The abbe called him to us, and told him with a laugh that I had taken him for a girl.

The impudent fellow looked me full in the face, and said that, if I liked, he would shew me whether I had been right or wrong.
At the dinner-table everyone spoke to me, and I fancied I had given proper answers to all, but, when the repast was over, the Abbe Gama invited me to take coffee in his own apartment.

The moment we were alone, he told me that all the guests I had met were worthy and honest men, and he asked me whether I believed that I had succeeded in pleasing the company.
"I flatter myself I have," I answered.
"You are wrong," said the abbe, "you are flattering yourself.

You have so conspicuously avoided the questions put to you that everybody in the room noticed your extreme reserve.

In the future no one will ask you any questions." "I should be sorry if it should turn out so, but was I to expose my own concerns ?" "No, but there is a medium in all things." "Yes, the medium of Horace, but it is often a matter of great difficulty to hit it exactly." "A man ought to know how to obtain affection and esteem at the same time." "That is the very wish nearest to my heart." "To-day you have tried for the esteem much more than for the affection of your fellow-creatures.