LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 87 



see that it ceased. We were all seated round the tea- 

 table when he came in, and, seeing a stranger, my 

 sister and I hurriedly collected our lesson books, and 

 hastened to leave the room. We did not even have 

 time to distinguish Metchnikoff's features, but were 

 struck by his paleness. Shortly after that incident 

 we met him at the house of a mutual friend. He had 

 already seen us from his window as we went off to 

 the Lycee, and it used to amuse him to see us bravely 

 stepping over a large pool of water which was per- 

 manent in the street. 



One of his pupils was a professor in our Lycee, 

 and Elie had the opportunity of informing himself 

 concerning our studies. Having heard that I was 

 interested in natural science, it occurred to him to 

 offer to give me lessons in zoology. I was delighted. 

 He asked and obtained permission from my parents, 

 and we eagerly set to work. Elie, being strongly 

 attracted by me, returned to his former idea of 

 training a girl according to his own ideas and after- 

 wards making her his wife. He might have realised 

 his programme of completing my education first and 

 marrying me afterwards if he had not been prevented 

 by the complete lack of accord between his ideas and 

 those of my father. It was the eternal conflict of 

 two generations, " fathers and children." My father 

 was an excellent man, of great nobility of character, 

 but he was a type of the old Russian patrician school 

 and belonged to a different epoch, with different 

 opinions and customs. This caused inevitable and 

 frequent disagreements, and Elie decided to ask for 

 my hand without further delay. 



My mother was much younger than my father, 

 and her sympathies were all with the young genera- 



