“This evening, if you like; the school begins at seven o’clock.”
“And what do you do at this school?”
“I teach reading and writing to those who are ignorant of them, orthography to some, and ciphering to others. I end by reading something carefully selected, with occasional remarks easy to comprehend and to retain. This affords me a daily opportunity of giving my audience useful advice.”
Albert made a slight grimace. This manner of procedure did not suit him. He wished for exercises that afforded a more promising field for satisfying his vanity. It was well to propose being useful! He wished to shine.
They continued to converse a while longer. Louis, with the shrewdness that characterized him, led the conversation to the most serious subjects. Albert replied without suspecting the scrutiny he was undergoing. Faithful to his rôle, he affected to judge matters with the seriousness of a man armed with unfaltering convictions. But this seriousness did not blind Louis. Without appearing to observe it, he caught him a dozen times in criminal ignorance, and, what was worse, this ignorance was accompanied with a conceit that was ridiculous. At length the two young men separated. They had formed an opinion of each other at the first glance. Louis had seen through Albert’s mask, and found him a man of no depth, poorly aping a person of gravity. Albert felt he had a sagacious person to deal with. If Louis was his rival, he was a formidable one.
It may be supposed that, loving Eugénie to such a degree, Louis felt, as an impartial observer would have done in his place, that it would be sad to see a woman of so much worth united to a superficial man. He could not help feeling that he himself was more worthy of Eugénie than Albert; that he was more capable of making her happy. He was not mistaken; he had a right to think so.
A few days after this first interview, I sent Louis word that Victor was very much worse. His disease had made alarming progress. Victor had hitherto struggled courageously against it, but, the evening before, he took me by the hand, and, fixing his large melancholy eyes on mine, said:
“My dear, my beloved wife, I have kept up till now, and continued to work as usual. But the hour has come for me to lay aside all earthly thoughts and cares.... It is time to collect my thoughts.... Death is approaching ...”
At these words, I began to weep and sob. He waited till this natural explosion of grief was over.
“I can realize your distress, my good Agnes,” said he. “I, too, feel how painful it is to leave you. But we are both Christians. Our religion is a source of never-failing consolation.... See how good God has been to us! I might have died months ago: God has left me with you till now. He has given me time to prepare to enter his presence. And I truly believe that, by the help of his grace, I have made a good use of these last days. I have found and trained a man to succeed me in the journal. He will defend the good cause as well as I; perhaps better. I have saved the life of a young man who is and always will be a consistent Christian such as we need more of. I shall, I hope, have a share in all the good Louis will accomplish; and he will do a great deal.... Of course, my dear Agnes, it is hard to separate from you, but we shall meet again on high. The longest life is but brief. How happy we shall be to meet again far from this wretched world, which I should not regret were it not for leaving you. [P2 added period missing in orig] Every day it gives less room to God: the impious and the hypocritical are fearfully multiplying. This is a sad age! If the very thought of leaving those we love were not so painful to the heart, ah! how sweet it would be to soar away from so much wickedness to the pure radiance of heaven. Why cannot I carry you with me, my poor darling? Oh! how glad I should then be to go.... But, no; it is not the will of God. He wishes me to precede you, alone. So be it. When in yonder world, I shall pray for you!... And now, let us give up all worldly things to those who have a longer time to live. As for me, I must cease to labor, and henceforth think of nothing but God and my salvation....”