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THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL 245
"Give me your solution of the problem of life!
"
And the old man, unless he had been too exhausted with
hunger and thirst, would have answered
—
"The problem of life, as I understood it, is the main-
tenance of one’s own life."
" Is that all? " the wealthy man would have answered,
astonished.
"All ? Isn’t it enough ? All ? ’
’
" We do not understand one another."
" No, we do not understand one another ; we have never
understood one another."
" Because you are a selfish old man, who has lived but
for himself. But humanity. ..."
" Sir, I too have lived for humanity, for I have brought
up and educated four children, a problem which was
more difficult perhaps to solve than yours, the solu-
tion of which you can buy at any bookseller’s. Yes,
go, sell all you have and give it to the poor, then
you will see whether there is room in life for anything
else !
"
But the wealthy man preferred to leave the problem
unsolved and keep his gold ; therefore he continued to
study his Baedeker, and did not ask the poor coster for
his opinion.
The old man, with faith unshaken, left the church, the
abbe’s comforting words ringing in his ears: "Take no
heed of to-morrow," and crossed to the left shore of the
river.
At the corner of the Boulevard St. Michel he was for-
tunate enough to sell six centimes’ worth of his stuff at a
reduced price. And on he trudged and turned into the
Rue Bonaparte.
It was afternoon, that saddest time of the day when the
sun is setting, but darkness has not yet fallen, darkness
which brings in its train peace for the weary souls who
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