. You need not apply for work in a place where the roads are ill-kept: go farther on. Never stop where you observe working-men make low bows to well-dressed gentlemen: there is a village tyrant in the neighbourhood, and if you do not fall in his clutches, his menials will make what they can out of you. When you find yourself thrown among nothing but lawyers and doctors, take good care to avoid being sued, and keep in good health. When you come to a place where the roads are in good order; the fields well ploughed, and where no beggars fill the highways; where schools and hospitals are the finest buildings in the city, rest there, my son, you are among a good-hearted and wise population. If, on the other hand, you find poor huts close to fine mansions, hasten on; tears are often shed here. . . . The whole book could be quoted from beginning to end. A bible for the labouring classes could be made out of Winter passed over in this manner. Benjamin Franklin's excellent works. At the beginning of spring my son Paul, It would be held in less veneration than who had just obtained a good situation as ours; but it would contain notions on under-master, at Dieuze, knowing how agriculture, trade, industry, science, and fond I was of good books, sent me two evergthing that is useful and interesting, volumes, which I have read a hundred [It would contain precepts out he duties These reflections, and others of the same nature, greatly calmed my conscience, and I settled that I would complete my collection of plants by the addition of all the antediluvian specimens I could find in our localities. of fathers, sons, citizens, and the exam- | a wife and children, could go and sacrifice ples of those great men whose examples himself for the sake of mankind. have promoted the cause of civilization. Then there would be no stories in it about Abraham and Hagar, Lot and his daughters, David and Bathsheba, Dinah and the sons of Sichem - stories which schoolmasters find it so difficult to explain, and can only do so by saying these were all holy patriarchs, who gave birth to generations of virtuous descendants. As to the discourse of George Cuvier, it was so clear, so grand, I thought of it for weeks and months after I had read it. It quite destroyed all my notions of the creation according to Moses. The work of the Almighty appeared infinitely more sublime to me after I had read it than before. I knew that He had not only created the world once, but several times, by renewing the soil, rocks, plants, animals, stars, and everything from the summit of the highest mountains to the lowest depths, making the elements subservient to His wondrous designs; sometimes choosing fire, sometimes water, volcanoes, seas, rivers, lakes, and even unknown agents - all the instruments of His will. Sunny spring was fast advancing. The mountains of Saar-blanche and Saar-rouge were rent by hundreds of gushing torrents or trickling streams that disclosed geological strata, which in some parts were 1200 metres deep, and offered a prospect of rich explorations. Since the roads had been commenced there were quarries too all over the place, in which some of my old pupils were employed, among whom I was sure to be welcome. I immediately had a long deal table carried into my small study, on which I meant to lay out my discoveries. My old love of science had returned with increased vigour. No sooner was it daylight every Thursday morning than off I would start, with a piece of bread and my flagon of kirsch in my bag, and my tin box slung under my left arm. I would sometimes go as far as the defiles of the Saar and of Blancru, trudging along under the burning sun, through ravines and hollow beds that had dried up since the floods had ceased. My pursuits no longer led me under the shade of cool woods, over soft moss, through heather and furze; I had to wanIn my opinion the creation, as ex- der about barren rock and in arid, dry pounded by Moses, was not so satisfac-spots, containing chalk, sand, and stone Remains of various kinds of extinct plants, the bones of animals, and traces of what existed long ago, are to be found in every layer of soil and sand. There they are to prove that prodigious transformations have taken place: no one can deny it. tory as the creation described by Cuvier. I felt grievously distressed when I reflected that I had for thirty years led my scholars in error. I laid all the fault on those unfortunate Hebrews, who had not only misled me but the whole world besides. It was another great comfort to reflect that none of my scholars had retained a word of what they had been taught whenever I had had no tangible proof wherewith to demonstrate my lessons. The way to instruct our children is to say, "Touch!" "Look!" All my explanations on the miracles had not troubled their brains, for they had never tried to make them out, and had forgotten all about them after they left school. in the rawest state. Large drops of perspiration often trickled down my cheeks. When I felt very much exhausted I used to think of the shoes and coats I had worn out on the old rocks, and then called myself an old fool who did not know how to save his strength, but gave himself up to the allurements of his passions. Our people by this time all knew I went out to pick up stones, and in spite of their neighbourly feeling they laughed when I came home with an old straw hat on, my legs shaking beneath me, my back bent half double, and my hands, face, and neck burnt as brown as gingerbread. "Good heavens! Monsieur Florent," exclaimed the reapers, turning round, The more I thought of it, it occurred to "whatever are you looking for at this me that our rectors, inspectors, and pro- hour? What is the use of those stones? fessors, who certainly were acquainted Come, Monsieur Florent, sit down, and with Cuvier's discourse, always recom- refresh yourself with a draught from our mended the Bible; therefore it was not jug!" Saying this they would shake up to be expected that a poor master, having a heap of new hay and pass me their whey, which was always standing to cool in the stream close by. I showed them my stores in return, explaining the different traces of leaves on them, and telling them how many thou sand years back such vegetation had existed. They listened, and seemed to understand, but invariably