own truthfulness.  If I may cite my own case, I can tell you that, obliged as I am by Monsieur de Mortsauf’s condition to avoid litigation and to bring to an immediate settlement all difficulties which arise in the management of Clochegourde, and which would otherwise cause him an excitement under which his mind would succumb, I have invariably settled matters promptly by taking hold of the knot of the difficulty and saying to our opponents:  “We will either untie it or cut it!”

It will often happen that you do a service to others and find yourself ill-rewarded; I beg you not to imitate those who complain of men and declare them to be all ungrateful.  That is putting themselves on a pedestal indeed! and surely it is somewhat silly to admit their lack of knowledge of the world.  But you, I trust, will not do good as a usurer lends his money; you will do it—­will you not?—­for good’s sake.  Noblesse oblige.  Nevertheless, do not bestow such services as to force others to ingratitude, for if you do, they will become your most implacable enemies; obligations sometimes lead to despair, like the despair of ruin itself, which is capable of very desperate efforts.  As for yourself, accept as little as you can from others.  Be no man’s vassal; and bring yourself out of your own difficulties.

You see, dear friend, I am advising you only on the lesser points of life.  In the world of politics things wear a different aspect; the rules which are to guide your individual steps give way before the national interests.  If you reach that sphere where great men revolve you will be, like God himself, the sole arbiter of your determinations.  You will no longer be a man, but law, the living law; no longer an individual, you are then the Nation incarnate.  But remember this, though you judge, you will yourself be judged; hereafter you will be summoned before the ages, and you know history well enough to be fully informed as to what deeds and what sentiments have led to true grandeur.

I now come to a serious matter, your conduct towards women.  Wherever you visit make it a principle not to fritter yourself away in a petty round of gallantry.  A man of the last century who had great social success never paid attention to more than one woman of an evening, choosing the one who seemed the most neglected.  That man, my dear child, controlled his epoch.  He wisely reckoned that by a given time all women would speak well of him.  Many young men waste their most precious possession, namely, the time necessary to create connections which contribute more than all else to social success.  Your springtime is short, endeavor to make the most of it.  Cultivate influential women.  Influential women are old women; they will teach you the intermarriages and the secrets of all the families of the great world; they will show you the cross-roads which will bring you soonest to your goal.  They will be fond of you.  The bestowal of protection is their