Hoffman, the celebrated author of the Fantastical Tales, in dying left behind him a son. This young man had much of his father's imaginative turn; but that formed only an additional reason for the Widow Hoffman's endeavouring to direct his education towards a practical career. She had retained too poignant a recollection of the agitation with which the arts and literature had encompassed the existence of her husband, to desire for her dearly beloved child a similar destiny.

       In 1833, young Frantz Hoffman was studying medicine at Paris.

       One evening, while seated at the table with a few comrades, in a little estaminet, or coffee-house, of the Rue de la Harpe, he was sipping in rather melancholy mood his part of a bowl of punch, and thinking of his glorious father, who frequently, under the inspiration of the ardent liquid with the blueish flame, had felt himself carried to such sublime heights in the infinite world of imagination. The conversation carried on around the youthful dreamer was of a joyous description; the beardless disciples of Hippocrates wore relating their merry tricks of the amphitheatre, in the same manner as painters, when brought together, laugh over the jokes of the studio.

       All at once interrupting a story, "Look, gentlemen!" exclaimed Frantz Hoffman, indicating a personage who had just entered. The individual in question was very extraordinary: tall in stature, bald forehead, and with a profoundly care-worn and melancholy air; his paleness was so wan, his thinness so desperate and transparent, that one might have taken him for a subject specially prepared for the study of osteology.

       "He is a man attacked by the malady which veterinary surgeons call the meltfat," carelessly observed a pupil of the Hotel Dieu. Physicians, and more especially the very young ones, are in the habit of never appearing astonished at anything, and of explaining all without difficulty.

       The new comer had in the meantime seated himself at a table adjoining that of the students, and there he was not long in exhibiting the spectacle of a new and curious eccentricity. As if he expected a friend, he had ordered two cups of coffee to be served; and whilst, with an appearance of lively sensuality, he slowly sipped the contents of one of them, by a motion of the hand he seemed to repel and keep at a distance some invisible being who had attempted to drink out of his saucer; then, apparently enraged by the perseverance with which he was beset — "But, sir," he commenced saying in a loud tone, "leave my coffee alone; you have your own there!" And with his finger he indicated the other cup, still full, and which he did not appear disposed to touch.

       "You see clearly, my friend, that he is a maniac, and he has, besides, the look and manners of one," said the other students, whom Frantz Hoffmann had caused to remark his strange conduct. The young German was unwilling to contradict them; but in his own mind he was far from admitting that a simple derangement of the brain could explain all that was passing in that man. In merely regarding him it appeared to the simple student as if his blood ran cold, and he would have sworn that, since the entrance of the stranger into the coffee-room, the gas lights had notably lost in brilliancy.

       Nevertheless, the joyous anecdotes followed each other unceasingly, and here is what was related by one of them named Blanquillet, better known among his comrades under the pseudonyme of Eternal Dissecter, in consequence of his fanatical passion for chirurgical operations and dissections. "As for me," said in his turn this merry youth, "I must relate to you a very strange absurdity by which I was tormented for more than six months. You all know the great skeleton of the cabinet of anatomy at the school of medicine. I mean the Osage who died in the clinical hospital in 1827, and whose superb muscular development obtained for him the honour of anatomization. One day, during my first year, passing near to this great dry-bones, I remarked to Bourdin, 'What a pity that we should not have had that whacking chap there to dissect!' While speaking thus, I do not know what was passing in my brain-pan, but on a sudden an idea occurred to me that this savage youth was looking at me with a not half-satisfied air, and that he threatened me! On the following day I returned expressly to pay him a visit, because, do you see, it was rather too much of a good thing to suffer such an absurd idea to retain possession of me. But will it be credited? It appeared more and more evident to me that this gentleman looked scowlingly upon me; at length, in a word, I no longer dared to pass near to the monster, and, in order to avoid him, on my word of honour, I was guilty of the same manœuvres as when one has to pass before the shop of a bootmaker whom one has quitted without paying his bill."

