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XLI

hilip walked down the Boulevard du Montparnasse. It
Pwas not at all like the Paris he had seen in the spring dur-
ing his visit to do the accounts of the Hotel St. Georges—he
thought already of that part of his life with a shudder—but
reminded him of what he thought a provincial town must
be. There was an easy-going air about it, and a sunny spa-
ciousness which invited the mind to day-dreaming. The
trimness of the trees, the vivid whiteness of the houses, the
breadth, were very agreeable; and he felt himself already
thoroughly at home. He sauntered along, staring at the
people; there seemed an elegance about the most ordinary,
workmen with their broad red sashes and their wide trou-
sers, little soldiers in dingy, charming uniforms. He came
presently to the Avenue de l’Observatoire, and he gave a
sigh of pleasure at the magnificent, yet so graceful, vista.
He came to the gardens of the Luxembourg: children were
playing, nurses with long ribbons walked slowly two by two,
busy men passed through with satchels under their arms,
youths strangely dressed. The scene was formal and dainty;
nature was arranged and ordered, but so exquisitely, that
nature unordered and unarranged seemed barbaric. Philip
was enchanted. It excited him to stand on that spot of which
he had read so much; it was classic ground to him; and he
felt the awe and the delight which some old don might feel