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the mailman delivering a letter from so far away, he congratulated his younger brother on having passed the general exam following primary school. If he won any more prizes, would not the auberge risk collapsing under the enthusiastic bravos of the people saluting his success? He hoped that his younger brother would soon write him back "without making too many spelling errors and in a style that would surpass those of all the Madames de Sevigne of the past, present, and future." He described the canals of Venice, the Piazza of Saint Mark with the famous winged lion to its side, and the palace of the Doge, "really as old as time itself, all in marble with its first steps bathing in the sea." These had been well worth seeing, but he worked most of the time and had very little leisure. He asked Jules to tell their mother that he would send some money soon, though it was difficult to find a way to do so. In the meantime, he should give her a kiss for him, tell her that he thought of her often, and give his greetings to their older brother and all their friends. After asking him to send news of the family to "Signor Emmilio Henry" in Mestre, he signed the letter "Your brother who loves you and will watch over you."
    On September 1 Émile was still in Italy, writing to his mother as a good son to wish her a happy feast day, that of Saint Rose. He promised that he and his brothers would do all that they could to make her happier and try to repay her for some of what she had done for them. He implored her not to worry about his health, although his face, neck, and hands had been so much in the sun that they now appeared the color of baked bricks. He also sent along one hundred francs.
    And then, Émile suddenly left Venice. The precipating event may have been Bordenave's asking him to undertake secret surveillance of the workers. The two had argued about the assignment on the way to Venice. Bordenave later explained that a misunderstanding had occurred. His nephew was naive, "absolutely new to life and believed the word of a man to have the same exactitude as the sciences." The engineer had drawn an analogy to help Émile understand the rationale behind the assignment: if he was a finance inspector, would he consider it unacceptable to monitor the money under his responsibility? But from Émile's perspective, supervising—and perhaps spying on—the workers would have put him in the unpopular role of foreman, something he was unwilling to do. He departed for Paris, leaving his disappointed uncle behind.
    Back in Paris, Émile lived briefly with an aunt before moving in with his brother near the quai Valmy on the canal Saint-Martin, close to place de la République. He briefly considered taking more preparatory courses for the entrance exam to the École polytechnique. He went to see the former director of J.-B. Say, who knew him and thought well of him. But that was the end of it, perhaps because he lacked funds to continue his studies. After several months without work, late in September 1890 Émile found a position with a store selling special fabrics from the town of Roubaix, at a salary of eight hundred francs a year. He came recommended by the father of a former classmate, and the manager, Monsieur Veillon, created a position for him as a clerk. As expected, Émile did very well.
    Now nineteen years of age, Émile was short, about five feet, four inches in height. He was thin and invariably pale, and had dark chestnut-colored hair; he sported the beginnings of a reddish blond beard. Rather elegant in appearance, he liked being well dressed. Without appearing haughty, he nonetheless gave the impression of being a rather cold and somewhat aloof intellectual.
    It was during this time that Émile began to wrestle with the great questions, "the most perplexing philosophic speculations. What is matter? What is mind? Are psychic phenomena regulated by universal laws in the same way as physical phenomena? Is death the annihilation of