said, when I had done, "You must be a very inquisitive man, Monsieur Florent! What can all this signify to us? A hundred years before we were born, or a hundred years after we are buried, will all amount to the same thing in the end. Those who lived in those remote ages will never have the toothache in our days, that's all !" Thereupon they went on with their work without giving the subject a second thought. I, on the other hand, attached no importance to anything going on in the village. Monsieur Jean's quarrels with Monsieur Jacques, the warrants, and other matters I had thought so important before had ceased to interest me. My attention was all directed to terrestrial commotions, irruptions, cataclysms, inundations. I did not even take time to listen to all my wife told me about the affairs of the every-day world. It appears, however, that during this period George, having got tired of his father's remonstrances, for he wished him to go on with his studies, had given up coming home regularly. He associated with no one, wandered about the woods, and lived like a rind of savage. He took after the Rantzaus in one way, nevertheless; and that was their greed in business dealings; there had never been a keener eye among them. He would go from one fell to the other, maintaining | the full execution of contracts; pitilessly dismissing any one of his father's men who dared disobey or even answer him. He had come to this in the course of a very few months, so every one in the place was afraid of him. This is always how an affair of this kind is set on foot; the parties most interested seem to know nothing about such rumours, and all at once they are engaged! There was perhaps no foundation for the story, but, as I say, it went about, and I was sorry for Louise; had I been in her place, Monsieur Lebel would not have been my choice, but there is no accounting for taste; she was probably under the charm of his fine manners and pretty voice. One day, towards the end of July, I went to the marble quarries of Frâmont, which were being worked by one of my old scholars, Baptiste Dida. He had had all the debris which were marked with shell or leaf tracery put aside for me at the bottom of a pit. I admired the deep excavations and regularity of the different strata, one lying over the other in huge slices over fifty metres deep. It was clear these heights had been covered with water for centuries. Then I rested, locking at the quarrymen lifting up blocks of marble with levers and cranes. What with taking an interest first in one thing and then in another, it was two o'clock before I turned homewards, carrying a bag full of curious petrifactions with me. It was a sultry day and the heat was particularly oppressive along the open plain called the Chemin-des-Bornes. I was weary, for my bag was quite a burden, and I got on but slowly, leaning more heavily on my stick than usual; the pine-wood seemed a long way off. The sun sank in the direction of the Lorraine mountains, beyond which the sky was as red as a burning furnace; not one insect, not even the cricket, which bears up against heat, was to be heard rustling among the dry stubble or on the parched ground. I dragged along with such effort that my skin was covered with moisture, and I was in such a state of exhaustion that I had not strength left to think. I was a full hour getting to the path that led off to the pines, but when once there, it sloped down among brambles and brushwood. I could even hear the inviting rush of the river at a distance. The summit of the old trees now turned purple, the small wood beneath was glowing in bright radiance: this gorgeous spectacle and the prospect of rest My wife talked of an evening of music by the river revived me. I was turning parties and the grand dinners given by down the meandering path with a quicker Monsieur Jean; a vague report was cur-step when I suddenly perceived, about rent of a projected union between Mdlle. Louise and the head-keeper. "He is not only a Rantzau," they said, "but he is the sternest of the whole lot! When I thought over this in my leisure time, between lessons, I was much grieved; I could not understand the change in George, I knew him to be good and generous, and his harshness to the poor astonished as well as pained me. thirty steps lower down, the figure of a man wearing a deep-brimmed straw hat that seemed to have been alternately scorched under the sun, then soaked by showers; his shoulders were square, his frame large, and a stick stood between his two knees. This man's appearance alarmed me. I looked hard at him as I drew nearer, and, to my utter wonderment, I perceived he was George sitting there in apparent torpor, watching the river flow by. What could he be thinking of in the semi-obscurity of light and shade? God knows; but his reverie was deep, for he did not hear me approach, and I had to make a slight stir to attract his attention. He turned, looking up, grasped his stick meanwhile, and his eyes flashed like those of a wolf. Is that you, Monsieur Florent?" Myself, George. I have been to the Framont quarries, and feel very tired," replied I, continuing my descent. He came up a few steps and helped me down; but when I passed the place he had been sitting near and scooped my hands as I leaned over the river, for my thirst was intense, he stopped me. "Wait a moment," he cried, "you are too warm to drink cold water; here is wine!" In a second he had thrown his gourd down, dipped it in the water to cool, and placed it in my hands. "Sit down," he continued, when I had taken a little. "No, I must keep in motion; my limbs would stiffen, and I could not get on again." Then let me carry your things for you. Dear me, what a load, Monsieur Fiorent! The bag weighs at least twenty pounds," he said, laying it over his shoul der. "At least that, George; they are fossils. If I did not think so much of them I should have emptied them out on the road. They are too heavy for me.” He said nothing in reply. As we walked I told him all about the magnificent petrifactions I was collecting. "You are a happy man, Monsieur Florent," said he thoughtfully; "you always have a liking for something or other." "It is nothing like the love you feel for your wife and children." "Well, that is a singular way of keeping up your argument against friends!" I