"

"I wasn't free, Uncle. "

"I know you weren't, my boy, and I'm not in the least put out about that; far from it. "

"How happy you must be, living here, " said Michel, glancing enviously around him.

"You're looking at these old friends of mine, my books! All in good time, but let's begin with some lunch; we'll talk about all this later, though I promised myself I wouldn't discuss literature with you. "

"Oh, Uncle, please!" Michel pleaded.

"We'll see! There are other things to discuss! Tell me what you're doing, how you're getting on in that bank! Are your ideas... ?"

"Still the same, Uncle. "

"The devil you say! Let's sit down, then! But it seems to me you haven't yet given me a hug. "

"Not yet, Uncle, not yet!"

"Now let's begin all over again, Nephew! It can't do me any harm, I haven't eaten yet; in fact, it will give me an appetite. "

Michel embraced his uncle with all his heart, and the two took their places at the table. Yet the young man kept staring around him, for there was every reason to appeal to his poet's curiosity. The little salon which, along with a bedroom, formed the whole apartment was lined with books; the walls were quite invisible behind the shelves; old bindings attracted Michel's gaze, their warm colors embrowned by time. And books had even invaded the next room, ranked over doors and inside the window bays; there were books on all the furniture, around the fireplace, even on the floors of the gaping cupboards; these precious volumes bore little resemblance to the opulent but useless libraries of the rich; they seemed instead to be at home, masters of the place, and quite at ease, though often in towering piles; moreover, there was not a speck of dust anywhere, not a corner of a page was turned down, no stain marred the fine covers; it was apparent that a friendly hand had prepared their ablutions each morning.

Two old armchairs and a table dating back to the days of the Empire with gilded sphinxes and Roman fasces constituted the salon's furnishings.

Though the room enjoyed a southern exposure, a courtyard's high walls kept the sun from penetrating very far—only once a year, at the summer solstice on June 21, if the weather was fine, the highest sunbeam brushed the neighboring roof and slid through the window, coming to rest like a bird on the corner of a shelf or the back of a book, shimmered there a moment, its luminous projection tingeing the tiny atoms of dust; then, after a moment, it resumed its flight and vanished until the following year.

Uncle Huguenin knew this shelf, always the same one, quite well; he watched it, heart pounding, with an astronomer's attention; he bathed in its beneficent light, set his old clock according to its passage, and thanked the sun for not having forgotten him. This was his own version of the Palais-Royal cannon, except that it went off only once a year, and not always then! Uncle Huguenin did not forget to invite Michel to make a solemn visit on June 21, and Michel promised to be there for the celebration.

Lunch was on the table, modest but enthusiastically served. "This is my gala day, " the uncle remarked, "today is my treat. By the way, do you know with whom you're dining this evening?"

"No, Uncle. "

"With your old Professor Richelot and his granddaughter, Mademoiselle Lucy. "

"My word, Uncle! What a pleasure it will be for me to see that good man. "

"And Mademoiselle Lucy?"

"I don't know her. "

"Well, Nephew, you'll make her acquaintance, and I can tell you she's a charming creature, and no mistake! So there's no need to tell her as much, " Uncle Huguenin added with a laugh.

"I'll be careful not to."

"After dinner, if you like, the four of us can go for a stroll. "

"Just what I'd like, Uncle! That way, our day will be complete!"

"You're not eating any more, Michel. Won't you have something more to drink?"

"Certainly, Uncle, " replied Michel, who was feeling full. "To your health. "

"And to your next visit, my boy; for when you leave here, it still seems like a long journey to me! Now tell me something about yourself—how is life treating you these days? You see, this is the moment for confidences. "

"I'm glad it is, Uncle. "

Michel described at some length all the details of his existence, his problems, his poor performance with regard to the calculating machine, without omitting the episode of the self-defending safe, and finally the better days spent on the heights of the Ledger. "It was up there that I met my first friend. "

"Ah, you have friends, " Uncle Huguenin remarked with a frown.

"I have two. "

"That's a good many, if they deceive you, " the old fellow remarked sententiously, "and enough, if they love you. "

"Oh, Uncle, " Michel exclaimed with animation. "They're artists!"

"Yes, " Uncle Huguenin replied, tossing his head, "that's a guarantee of a sort: the statistics of prisons and reformatories include priests, lawyers, brokers, and bankers, and not a single artist! But—"

"You'll meet them, Uncle, and you'll see what splendid fellows they are!"

"I look forward to it, " Uncle Huguenin answered. "I love youth, provided it's young! These premature old men of ours have always struck me as hypocrites. "

"Oh, I can answer for these two.