Two banks of the Seine

ien went to his small dark kitchenett

e Vavin to join his old friend, Johann Schleifmann, an

da antisemitism were surprised at h

n informed him-if he cared to know-that Schleifmann was the best man in the world. He had associated with him for ten years and never had had any cause to complain

he said this, or at least, he was

eny their Jewry through fear of prejudice, or because they cringe b

an Amos. In sooth, the bitter spirit of the ancient prophets animated his heart. He cursed the men of his religion merely because they were shirking the destinies of Israel and let thems

had been of the other one. Karl Marx and Lassalle were to him the modern messengers of Jehovah upon earth, sent to bring forth the new gospel and the economic religion of the future. He considered their books as almost holy and rejoiced at seeing once more the divine Je

very painful to him in Austria or in Germany, where he would be watched by the police and exposed to the a

f introduction had been given him by Viennese Jews to their relatives and fellow-Jews of Paris. Thus he

t comfort owing to an idealistic ambition and a mania to put his ide

y convinced that the anti-Jewish microbe would pursue its unrelenting march westward, s

derived from the very sources of the purest Judaism. It was simple. All that was needed was for the wealthy Jews to return to the traditions of

rare abilities in the defense of the weak, the triumph of the right, and enforce victory against injustice. Finally, keeping back nothing but a personal income, in no case to exceed ten thousand francs, they were to give up all the

lay his daring plan of regeneration before the parents of his pupils, the

with the Jewish cause. Others again, more conservative in their estimate, claimed that the Jews enjoyed the "non-official sympathy" of the Administration to which the revolt of the wealthy Catholic families caused much anxie

n with high finance, whose members were all powerful in the Consistory; they begged him not to persist in h

as all very well in Germanic lands, or in Slavic countries where-they had to say it, but with no desire to offend him personally-the Jews were ... well, he knew well enough what! But in France, in the land of all the liberties, on the beau

e alarmed at his theories and withdrew their children from his care. He was left with barely

rough, but he fac

a hundred odd volumes which he termed indispensable. He kept his Bible, the Imitation of á Kempis, Goethe, Spi

h floor of a house in the rue de Fleurus and waited

o doubt his own prophetic acumen when, suddenly, t

ome through the fertilizing agency of the envy and resentments of some, of the clumsiness and the extortions of others. The a

st, then deeply sorrowful. He followed the affair

columns told of their magnificent garden-parties, of their deer-and fox-hunting and of their raouts, he sneered wickedly, yet with sadness. He repeated the words aloud in a sarcastic tone or uttered them as so many curses: "Garden-parties! Raouts! Fox-hunting!..." Yes, they could "receive" and "dan

uainted with M. Cyprien Raindal at the Brasse

documents upon which he could feed his hatreds, and Schleifmann saw in him an unregarded specimen of the enemies of his race. Moreover, they cherished in secret their own plans concerning each other. The Galician wanted to convert his friend to the theories of Karl Marx; while the younger M. Raindal had sworn to himself that he would convert the exiled philosopher from his internat

go out. He fell back a step, surprised on seein

ou

e of the Hebrew language had rendered somewhat nasal and slow. "I did not

heumatism.... Come in, come in, please," the younger M. Raindal adde

pulled his old friend

replied wi

ve brought you the surprise which I mentione

h linen, on the back of which was printed in

Kalmuk face with a wax-like complexion, a flat nose, turned up at the tip and with broad nostrils and small, yellowish eyes that shone with malice. His gray hair

med in his usual s

of the land belongs.... They are all the names of those who fleece and grind us; you understand, my dear Raindal?... One of these names at the bottom of a paper is better than a

"We know your game!... You want to egg me on again to your socialism.... Well, no.... I not to be done! I stand for freedom ... and for property ... and

aid the book on the table, the better to consult it. He guided his frien search among the terrible complications of in

e on two, three, four boards, he exclaimed in distress like a man who is being assaulted. H

he would throw

it my fault?" the G

ly touching, one might have fancied that they were two good little boys

ed forehead. "By the way, Schleifmann," he asked, "do

he Institute

hims

mention him more than once. He was teaching German to their children, or rather he was perfecting them in the use of that tongue; for they had learned the rudiments

reedy intriguer. He had made use of his relations with high finance to enter the Institute, and then of his title of Academician to join the boards of companies. One had but to consult th

