And Argensola, like a dog who gets up and shakes himself, would disappear to continue his reading in some miserable little coffee house in the neighborhood.

In his official capacity, this widely gifted man often descended from the peaks of intellectuality to the vulgarities of everyday life.  He was the steward of the lord of the manor, the intermediary between the pocketbook and those who appeared bill in hand.  “Money!” he would say laconically at the end of the month, and Desnoyers would break out into complaints and curses.  Where on earth was he to get it, he would like to know.  His father was as regular as a machine, and would never allow the slightest advance upon the following month.  He had to submit to a rule of misery.  Three thousand francs a month!—­what could any decent person do with that? . . .  He was even trying to cut that down, to tighten the band, interfering in the running of his house, so that Dona Luisa could not make presents to her son.  In vain he had appealed to the various usurers of Paris, telling them of his property beyond the ocean.  These gentlemen had the youth of their own country in the hollow of their hand and were not obliged to risk their capital in other lands.  The same hard luck pursued him when, with sudden demonstrations of affection, he had tried to convince Don Marcelo that three thousand francs a month was but a niggardly trifle.

The millionaire fairly snorted with indignation.  “Three thousand francs a trifle!” And the debts besides, that he often had to pay for his son! . . .

“Why, when I was your age,” . . . he would begin saying—­but Julio would suddenly bring the dialogue to a close.  He had heard his father’s story too many times.  Ah, the stingy old miser!  What he had been giving him all these months was no more than the interest on his grandfather’s legacy. . . .  And by the advice of Argensola he ventured to get control of the field.  He was planning to hand over the management of his land to Celedonio, the old overseer, who was now such a grandee in his country that Julio ironically called him “my uncle.”

Desnoyers accepted this rebellion coldly.  “It appears just to me.  You are now of age!” Then he promptly reduced to extremes his oversight of his home, forbidding Dona Luisa to handle any money.  Henceforth he regarded his son as an adversary, treating him during his lightning apparitions at the avenue Victor Hugo with glacial courtesy as though he were a stranger.

For a while a transitory opulence enlivened the studio.  Julio had increased his expenses, considering himself rich.  But the letters from his uncle in America soon dissipated these illusions.  At first the remittances exceeded very slightly the monthly allowance that his father had made him.  Then it began to diminish in an alarming manner.  According to Celedonio, all the calamities on earth seemed to be falling upon his plantation.  The pasture land was yielding scantily, sometimes for lack of rain, sometimes because of floods, and the herds were perishing by hundreds.  Julio required more income, and the crafty half-breed sent him what he asked for, but simply as a loan, reserving the return until they should adjust their accounts.