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