in the city of paris they had traversed the place de la con with its its fountains and its memories of a great past and after creeping at that s pace which is the delight of the along the magnificent way they paused at the arch of triumph which stands the wonder of nations in the place de paris always lovely from april to october is at its best in june and this particular afternoon was as nearly perfect as one could desire the gentlemen were both young if being on the sunny side of thirty a man to that distinction each was in fact nine and twenty years of age and they had known each other ever since their boyhood days when they attended the same in one of the american cities though the husband friend attached of friends they were little alike either in their views of life their habits of thought or their manner of address was the name of the of the pair a bright sunny faced fellow with a good color a pair of blue eyes and an build he seemed to his own spirits into everything and entertained his companion with a constant fire of running small talk in reference to the sights of their drive the other was of mould with more of the aspect of the student in his make up and it would not have taken a very close observer to have detected in his appearance on this june morning a that seemed almost unnatural as soon as the carriage in which the friends rode paused before the arch of triumph burst into enthusiastic of it both as a work of art and for the genius which it is meant to to all of the praises which he his companion returned however only replies for a time was too much taken up with the of his own to note his friend s mood but at length it dawned upon him that his interest in the monument was not being wholly shared and he paused in the midst of an unusually glowing period to ascertain the reason it occurs to me my dear he said with a smile that you are not paying as strict attention to my as a good should give to his guide are you fully of tht fact that you are standing before the arch that the world now possesses if not as i believe the it ever has owned do df the place l know that this spot on which you are with its twelve great avenues from this star is the centre of all that is beautiful in france and the envy of every other capital in the other gentleman acknowledged the question by a slight bow but gave no indication of being particularly impressed by the points you must not forget harry he replied pleasantly that this is not the first time i have seen this arch i rode past here on sunday on my way to the i am quite sure for all that responded his friend that this does not explain your coolness people usually find the monument growing upon them with each visit i know it has been so with me the same as it was with the church of st peter at rome if i were to come here every day for a year i think it would impress me more and more to the end you have seen it twice and your interest in it is exhausted you have not a word to say in its praise there is no astonishment in your gaze no lighting up of your countenance in the presence of the perfect work grew slightly uneasy at the knowledge that he was being forced to make an answer he did not relish i will take no issue with you he said on its beauties but oh confound it don t bring your notions into such a discussion as this y cried harry with an expression of the greatest aversion try to understand what this arch truly represents it the vi y tones of the greatest soldier who ever the her s earth a nation does well to remember its noblest sons and france has done no wiser thing than to rear this arch to napoleon and to build that house for his ashes whose dome you can see over there at the the cab driver happy in knowing that he was to be paid by the hour sat on his box in the sun and wondering what the two were talking about so earnestly a slight gesture of impatience you know very well harry that i consider that sort of thing stuff and nonsense said he was simply and solely an ambitious soldier of fortune who coldly sacrificed a million mistaken followers to gain for himself an empire the greatest in the world and perished miserably in a prison as he deserved all talk about his grandeur is lost on me as for this monument if one could consider it solely by itself it is indeed a thing of beauty if i were able to forget what it means i might become as enthusiastic as you are but when i look at it with the light of history in my eyes i can see only the of an butcher let us drive on the memories that this arch calls up will be likely to put me in an ill temper and the sooner we get away from it the better harry met these rather expressions with a musical laugh and bidding the coachman continue the drive into the he entered the carriage with his friend as they passed down the avenue de la e he resumed the conversation at the point where it had been left off as you are of along line of french rulers if not of princes through your ancestors the i am surprised at you in the place l is it is 