 did not want variety; I went out a good deal, with the
entire consent of Madame Beck, who perfectly approved the grade of my
acquaintance. That worthy directress had never from the first treated me
otherwise than with respect; and when she found that I was liable to frequent
invitations from a château and a great hotel, respect improved into distinction.
    Not that she was fulsome about it: madame, in all things worldly, was in
nothing weak; there was measure and sense in her hottest pursuit of
self-interest, calm and considerateness in her closest clutch of gain; without,
then, laying herself open to my contempt as a time-server and a toadie, she
marked with tact that she was pleased people connected with her establishment
should frequent such associates as must cultivate and elevate, rather than those
who might deteriorate and depress. She never praised either me or my friends;
only once when she was sitting in the sun in the garden, a cup of coffee at her
elbow and the Gazette in her hand, looking very comfortable, and I came up and
asked leave of absence for the evening, she delivered herself in this gracious
sort: -
    »Oui, oui, ma bonne amie: je vous donne la permission de coeur et de gré.
Votre travail dans ma maison a toujours été admirable, rempli de zèle et de
discrétion: vous avez bien le droit de vous amuser. Sortez donc tant que vous
voudrez. Quant à votre choix de connaissances, j'en suis contente; c'est sage,
digne, louable.«
    She closed her lips and resumed the Gazette.
    The reader will not too gravely regard the little circumstance that about
this time the triply - enclosed packet of five letters temporarily disappeared
from my bureau. Blank dismay was naturally my first sensation on making the
discovery; but in a moment I took heart of grace.
    »Patience!« whispered I to myself. »Let me say nothing, but wait peaceably;
they will come back again.«
    And they did come back: they had only been on a short visit to madame's
chamber; having passed their examination, they came back duly and truly: I found
them all right the next day.
    I wonder what she thought of my correspondence. What estimate did she form
of Dr. John Bretton's epistolary powers? In what light did the often very pithy
thoughts, the generally sound, and sometimes original opinions, set, without
pretension, in an easily-flowing, spirited style, appear to her? How did she
like that genial, half-humorous vein,
