And you ?" Jean began to laugh.
"I too came out for fresh air." And Pierre sat down by his brother's side.
"Lovely--isn't it ?" "Oh, yes, lovely." He understood from the tone of voice that Jean had not looked at anything.

He went on: "For my part, whenever I come here I am seized with a wild desire to be off with all those boats, to the north or the south.

Only to think that all those little sparks out there have just come from the uttermost ends of the earth, from the lands of great flowers and beautiful olive or copper coloured girls, the lands of humming-birds, of elephants, of roaming lions, of negro kings, from all the lands which are like fairy-tales to us who no longer believe in the White Cat or the Sleeping Beauty.

It would be awfully jolly to be able to treat one's self to an excursion out there; but, then, it would cost a great deal of money, no end--" He broke off abruptly, remembering that his brother had that money now; and released from care, released from labouring for his daily bread, free, unfettered, happy, and light-hearted, he might go whither he listed, to find the fair-haired Swedes or the brown damsels of Havana.
And then one of those involuntary flashes which were common with him, so sudden and swift that he could neither anticipate them, nor stop them, nor qualify them, communicated, as it seemed to him, from some second, independent, and violent soul, shot through his brain.
"Bah! He is too great a simpleton; he will marry that little Rosemilly." He was standing up now.

"I will leave you to dream of the future.