Edouard came no more to Beaurepaire.
There is an old French proverb, and a wise one, "Rien n'est certain que
l'imprevu;" it means you can make sure of nothing but this, that matters
will not turn as you feel sure they will. And, even for this reason,
you, who are thinking of suicide because trade is declining, speculation
failing, bankruptcy impending, or your life going to be blighted forever
by unrequited love--DON'T DO IT. Whether you are English, American,
French, or German, listen to a man that knows what is what, and DON'T DO
IT. I tell you none of those horrors, when they really come, will affect
you as you fancy they will. The joys we expect are not a quarter
so bright, nor the troubles half so dark as we think they will be.
Bankruptcy coming is one thing, come is quite another: and no heart
or life was ever really blighted at twenty years of age. The love-sick
girls that are picked out of the canal alive, all, without exception,
marry another man, have brats, and get to screech with laughter when
they think of sweetheart No. 1, generally a blockhead, or else a
blackguard, whom they were fools enough to wet their clothes for, let
alone kill their souls.
Pages:
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389