       During this recital the meagre and pale personage had not ceased to lend the greatest attention. Inclining at length towards Blanquillet, and addressing him, "Assuredly you were not in the wrong, sir," he said to him, "in being afraid of that Osage; he is a very malicious fellow, believe me; and were I to relate to you the adventure that I myself have had with him —–"

       The officious speaker could say no more; the punch-bowl was empty, and at the same moment the billiard-marker came to inform the students that a pool was about to commence. His auditory instantly took to flight, and there only remained Frantz Hoffman to listen to the promised story.

       "Sir," continued the pale and meagre individual, without appearing to perceive the void which had been effected around him, "such as you see me, before the invasion of the cholera I enjoyed the most robust and flourishing state of health."

       "I comprehend," observed Frantz Hoffman; "in consequence of an attack of that terrible malady —–"

       "Not at all, sir," interrupted the narrator; "the epidemic, I may say it, with respect to me passed unperceived; and, hold! precisely on the day on which the bulletin of deaths attained its maximum of mortality, with a few friends, philosophers like myself, I remember to have made the gayest and most delicious breakfast at which, perhaps, I ever found myself present."

       Frantz Hoffman regarded with admiration this epicurean of a novel species, and he mentally made the remark that, since that joyous repast, the poor man seemed to have fasted furiously.

       "I must observe to you," pursued the narrator, "that naturally, wine renders me pensive and melancholy; so much so, that after this breakfast, at which it must be confessed I had drunk a pretty reasonable quantity, finding myself thrown by accident into the neighbourhood of the Boulevard des Invalides, I commenced walking along its silent and solitary avenues, experiencing a pleasing charm while indulging my reverie. I there encountered a sight which, considering the cruel period of mortality in which we then were, had nothing in it that was either extraordinary or unforeseen. A victim of the scourge was sadly proceeding, as the good La Fontaine says, to take possession of his last abode, and never, in fact, was there seen a more sorry funeral; not a relation or friend walked behind the forgotten and solitary coffin, and even the dog was wanting that followed the poor man's bier. I found myself deeply touched by the spectacle, and, as if this obscure and unknown corpse had been something to me, behold me following the miserable hearse, in order somewhat to disguise the fearful abandonment that marked its passage. Having reached the place of rest, I wished to fully accomplish the sad duty I had undertaken, and to see committed to the earth the mortal remains that I had escorted. My defunct friend once in possession of his last asylum, I withdrew with that sentiment of internal satisfaction which a good action never fails to produce, when approaching to address me in a whining tone, 'Ah! kind sir, don't forget your grave-digger!' said one of the lugubrious workmen, 'if you would be so good!' Considering as ignoble this mendicity, springing as it were from the dead, 'But I do not know that individual,' I observed; 'beg from his family; I am no relation.' But I had to do with a jovial and tenacious beggar, who replied, 'You see clearly, sir, that he is the last of his family, since he would have been forced to accompany himself all alone, had you not found yourself there to give a lift by way of convoy to this poor deserted individual.' In truth, thought I, these people are engaged in a rude profession; therefore, turning back, I stopped at the edge of the grave, and felt for my purse, in order to take from it a piece of money. But in handling the purse, I drew out with it a little tortoiseshell gold-encrusted card-case, which, escaping from my hand, fell open at my feet, scattering the visiting cards with which it was filled on the ground. Officious and ardent as a man who expects a recompense, the grave-digger stooped to pick up the case, into which his horny hands reinserted the cards; but of a nature unhappily given to fun, he had the strange idea of keeping one; then scraping away the thin layer of earth under which was beginning to disappear the funereal coffer, he slipped my visiting card through a fissure in the badly joined fir-boards — a politeness as unexpected as assuredly it was extraordinary, made in some sort to eternity Perceiving whither my card was proceeding, 'What are you about there?' I hastily exclaimed. "What am I about, sir? — why, I am making known to that man the name of his benefactor, his street, and number!' 'Your pleasantry is as stupid as unbecoming; therefore recover my card and restore it to me.' The gravedigger did his best to obey, but the card had sunk too deeply into the coffin to be easily got at; and other duties calling him elsewhere, the miserable dog took up his pickaxe and spade, and left me to my reflections.

