Volume VIII Part 27 (1/2)

He felt that it was odious, indecent, and brutal, and yet it was a relief to him to have uttered it

He never met the eyes either of his aze theirs had beco of foes who fear to cross each other He was alondering: ”What can she have said to Jean? Did she confess or deny it? What does my brother believe? What does he think of her--what does he think of uess, and it drove hi when Roland was by, to avoid his questioning

As soon as he received the letter announcing his appointment he showed it at once to his fa over everything, clapped his hands Jean spoke seriously, though his heart was full of gladness: ”I congratulate you with all my heart, for I know there were several other candidates You certainly owe it to your professors' letters”

His lad you have been successful”

After breakfast he went to the Company's offices to obtain information on various particulars, and he asked the name of the doctor on board the _Picardie_, which was to sail next day, to inquire of hiht think useful

Doctor Pirette having gone on board, Pierre went to the shi+p, where he was received in a little stateroo ether a long tie shi+p they could hear a confused and continuous commotion; the noise of bales and cases pitched down into the holdof the ht, the boatswain's whistle, and the clatter of chains dragged or wound onto capstans by the snorting and panting engine which sent a slight vibration froreat vessel

But when Pierre had left his colleague and found himself in the street oncehi up froible density so mysteriously impure, as it were the pestilential breath of a far-away, unhealthy land

In his hours of greatest suffering he had never felt hih he had given the last wrench; there was no fiber of attach up the roots of every affection he had not hitherto had the distressful feeling which now caer a torturing mortal pain, but the frenzy of a forlorn and hoabond creature without a roof for shelter, lashed by the rain, the wind, the storm, all the brutal forces of the universe As he set foot on the vessel, as he went into the cabin rocked by the waves, the very flesh of the man, who had always slept in a ainst the insecurity henceforth of all his morrows Till now that flesh had been protected by a solid wall built into the earth which held it, by the certainty of resting in the saale Now all that, which it was a pleasure to defy in the warmth of home, must become a peril and a constant disco, co the way, only a few yards of planks to pace like a convict aardens, no streets, no houses; nothing but water and clouds And the ceaseless motion of the shi+p beneath his feet On storainst the wainscot, hold on to the doors, cling to the edge of the narrow berth to save hi out On cal throb of the screw, and feel the swift flight of the shi+p, bearing hi race

And he was a prey to this vagabond convict's life solely because hiswith the despairing sorrow of those who are doohty disdain and scornful hatred of the strangers he met, but a woeful impulse to speak to them, to tell them all that he had to quit France, to be listened to and comforted There was in the very depths of his heart the shaar ould fain hold out his hand--a tirieve at his departing

He thought of Marowsko The old Pole was the only person who loved hih to feel true and keen eo and see hiist, as pounding powders in a marble mortar, started and left his work:

”You are never to be seen nowadays,” said he

Pierre explained that he had had a greatthe reason, and he took a seat, asking:

”Well, and how is business doing?”

Business was not doing at all Competition was fearful, and rich folks rare in that works, and the doctors did not prescribe the costlier and more complicated remedies on which a profit is : ”If this goes on for three ood doctor, I should have turned soback by this ti, and made up his mind to deal the blow at once, since it must be done

”I--oh, I cannot be of any use to you I a Havre early next reat was his agitation

”You! You! What are you saying?”

”I say that I a away,his last hope slipping froainst this man, whom he had follohom he loved, whom he had so implicitly trusted, and who forsook hioing to play me false--you?”

Pierre was so deeply touched that he felt inclined to e you false I have not found anything to do here, and I aer boat”

”O Monsieur Pierre! And you always pro!”