CHAPTER VIII

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MOTHER AND SON.

Demons at work--In the crowd--Ernesto and his mother--Roasted chestnuts--Instrument of torture--New school of anatomy--Rhine-stones or diamonds?--Happy mother--Honest confession--Danger of edged tools--Cayenne lozenges for the monkeys--Joseph--Early compliments--Ernesto pleads in vain--Down by the river--Music of the reeds--Rich prospect--Faust--Singers of the world--Joseph takes tickets--Gerona keeps late hours--Its little great world--Between the acts--Successful evening--In the dark night--On the bridge--Silence and solitude--Astral bodies--Joseph turns Job's comforter--Magnetism--Delormais psychological--Alone in the streets--Saluting the Church militant--Haunted staircase again--Sighs and rustlings--H. C. retires--"Drink to me only with thine eyes"--Delormais' challenge--Leads the way--Illumination--Coffee equipage--"Only the truth is painful"--Lost in reverie 114

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