Unknown to me were those dance-halls, public or other, open to any of those thirty thousand women who are permitted to sell themselves in Paris; I had heard of the saturnalia of all ages, of every imaginable orgy, from Babylon to Rome, from the temple of Priapus to the Parc-aux-Cerfs, and I have always seen written on the sill of that door the word, “Pleasure.”  I found nothing suggestive of pleasure, but in its place another word; and it has always seemed ineffaceable, not graven in that glorious metal that takes the sun’s light, but in the palest of all, the cold colors of which seem tinted by the moonlight silver.

The first time I saw a mob, it was a depressing morning—­Ash Wednesday, near Courtille.  A cold, fine rain had been falling since the evening before; the streets were covered with pools of water.  Carriages with blinds down were strung out hither and thither, crowding between hedges of hideous men and women standing on the sidewalks.  That sinister wall of spectators had tigerish eyes, red with wine, gleaming with hatred.  The carriage-wheels splashed mud over them, but they did not move.  I was standing on the front seat of an open carriage; from time to time a man in rags would step out from the wall, hurl a torrent of abuse at us, then cover us with a cloud of flour.  Mud would soon follow; yet we kept on our way toward the Isle of Love and the pretty wood of Romainville, consecrated by so many sweet kisses.  One of my friends fell from his seat into the mud, narrowly escaping death on the paving.  The people threw themselves on him to overpower him, and we were obliged to hasten to his assistance.  One of the trumpeters who preceded us on horseback was struck on the shoulder by a paving-stone; the flour had given out.  I had never heard of anything like that.

I began to understand the time and comprehend the spirit of the age.

CHAPTER III

AFRICAN HOSPITALITY

Desgenais had planned a reunion of young people at his country house.  The best wines, a splendid table, gaming, dancing, hunting, nothing was lacking.  Desgenais was rich and generous.  He combined an antique hospitality with modern ways.  Moreover one could always find in his house the best books; his conversation was that of a man of learning and culture.  He was a problem.

I took with me a taciturn humor that nothing could overcome; he respected it scrupulously.  I did not reply to his questions and he dropped the subject; he was satisfied that I had forgotten my mistress.  I went to the chase and appeared at the table, and was as convivial as the best; he asked no more.