I was inquired about; my former pupils' parents, gathering the reports of their children, heard me spoken of as talented, and they echoed the word: the sound, bandied about at random, came at last to ears which, but for its universality, it might never have reached; and at the very crisis when I had tried my last effort and knew not what to do, Fortune looked in at me one morning, as I sat in drear and almost desperate deliberation on my bedstead, nodded with the familiarity of an old acquaintance--though God knows I had never met her before--and threw a prize into my lap.
In the second week of October, 18--, I got the appointment of English professor to all the classes of -- -- College, Brussels, with a salary of three thousand francs per annum; and the certainty of being able, by dint of the reputation and publicity accompanying the position, to make as much more by private means.

The official notice, which communicated this information, mentioned also that it was the strong recommendation of M.Vandenhuten, negociant, which had turned the scale of choice in my favour.
No sooner had I read the announcement than I hurried to M.Vandenhuten's bureau, pushed the document under his nose, and when he had perused it, took both his hands, and thanked him with unrestrained vivacity.
My vivid words and emphatic gesture moved his Dutch calm to unwonted sensation.

He said he was happy--glad to have served me; but he had done nothing meriting such thanks.

He had not laid out a centime--only scratched a few words on a sheet of paper.
Again I repeated to him-- "You have made me quite happy, and in a way that suits me; I do not feel an obligation irksome, conferred by your kind hand; I do not feel disposed to shun you because you have done me a favour; from this day you must consent to admit me to your intimate acquaintance, for I shall hereafter recur again and again to the pleasure of your society." "Ainsi soit-il," was the reply, accompanied by a smile of benignant content.

I went away with its sunshine in my heart..