the son of an old schoolfellow of mine, which circumstance, as you will readily understand, does not permit of my entertaining an offer which otherwise should have received the most mature consideration.’  I had learned what I came for without risking anything.  Well, I didn’t conceal from him that, so far as I was concerned, I would rather you took your wife from the country than that you brought home the most charming Parisienne; and that the Mouillards from father to son had always taken their wives from Bourges.  He entered perfectly into my sentiments, and we parted the best of friends.  Now, my boy, the facts are ascertained:  Mademoiselle Charnot is another’s; you must get your mourning over and start with me to-night.  To-morrow morning we shall be in Bourges, and you’ll soon be laughing over your Parisian delusions, I warrant you!”

I had heard my uncle out without interrupting him, though wrath, astonishment, and my habitual respect for M. Mouillard were struggling for the mastery within me.  I needed all my strength of mind to answer, with apparent calm.

“Yesterday, uncle, I had not made up my mind; today I have.”

“You are coming?”

“I am not.  Your action in this matter, uncle—­I do not know if you are aware of it—­has been perfectly unheard-of.  I can not acknowledge your right to act thus.  It puts between you and me two hundred miles of rail, and that forever.  Do you understand me?  You have taken the liberty of disclosing a secret which was not yours to tell; you have revealed a passion which, as it was hopeless, should not have been further mentioned, and certainly not exposed to such humiliation.  You went to see Monsieur Charnot without reflecting whether you were not bringing trouble into his household; without reflecting, further, whether such conduct as yours, which may perhaps be usual among your business acquaintances, was likely to succeed with me.  Perhaps you thought it would.  You have merely completed an experiment, begun long ago, which proves that we do not understand life in the same way, and that it will be better for both of us if I continue to live in Paris, and you continue to live at Bourges.”

“Ha! that’s how you take it, young man, is it?  You refuse to come? you try to bully me?”

“Yes.”

“Consider carefully before you let me leave here alone.  You know the amount of your fortune—­fourteen hundred francs a year, which means poverty in Paris.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Well, then, attend to what I am about to say.  For years past I have been saving my practice for you—­that is, an honorable and lucrative position all ready for you to step into.  But I am tired at length of your fads and your fancies.  If you do not take up your quarters at Bourges within a fortnight from now, the Mouillard practice will change its name within three weeks!” My uncle sniffed with emotion as he looked at me, expecting to see me totter beneath his threats.  I made no answer for a moment; but a thought which had been harassing me from the beginning of our interview compelled me to say: