The Adventures of a Modest Man

quired the young man from East Boston, as I was lighting my ci

"was the entire United States walki

ession, sir?" he aske

arette and tried to appear cheerful. He knew I possessed two da

up to request a light for his cigar. "See Paris

can be as unhealthy a

ung man from East Boston, and they ret

spent our first day in Paris "ong voitoor" a

ida?" I asked, as our taxi rolled

t of stone!-a huge architectural Rena

pretty daught

n Dieman says," she

iasm cool

said. "Dulcima, what do you

h, papa! did you see that

ebook in silence

with green grass-a garden, too, in architecture, carved out in silvery gray foliage of stone. The streets are as smooth and clean as

ri

ity full of red-

chestnut blossoms under which the

vista is a misty masterpiece of architecture; on the

of inhabitants, every inhabitant hol

n foliage, under which aspha

can tell the patients from the physicians; and all the i

a-that great pile of stone set lightly there

thinking, papa

e height of buildings. Nothing inharmonious can be built; the selfishness and indifference of private ownership which in New York erects skyscrapers aroun

I read that?" excla

nothi

the Tuileries Gardens, all blooming with tulips and hyacinths, past the quaint weather-stained statues of an epoch as dead as its own sculptors, past the

sweet sound. Round us, in a vast circle, sat the "Cities of France," with "Strasburg" smothered in crêpe and funeral wreaths, each still st

en wheeled handcarts filled with violets or pile

colors which Paris wears in springtime

e wearing blue in Paris this spring, and that she would

t the end of the finest vista in the world. Past us galloped gay cavalry officers, out for a mor

along, wearing jackets of robin's-egg blue faced with white; chasseurs à Cheval, wearing turquoise blue braided with black; then came the priests in black, well groomed as jackdaws in April; policemen in sombre uniforms, wearing sword bayonets; gendarmes off duty-for the Republican Guard takes the place of the Gendarmerie within th

characteristic strikes you when you

ne is a beauty from behind-s

innocently; "they are the be

lp wondering what that business may be or where those little polished shoes are going so lightly, tap! tap! across the polished asphalt. And there are thousands on thousands of such shoes, passing, repassing, twinkling everywhere, exquisit

u thinking, pap

ild, nothing

ld the view stretched on every side from the great Basilica on Montmartre to the silent Fortress of Mont-Valerien; from the vast dome of

er raised by Monsieur Eiffel, straddling the vase Esplanade in the west, the solid twin towers of N?tre-Dame dominated

odo looked down and saw the slim bod

goat?" asked Alida,

at now we are safely in Paris we migh

o-morrow," I said calmly. "Any mention of that

pened their Baedekers and patronized the

s a changed man-but was it a change for the better?

d embryotic germ which lies dormant in all Anglo-Saxons; and usuall

ss any change could not be the worse for a man who has

near here in the Bois de Boulogne, called the Café des Fleur

ed Alida, soulfully cl

a rendezvous for Apaches," I sai

now it is expensive, but not very expensive; I know, also, that the dainty young persons who sipped mint on the terr

n when their bright eyes wandered toward one; an

an were here. He understands all this surfa

. Van Dieman were here?" as

at her

believe he is coming a

nthusiasm. "Well, we shall doubtless

June any way," said Dulcima, laying

were all

d ordered any gowns,"

yet," she s

gan Alida; but I ref

y," said I; "but now let us try to take an intelligent interest in th

girl's gown?" motio

not the beauty of the gown

no matter. I wish that id

to sit up later than I ought to. The reckless ideas which P

an unwise cigar and ordered what concerns nobody except the man

at at the

sport," he s

uess who I was thinkin

gir

thinking of Jim Landon.

, he's a

cess

f him over there; but I suppose

difficult to keep up with anything on L

ndy, with

Was it that wealthy

eerage. No, Landon didn't do anythi

marry his mo

in a

a

aiter who shifted his

story," he said. "Woul

ary skill, the confusion of a parent?" I inq

does

ts it all over

particular instan

t," I

his usual gr

was dea

dsome hangings and antique furniture in the outer studio increased his irritation as he walked throug

ite, and sulkily wetting down the clay bust of a sheep-faced old lady-an orde

the coy Muse treating you

a spongeful of water over

s, raising his eyebrows. "I thought you

mbstone all winter. Last night I gnawed off the 'Hic Jace

reakfasted,

s all

ve

that superfluous magnificence in the show studio. Besides, I'll

id Ellis,

utely, first on one foot, then on the other; then with a hearty scowl at t

d violently, "how do you

ed; "I write for a living

then,"

wen

Ellis came in with r

" said Landon, but the othe

inity I just met in

divi

s, ultra marine; and the skin of her is just pure snow with a brushful of carm

ttered a roll. "You le

titles, and quality!" shouted El

motherless and alone, and inhabits a kennel across the hall. Don't make eyes at h

and gayly impersonal, yet delightfully and evasive

ently he picked up the sponge. "Better let a lonely heart alone, unless you're in earnest," h

old any pic

Fate separated us on a clinch and he got away and disappeared b

ve on my furnit

n that competition for the Dep

enough money left

itatively, glanced at his carefully brush

one I don't know. Poverty used to be considered funny in the Quarter; but it's no idle j

hed and s

site, and his volatile heart gave a tortured thump; he tw