       "At the moment of my quitting the cemetery the day was on the decline, and with the going down of the sun began to blow that biting north wind which did not cease to torment the Parisian atmosphere throughout the duration of the cholera. Badly disposed both in mind and body, I already found myself penetrated with a glacial coldness; and buttoning my greatcoat over my breast, I hastened to regain my lodgings. After causing a large fire to be lighted, I ordered my valet-de-chambre to prepare a strong infusion of tea, to which I added a few drops of rum, and I drank several cups of it one after another, for the purpose of re-establishing the equilibrium in my circulation. At the end of a quarter of an hour a gentle perspiration broke out all over me, and announced the success of this regimen. After ordering my servant to refuse me to whomsoever might come, I installed myself in an easy chair by the side of the chimney, and forbade lights to be brought, in order that nothing might trouble the species of feverish beatitude in which I found myself plunged.

       "The room in which I then was seated was decorated in a serious and severe taste. Its furniture of black oak, its Cordovan hangings, Japan vases, some productions of Bernard Palissey, and tapestry and stuffs with Venetian designs, lent it a resemblance to those interiors of the sixteenth century in which the Flemish painters take such delight. In the absence of all other save the reddish reflected light proceeding from the chimney, the various objects that surrounded me assumed little by little a fantastical aspect; and whilst within me material life slowly fell a prey to the action of a progressive somnolency, my brain became filled with strange visions. It seemed as if I saw the sculptures on the furniture, the figures painted on the porcelain vases, address me with hideous grimaces, and the personages of the tapestry making an effort to descend from their canvas in order to approach me. Awakened all at once by another sense, I thought I heard some one knock at my door — then an interval of silence — and then a second knock more distinct, which left me no longer in doubt. No one, however, could have been there; my servant would have entered without announcing himself, and as for visitors, the door had been expressly shut against them. The same noise was renewed for the third time. 'Come in!' I exclaimed in a loud voice, and with an accent in which a lively impatience was strongly marked. The door opened, and there entered in fact a personage whose aspect and appearance were not calculated to make a trifling impression. He was tall of stature, dressed in black, with melancholy face, and a fatigued and sickly air, like one who had just risen from a severe malady. 'Who are you? By what means have you entered here?' I inquired, with a degree of harshness under which I was not sorry to disguise a certain emotion.

       "'I am, sir,' replied the individual, 'the person whom you were so good as to accompany to his last resting-place. I have had the honour of receiving your card, and am now come to return your visit.'"

       "Doubtless," said Frantz Hoffman, interrupting him, "it was a dream under which you were labouring."

       "A dream!" exclaimed the narrator, "would to heaven it were! I was unhappily but too wide awake. At the same time I must not conceal from you, that on hearing my guest announce himself for what he was, I felt as it were a slight sense of shivering run through my hair. Nevertheless, I endeavoured to put a good face upon the matter; and rising to push a chair to him, 'Be so good as to sit down,' said I resolutely to this inhabitant of the other world. He bowed to me with a profound inclination of the head, and took his place in the arm-chair which I presented to him. We regarded each other for a moment in silence, which put me in the way of making another remark. From his eyes, nostrils, and mouth escaped a pale phosphorescence, the inert and frigid light of which did not bear a slight resemblance to the rays produced in the dark by the light of a glow-worm. This appeared to me more and more serious. In order at once to put an end to my doubts I hastily approached the equivocal personage, and amically slapping him on the shoulder, 'It was kindly done of you, my good fellow,' I affected to say to him, 'thus to have hastened your visit to me!' But my hand, sir, encountered only empty space, and it freely passed through a form as impalpable as the vapour of a cloud.

       "Aware of my intention, the deceased indulged in a laugh, and in a some what mocking tone, 'You wished to feel,' said he, 'whether I really belong to the other place? Unlike St. Thomas, you ought to yield belief, seeing that you have touched nothing.'

       "'I confess,' replied I, 'that our rencounter seems to me extraordinary, for the means of comprehending —'

       "'That there could possibly exist a communication between life and death?' interrupted my guest. 'Ghosts, nevertheless, do not date from yesterday, and what do you then find so new and singular in the apparition of a disembodied individual?'

       "There must exist for you,' hastily replied I, 'some great interest in this visit. The ghosts of my acquaintance do not put themselves out of the way for a mere matter of politeness. Is it a crime that you are come to reveal to me? Has your wife poisoned you under guise of the cholera? They say that there is a good deal of that kind of work going forward.'

       "'So much for human prejudice,' replied the phantom, with a shrug of the shoulders, 'as if we could not make a bolt now and then without being the father of Hamlet, the statue of the commander, or the shade of Banquo? Heaven be praised, my dear host, we are not always so very ceremonious. Your charitable proceeding has given birth to a sentiment of gratitude on my part; between you and me your card has established what I may call, while waiting for the approbation of the Academy, a galvano-magnetico-tumulary current. Therefore only consider me as the most ordinary of visitors, and if you like it, let us chat together.'

       "'Let us chat together,' replied I, pleased with this tone of affability, and internally finding the occasion an excellent one for informing myself as to many things. Already a series of grave and important questions presented themselves to my lips. But my impalpable friend did not leave me the choice of the subject. Raising his voice, and with that peculiar accent which has more the air of giving out a psalm-tune than commencing a conversation, 'Sir,' said he, 'what is your opinion of that famous Black Cabinet, of which so much was said under the Restoration?'

       "'What!' I replied, 'that cavern in which the government daily violated the secrecy of letters? No one more than I has had reason to complain of that odious inquisition. I have collected together on that subject a vast amount of information, and at an early day I shall give to the world certain revelations!'

       "'My dear sir, that is not a work to be got up,' observed the defunct to me in a singular tone.

       "'And why should I not get it up?' inquired I.

       "'For a very simple reason, and that is because it is already done.'

       "'And done by whom?'

       "'By your servant, if you will permit me. While an inhabitant of this earth, and which will explain the solitude of my funeral, I was one of the clerks in the secret office, and, according to appearances, with regard to the subject which now occupies our attention, I know a little more than you.'

       "'But where did your work appear? and in what form and in what year?'

       "'My work has not as yet appeared; my plan was laid down, my notes classed, and there absolutely remained for me only to write, when death put a stop to my labours.'

       "'It is then an abortion of a book,' I remarked.

       "'No, for I can dictate it.'

       "'Ay, but to find some one who will undertake the job.'

       "'Friendly and compassionate man that you are, have I then deceived myself in counting upon you?'

       "'How! upon me? that is a service that I will not engage to render you. Every one has his own affairs to look after.'

       "'But that can in nowise interfere with your affairs, for I shall only come at night.'

       "'Ay, and my sleep then?' replied I, without adding, what I thought to myself, that a daily and prolonged acquaintance with a like visitor had nothing in it either beneficial or attractive.

       "'Well, my dear fellow, then said the ex-letter-opener, impertinently, 'you will sleep enough in eternity; and, besides, how often does it happen that you pass the night at balls and in gaming, nights which, it may be safely asserted, are much worse employed.'

       "'If I so pass them,' replied I, in the same tone, 'it is because, apparently, I am pleased to do so. Moreover, I have never been the secretary of any one, and it is not with you, my dear fellow, that I mean to begin.'

       "'Perhaps!' replied the phantom, in a sombre and cadaverous voice.

       "'And who will force me?' I inquired, without suffering myself to be intimidated.

       "'Means will be found!' said my posthumous visitor, with a frightful grin.

       "'What, a threat!' exclaimed I, beginning to lose patience. 'Will you be so good as instantly to walk yourself off!' And I rose impetuously.

       "'I find myself very comfortable here, and I shall remain,' replied the audacious personage. 'I perfectly comprehend your little project; you simply wish to drive me away in order to profit by my idea.'

       "In face of that base and ignoble accusation, I had but one step to take. Running to the bell-rope, I pulled it forcibly. A moment after my servant presented himself bearing a light. When I examined the spot where the phantom had previously been seated, I no longer saw any one; he had disappeared."

       "No doubt of it," observed Frantz Hoffmann, following up his idea of a nightmare with which his acquaintance had been visited.

