A Parisian Romance — page 21: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

12 : A PARISIAN ROMANCE, Do we know when we are so ourselves? Happiness is everywhere and nowhere, and its proper defini- tion has yet to be found.” De Targy was silent for «a moment, then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he said, abruptly: “Doctor, tell me something about the baron. You know I have been away so long from France, that, although Armande d’ Ambleuse was one of my childhood’s playmates, and her father was my father’s intimate friend, I know very little of what her life has been the last few years, and, until two days ago, I had never laid eyes on the man she has married. What is he like?” “He has been fairly good-looking, and is so still, thanks to the resources of art. He is an admirable painting upon a worn-out canvas.” “Pshaw! Idon’t mean his personal appearance. W hat is he like in mind and heart?” The doctor’s face changed, and his manner, which had been half-bantering, became very serious. _ “The baron,” he said, gravely, “is a strange man, a product of our nineteenth century. He has plenty of intelligence, is well educated, and not a boor. His manners, if he chooses, can be perfect, al- though, perhaps, he is a gentleman by effort rather than by instinct. He inherited a comfortable for- tune, which he has increased enormously by skillful speculations on the Bourse,.and is now one of the first bankers in Paris. Of his qualities of heart, I cannot speak so highly. When his own interests GEomicbooks.¢o