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196 to speak the words which would have consoled them.

M. Des Boys had accordingly urged Leonor to come and ﬁnish his work.

"It will be a distraction for her," he had thought, "And then, at bottom and in spite of my pledged word, I agree with my wife: Leonor would be a much more suitable husband. What! Can Hervart be making her unhappy already?"

The letter he was reading at this moment put the ﬁnal touch to his anxiety. It was from Bouret and Leonor was much praised in it. Bouret went on:

"I have seen Hervart and have equally advised him to get married, but for different reasons. Though he is a little younger than we are, he is probably nearer the end. We shall all, alas, see this end confronting us, if we live another ﬁfteen years. Do you understand me? With prudence and diplomacy, Hervart can still drag on a long time, can even recapture brilliant moments; but he has played too much on the ﬁne violin given him by nature. The strings will snap one after the other. As long as one remains a virtuoso, one