ot?" Raindal th

he could give him two at all events, asserting in a symbolic and summary sense, that she had sinned with gods and devils. She was vain, mo

and it no longer

rother who is going to a dance to-night at the house of precisely this scoundrel.... I am very glad to be so thoroughly informe

ged him to reach the flat in the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, there to unload on his

of his talkative days. He anticipated a fresh outbreak of hostilities and controversies and that ill-disposed him before

ece of work.... If yo like to wait for me i

d, which were open to none but Knights. Before he would oppose a man in a discussion, that man had to be his peer, a gallant champion of his own caste, of his own intellectual rank, and one who prac

inclined to quarrel. He teased Thérèse about her "forthcoming marriage," repeatedly addressed her as "Mamzelle my

e tolerated much from her uncle, because she guessed at all the r

hat he hated the Jews, whom she saw as the abhorred tormentors of the Saviour. She condon

en flush of pride when he praised her pie. She laughed at all his rem

use, his feet drawn towards the red glow of the fire, dozed with his eyes half-closed, in that perfect coil of peacefulness that one feels in the company of a trusted friend. Uncle Cyprien lighted his heavy cherry-wood pipe from the Vosges

sent forth th

hap of this evening

forth the soldier asleep in his tent. M. Ra

hom do y

have some fine lines on him.... Tha

unitions piled up by Schleifma

aulvard very much.... I never had any but professional relations with him.... Y

but did not reply at once. He emptied his pipe in

here does this

hair. He foresaw how grave was the reply he

time we are going there.... Thérèse has the

ing to grant you may not know the number of the house; but surely you kno

ness and pretended deeply

th, "that he lives in the avenue Klé

laid a bet on it!" Uncle

urst upon the master in a tum

ity once more to air his theory of the "tw

d the vigor of his lungs. But they had so often recited it to each other, chiseled it together and together enlarged upon it that they no lon

t in population, ways of life and customs. The river Seine divided thes

, the honest and decent national traditions. There the men were pure and the women beyond reproach. The whole inheritance of the ancestors-loyalty, devotion and hig

t for coarse pleasures. Gambling in stocks had filled their coffers and criminal transactions paid for their fatuous homes. The women were no better than the men; the adultery of the former flourished by the side of the swindling of the latter. Whole districts, and some of the finest, had become their domicile. Chaillot, Monceau, Malesherbes and the Roule bowed at their orders and their money. There wer

h to appreciate people. If one lived on the left bank of the river, he was at once entitled to Cyprie sympathies. But if one dwelt on the right

ogically doubtful and topographically inexact; but his brother persist

nce and stimulated by Schleifman call, he was riding his hobby al

s.... You have never been further than the bridge of the Saints-Pères.... You are duped and exploited; you are a child-a kid, as Schleifmann says. Why do you go for a walk some day

e defenses which he had used before in the course of that polemic when t

the other side of the water are to be found many people that belong to decent society, and even to the aristocracy, people who have left the F

commiseration and t

tell you?... Of course, I

ng heads down everywhere in the craze of a wholesale assault. One after the other, the degenerated aristocracy, the Jews, the grafters a

e turned on the tap of conciliatory generalities. They oozed from his lips in amorphous, unfinished sentences, in small, intermittent streams

s not lacking in spirit.... One of the vices of the plutocratic régime.... It is not a new thing to see financiers and revenue f

is voice when he saw her. The shy evasions of M. Raindal increased his assurance;

asked sweetly.... "Uncle, I bet y

edly.... "Not at all, we were merely talking.... Y

pouted d

up, you get excited.... I

ed to M.

eleven.... Mother is rea

ed here and there when inserting her flowers. She wore white carnations-in memory of Albart. Their spreading whiteness

dor of a party dress projects at once upon women. It is an ephemeral charm, light as a pastel, which fades away, evaporates in the heat and the jealousy of a ball; but at home it encourages th

riendly mood, observed he

we are going to make me

be people to enjoy themselves.... Always there will be a frivolous and depraved society.... If they did not ma

ch was so close-trimmed that is crackled with a ruffl

not argue, you and I, ... you are too strong and too sure of your

r long cape. She wore in her hair an old mauve aigrette, the bar

master of the house aske

o down togethe

e. Brigitte gave the dri

seat. Uncle Cyprien closed the door on them

pleasant eve

to the chin of Brigitte,

irl.... Go and dr

in. In the fever of his triumph at every step he flouris