       "How, no doubt of it! You will soon see that," continued the narrator, with an air which seemed to say that he must expect revelations much more marvellous; and then, continuing his recital, "The rest of the night," he added, "passed tranquilly enough, and the following day, on awaking, I found no difficulty in persuading myself that I had been acted on by a dream. Throughout the day, however, I experienced, as well physically as morally, a degree of anxiety and lassitude, and it was only towards evening that I succeeded in overcoming this indifferent state of feeling. The Opera and Mademoiselle Taglioni having greatly contributed to the restoration of my serenity, on leaving the theatre I passed half-an-hour at Tortoni's, where I found some ladies of my acquaintance valorously indulging in ices in spite of the cholera; so that it might very well be within a quarter off one o'clock when I entered my lodgings. After midnight my domestic was, by a general order, dispensed from waiting for me; it was sufficient that he should leave a lamp lighted in the ante-chamber. Behold me now giving a turn to the key in the outer door, and afterwards, with the lamp in my hand, traversing a rather long suite of apartments in order to reach the cabinet which I have had the honour of describing to you. A fire was always kept up for me there, because from habit I spent an hour in reading or in writing notes before going to bed. Judge of my astonishment, sir, on opening the door of that room! At each side of the chimney I perceived a person sitting; and one of them, enveloped in a great red mantle, making himself quite at home, was occupied in stirring the fire.

       "'You return home very late!' observed one of the intruders, in an imperious and surly tone, without saluting me or rising.

       "At these words he who was poking the fire turned his face towards me, and then whom do you think I recognised? Precisely that man who always looked askance at your friend — that Osage who died in 1827 at the clinical hospital; in a word, that great white and red harlequin, whom twenty times I had contemplated on his pedestal, and with whom I myself, it must be confessed, did not live on the most intimate footing. Astonishment at first sealed my lips, but as soon as I could speak, 'What! you there again?' angrily said I to him who had addressed me.

       "'Again!' ironically echoed my under-ground guest of the previous evening; 'that is a word of reproach.'

       "'But what is your business? Why is that man here?'

       "'Will you write to my dictation? Or will you again cause me to be put to the door by your valet?'

       "'No, I will not write!' I replied, 'and I command you to withdraw.'

       "'Take care!' then said the wretch to me; 'I have got my gendarmery there, and I am not one to be trifled with!'

       "As I was unwilling any longer to commit myself with the mysterious individual, I ran to the bell-pull, but it was impossible to make use of it; care had been taken to cut the cords. I then rushed towards the window with the intention of calling for assistance. On perceiving this movement, placing himself before the espagnolet, 'For the last time, will you write?' cried the horrible phantom in a rage.

       "'Making use of the most unalterable constancy, I protest that nothing is capable of modifying my resolution.'

       "'That is what we shall soon see,' said my abominable adversary, and he pronounced the single word — 'WASHINGASBHA!' At this name, which you doubtless know to be Indian, precipitating himself like a tiger, the Osage in two bounds came down upon me. Grasping and entwining me in his iron muscles, we rolled together on the carpet. All at once, in the midst of the struggle, I felt myself from head to foot assailed by the sharpest and cruelest pains; and then, while under the sensation of this indescribable torture, it appeared as if life were abandoning me, and I fainted away. It is necessary you should know, sir, that during his lifetime and while in his own country, this Washingasbha had been a juggler, and consequently given to the practice of all sorts of enchantments and infamous proceedings. That man was deplorably skilful in the horrible operation of scalping. Besides, something carried his rage to the utmost; he was inconsolable at not having been able to engage in Parisian life, seeing that he died in the hospital almost on his arrival. Now, is it necessary to tell you the secret of those wicked glances which he did not cease to throw at your friend M. Blanquillet and me? For a long time he had plotted an evasion, and was fully aware that he would lessen the chance of being pursued and recaptured were he to succeed in procuring some one to take his place. I, sir, became that victim. Do you now comprehend the frightful preliminary? When I returned to my senses I had ceased to appertain to humanity; unclassed and no longer seen in the rank of human beings, the two monsters had transformed me into the great écorché or muscular specimen of the cabinet of the School of Medicine; and henceforth I had for social position that of being an illustration of anatomical science!!"

