Atlantida

M. Le Mesge looked at Morhange triumphantly. It was evident that he

addressed himself exclusively to Morhange, considering him alone

worthy of his confidences.

"There have been many, sir," he said, "both French and foreign

officers who have been brought here at the caprice of our sovereign,

Antinea. You are the first to be honored by my disclosures. But you

were the pupil of Berlioux, and I owe so much to the memory of that

great man that it seems to me I may do him homage by imparting to one

of his disciples the unique results of my private research."

He struck the bell. Ferradji appeared.

"Coffee for these gentlemen," ordered M. Le Mesge.

He handed us a box, gorgeously decorated in the most flaming colors,

full of Egyptian cigarettes.

"I never smoke," he explained. "But Antinea sometimes comes here.

These are her cigarettes. Help yourselves, gentlemen."

I have always had a horror of that pale tobacco which gives a barber

of the Rue de la Michodière the illusion of oriental voluptuousness.

But, in their way, these musk-scented cigarettes were not bad, and it

was a long time since I had used up my stock of Caporal.

"Here are the back numbers of Le Vie Parisienne" said M. Le Mesge

to me. "Amuse yourself with them, if you like, while I talk to your

friend."

"Sir," I replied brusquely, "it is true that I never studied with

Berlioux. Nevertheless, you must allow me to listen to your

conversation: I shall hope to find something in it to amuse me."

"As you wish," said the little old man.

We settled ourselves comfortably. M. Le Mesge sat down before the

desk, shot his cuffs, and commenced as follows: "However much, gentlemen, I prize complete objectivity in matters of

erudition, I cannot utterly detach my own history from that of the

last descendant of Clito and Neptune.

"I am the creation of my own efforts. From my childhood, the

prodigious impulse given to the science of history by the nineteenth

century has affected me. I saw where my way led. I have followed it,

in spite of everything.

"In spite of everything, everything--I mean it literally. With no

other resources than my own work and merit, I was received as Fellow

of History and Geography at the examination of 1880. A great

examination! Among the thirteen who were accepted there were names

which have since become illustrious: Julian, Bourgeois, Auerbach.... I

do not envy my colleagues on the summits of their official honors; I

read their works with commiseration; and the pitiful errors to which

they are condemned by the insufficiency of their documents would amply

counterbalance my chagrin and fill me with ironic joy, had I not been

raised long since above the satisfaction of self-love.