place in
my interests and thoughts; they were my third class lodgers - to whom could be
assigned only the small sitting-room and the little back bed-room: even if the
dining and drawing- stood empty, I never confessed it to them, as thinking minor
accommodations better suited to their circumstances. The world, I soon learned,
held a different estimate: and I make no doubt, the world is very right in its
view, yet believe also that I am not quite wrong in mine.
    There are people whom a lowered position degrades morally, to whom loss of
connection costs loss of self-respect: are not these justified in placing the
highest value on that station and association which is their safeguard from
debasement? If a man feels that he would become contemptible in his own eyes
were it generally known that his ancestry were simple and not gentle, poor and
not rich, workers and not capitalists, would it be right severely to blame him
for keeping these fatal facts out of sight - for starting, trembling, quailing
at the chance which threatens exposure? The longer we live, the more our
experience widens; the less prone are we to judge our neighbour's conduct, to
question the world's wisdom: wherever an accumulation of small defences is
found, whether surrounding the prude's virtue or the man of the world's
respectability, there, be sure, it is needed.
    We reached the Hotel Crécy; Paulina was ready; Mrs. Bretton was with her;
and, under her escort and that of M. de Bassompierre, we were soon conducted to
the place of assembly, and seated in good seats, at a convenient distance from
the Tribune. The youth of the Athénée were marshalled before us, the
municipality and their bourgmestre were in places of honour, the young princes,
with their tutors, occupied a conspicuous position, and the body of the building
was crowded with the aristocracy and first burghers of the town.
    Concerning the identity of the professor by whom the discours was to be
delivered, I had as yet entertained neither care nor question. Some vague
expectation I had that a savant would stand up and deliver a formal speech, half
dogmatism to the Athenians, half-flattery to the princes.
    The Tribune was yet empty when we entered, but in ten minutes after it was
filled; suddenly, in a second of time, a head, chest and arms, grew above the
crimson desk. This head I knew: its colour, shape, port, expression, were
familiar both to me and Miss Fanshawe; the blackness