Will you come out, and have a cigar ?" So we rose, took our hats, and in a few moments were strolling under the lindens on the Quai de Corneille.
I, of course, had never smoked in my life; and, humiliating though it was, found myself obliged to decline a "prime Havana," proffered in the daintiest of embroidered cigar-cases.

My companion looked as if he pitied me.

"You'll soon learn," said he.

"A man can't live in Paris without tobacco.

Do you stay there many weeks ?" "Two years, at least," I replied, registering an inward resolution to conquer the difficulties of tobacco without delay.