replied. "Because I love my wife and children, does it ensue that I cannot love others besides? What is there to prevent you from marrying and having the same affections as other people Merciful God! I do believe young folks want to enjoy everything at the same time; life is long enough to teach them patience." I was astonished to find George could talk with so little common sense. "I shall never marry," said he. "I shall be the last of the Rantzaus. When a race produces nothing but monsters it is as well to let it die out." "Monsters! Who are you talking of?" "Who, but that old thief of an uncle who is trying to ruin us, who has sworn our death, who is so shameless as to give his daughter away - his own blood-to that miserable head-keeper, with nothing else in view but the prospect of crushing us under legal documents and of redu cing me and my father to misery! Have you not heard of all this?" 66 You told me yourself some time ago; but I never would believe a father could sacrifice his child, his only child, to hatred and revenge; it is against nature, it is not possible!" "Impossible! Why, the comedian is always there; there is music every day; and every day the old man stands bowing and scraping at the door, Good-day, Monsieur le Garde-Général. I have the honour, Monsieur le Garde-Général. Allow me, Monsieur le Garde-Général. Sit down, Monsieur le Garde-Général. Louise, come down: here's Monsieur le Garde-Général!'” 66 "Yes, that is true. I first had my plants, then my insects, now my fossils." I smiled as I enumerated my pursuits. The cool shade and the wine had done me good. We were walking in the twilight under quivering, leafy boughs. "And "Louise love him?" George suddenly then I never complain," I resumed; "but stood still and looked at me in a fury. at your age, George, with your fortune," Louise love such a coxcomb, such a your education, you might lead a pleasant life indeed." But," said I, gently interrupting George's mimicry, "supposing Louise loved this young man?" figure as that!-a man with a pointed nose, dressed in white from top to toe, How who rolls his eyes up to the ceiling and moved. "I promise you I will go no puts his hand on his heart? You must later than to-morrow after school. be out of your senses, Monsieur Florent! | have things got on in this way? It is -a Rantzau? a girl of common sense? perfectly horrible to think of." Allons, allons donc !" After shrugging his shoulders he walked on again, I following and turning things over in my mind. After a pause, he continued, "I see how things are going on,” said George, "and if they continue much longer in this state He did not finish. We had come to the end of the forest and happened to be standing on the same spot from which we had seen Louise the preceding year run down to the river and hold back the tottering waggon-load with her pitchfork. George remembered the circumstance very probably, for he struck his flint, and stopped to look a long time at the Saar, then walked on by me in silence. "She is dying of grief, and she runs away from him every time he puts his foot in the house. The old man has to run after her; sometimes he calls her over and over again, for she pretends not to hear; when he finds her, he exchanges words with her while she stands watering the flowers and looking over the hedge, as if in search of some one to come and help her. You do not see all these things. It is a disgrace and an abominable shame! I sometimes fancy I should enjoy going over the way and "Look at that place yonder," said throttling the old one or tossing the George, pointing to his uncle's house, young one out of window. Ah, if I held which rose in perfect darkness at the Uncle Jean, how I would squeeze him!|farther end of the street. Lively, eh? he would not laugh long, and Monsieur That is where Uncle Jean makes his le Garde-Général would soon stop his daughter so happy! Well, good-night, cooing. Ah, the villains!" Monsieur Florent." I cast a side-glance at George's large, firmly-set jaw-bones, his beaked-nose, bright eyes, and clenched fist. 'Yes, yes, I dare say they wouldn't like it," I replied, "if you once laid your hands on them." A strange idea now crossed my mind. I thought it was singular he should be in such excitement about Louise in her troubles after the hard things he had so often said of her. "So you really do believe she is unhappy?" I asked, after another silence. "Unhappy is not the word, she is wretched and ill, very ill; she is fast declining, getting as white as wax. Do you remember how fresh she looked, how her eyes sparkled, and how pink her lips were when she came home from the convent? She is half dying now. Monsieur Florent, you really should go and see her now and then, out of charitywere it but out of pity. Since you began your collection you attend to nothing! She used to be so happy when you looked in before, and relieved her of her father and the other's company for a little while. It gave her breathing-time. You are not strong; but such wretches as those feel uncomfortable in the presence of good men. You should recommence church music and sing Kyries and Alleluias again, Monsieur Florent." "I will, George," I replied, greatly I began to see how matters stood. It was perfectly dark when we reached my house-door. He left, and I walked up-stairs. "So here you are at last, Florent!" cried my wife, relieving me of my bag of fossils. "What a time you have been! Mademoiselle Louise has just left. She waited until seven." "Louise Rantzau ?" "Indeed! What did she call for ?" "I don't know; she wanted to speak to you. She will look in again to-morrow." In less than an hour I had got through supper and into bed, being for once completely tired out. From The Saturday Review. THE PRUSSIAN ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS. SHORTLY after the passing of the four Acts which have introduced so remarkable a change into the ecclesiastical system of Prussia, the Catholic bishops immediately affected by them met together, and it is now announced as the result of their deliberations that they cannot possibly accept the new order of things which is to be imposed upon them. They will resist so far as resistance may be possible, and, if they obey, they will only obey under protest. It was scarcely possible that they should come to any |