This pleasant noise of the wind streaming among leaves changed into the grinding Babel of the street, the stupid glare of plaster substituted for this quiet pattern of greens and greys, the nerves shattered, the digestion falsified--picture the fall! Already you perceive the consequences; the mind is stimulated, the heart steps to a different measure, and the man is himself no longer.

I have passionately studied myself--the true business of philosophy.

I know my character as the musician knows the ventages of his flute.

Should I return to Paris, I should ruin myself gambling; nay, I go further--I should break the heart of my Anastasie with infidelities.' This was too much for Jean-Marie.

That a place should so transform the most excellent of men transcended his belief.