Guy Wetmore Carryl

“ Chapter XIV. Fate is Hard—Cash! As Andrew took his mail from the hand of Jules one afternoon, some three weeks later, his eye was caught by a packet directed in the precise script of old Mr. Sterling, and this, together with a letter in the same hand, he separated from the mass of other material, and gave his immediate attention. There had grown in him a singular craving for all that could remind him of his life at home. ”

“ I know the type of man whom you have always chosen, and, in all likelihood, always will choose, as a friend: and if you will avoid doing anything which you would be ashamed to tell that kind of man, I shall be satisfied.
“As you wish to remain in Paris for some time longer, and as Paris is preëminently a city where money is a sine qua non, I am disposed not only to approve your plan, but to make it possible of execution, with a certain degree of liberality. ”

“ You’ve been a trifle hot-headed, yes; but in all you’ve told me, there’s nothing more than what a vast majority of the men you know have done, and nothing more than what a vast majority of women have forgiven and forgotten. ”

“ You will learn for yourself the lessons which no one else can teach you; but I think your attitude will always be that of a gentleman. There are ways and ways of doing things — even of sowing wild oats — and among these are the way of the gentleman and the way of the fool. ”

“ There is nothing more deplorable than the spectacle of a young man squandering what he can’t afford to spend, unless it be that of an old one grudging what he can. While far from counselling wanton extravagance, I wish you to form those habits of generosity and open-heartedness which your position makes incumbent upon you. Repay with liberality the courtesies extended to you ”

“ The two men were eating at the leisurely rate which is the most invaluable lesson Paris teaches the American. Andrew’s lips curled in a little sneer.
“It’s all a farce,” he said, “and, God knows, I’m the biggest mountebank of them all. When I look back six weeks, it’s another Andrew Vane I see — a better one.”
“But not a happier one, I fancy,” suggested Radwalader.
“Why not? Do you think, after all your experience, that Paris brings happiness? Distraction, perhaps — amusement — knowledge — but happiness? Oh no!” ”

“ But a Panhard, or a deposit at her bankers’, or diamonds — that would be different.”
“No — no,” said Andrew, shaking a single finger from side to side. “You’re all wrong. You don’t get the situation at all. When a woman loves a man—”
“Love?” broke in Radwalader. “Piffle! Leave it to me, my dear sir, and in twenty-four hours I’ll prove to you that Mirabelle Tremonceau’s spelling of the word ‘love’ begins with the symbol for pounds sterling!” ”

“ I’ve ordered a table at Armenonville, and meant to send Jules over to your place to ask you, but the time has gone faster than I thought. Gad! it’s almost seven. I have been mooning, in good earnest. Will you go?”
“With pleasure. I dropped in on the chance that you might have nothing to do.”
Radwalader laid the miniature on the table.
“It’s a very beautiful face,” he added. “I wonder if I ever saw her. It’s not impossible. I remember meeting your grandfather in Boston.” ”

“ Among the commonest formulas of parental advice is that which exhorts a young man never to do or say anything which a mother or sister could not hear: and this deserves, to my way of thinking, just about the amount of attention which it ordinarily receives. ”

“ When I am obliged to shuffle off this mortal coil, you will come into something over eighty thousand a year. There are responsibilities attached to such an income, and not the least of them is the knowledge of the social obligation which it imposes. ”

“ It was for fifteen thousand francs.
Mr. Sterling’s letter, a model of prim penmanship, ran as follows:
“My dear Andy: I have yours of the 12th inst., and am gratified to learn that Paris is surpassing your expectations. Although it is a city not ordinarily recommended as a sojourning-place for young men, I have seen enough of the world to know that it is not the surroundings which are significant, so much as the temperament of the individual placed among them. ”