And they walked towards the Boulevards, conversing on indifferent matters.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
| Whose nature is so far from doing evil That he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty My practices ride easy.—King Lear. |
Early the next morning, Morton was writing in his room, when Vinal came in.
"Are you still bent on going off to-day?"
"Yes, within an hour."
"I was passing last evening by Professor Speyer's lodgings, and, seeing a light at his window, went in. I told him that I had come to find him in the afternoon with an old acquaintance of mine, who was going to the Austrian provinces, and that I had advised you to ask introductions from him to his friends there. He was a good deal interested, as I knew he would be, in what I told him about the objects of your journey. 'I'm very sorry,' he said, 'that I did not see your friend, for I could have given him letters which I don't doubt would have been of great use to him. But wait a few minutes,' said he, 'and I'll write a few lines now.' Here they are," continued Vinal, giving to Morton four or five notes of introduction. "You can put them in your pocket, and use them or not, as you may find convenient."
"I'm very much obliged to you," said Morton. "Tell Professor Speyer that I am greatly indebted to his kindness, and shall be happy to avail myself of it. You are looking very pale; are you ill?"
"No, not at all," stammered Vinal, "but, what is nearly as bad, I have been kept awake all night with a raging toothache."