       Here the pale and meagre specimen of humanity sorrowfully covered his visage with his hands; and on his side Frantz Hoffmann, whom the decided tone of the speaker had little by little transported into the regions of the imaginative world, appeared to take a rather lively interest in the sad event of that metamorphosis.

       "In this unnatural situation," the narrator continued after a few moments, "how can I make known to you my sufferings and humiliations? During the hours in which the cabinet was thrown open to the public, I was forced to undergo the scrutiny of the idle, and the insolence of the students. At a later period in the day, when the doors were shut, imprisoned with all the human remains which are preserved there for the uses of science, I was terrified by the silence and solitude of those vast and sonorous halls, where from under the glass-cases in which the numerous specimens of osteology are preserved, I could hear the dull labour of the insect of destruction resuming the interrupted work of death, and slowly making restitution of the larcenies committed on the tomb. When the hours at night had arrived I was doomed to another species of torture. No sooner had midnight sounded on the clock of the faculty, then my frightful persecutors entered, who, mocking me on my solitary pedestal, and after a thousand affronts and insults, ever returned to the object of our discussion, Will you write? will you write? As it did not appear to me possible that so horrible a violation and so profound a derangement of the laws of nature could endure indefinitely, I became more obstinate in my resistance, and from the summit of my pillory often did it happen to me to brave my tormentor. But, see the cunning of the demon!

       "'Apropos,' said he to me one day, 'what do you think my friend the Osage has done with what he so properly stripped you of?'

       "I disdained to reply to the insinuation, in which I only saw a detestable mockery; but the monster resuming, 'When examined narrowly,' said he, 'that pellicle does not fit him precisely like a glove; but after all, those red skins, do you see, are not so very particular; and wrapped up in your borrowed surtout, sleeping in your bed, expending your money, and, by the aid of his deceitful envelope, personating you with your mistress, upon my soul, the vagabond is making a gay life of it!'

       "'What you are now saying is not possible!' I exclaimed, horrified by this new horizon of misfortune which was opening upon me.

       "'Not possible! and why?' observed the phantom. 'In conversation do we not daily hear: I would not like to be in his skin. Not a whit disgusted, he was desirous of creeping into yours, where he is now making merry, and absolutely living in clover!'

       "'Merciful heaven!' I exclaimed, in the deepest anguish of despair, 'have you permitted that such should be the reward of my charity?'

       "'By the way, what I do not altogether approve of,' continued with a hypocritical interest the most diabolical personage ever encountered, 'is, that this runaway savage does not keep a little more within bounds. To get drunk every night, cheat at cards, grant promissory notes, rob merchants, and, more than all, refuse to fight a duel, that, it must be confessed, is too greatly to abuse a borrowed character and name. As for me, I told him the other day, My lad, look what you are about; all that may very well end by your finding yourself in the clutches of the Correctional Police. To which he replied, What does that signify to me? That regards the other, for I shall soon reinvest him with his worthless toggery should the police once take it into their heads to set about tormenting me.'

       "Until then I had suffered all and braved all; but after this detail of my dishonour, I remained broken down, annihilated. Remarking that I was giving way, 'Come come,' said my persecutor, 'is it then so difficult a thing to write under the dictation of an honest man a series of varied and extraordinary adventures, with which his mind and memory are equally stored?'

       "'Do with me what you will, sir,' I replied; 'only suffer this infamous enchantment instantly to cease, that I may be enabled to take steps for the preservation of my name from dishonour!'

       "Almost immediately thrown into a magnetic slumber by means of certain movements or passes of the hands, I found on awaking the following day that restitution had been made me; but I was in bed suffering horribly, so much so, that the physicians, at that time head-strong in their determination to see and give credence to no other malady, treated me as if I were labouring under a serious attack of cholera."

       "So that," observed Frantz Hoffman, "you at length decided on writing; that assuredly was the best thing you could do."

       "That is your opinion, sir," replied the narrator; "and yet this mean compliance was for me only the commencement of an insupportable persecution. When this posthumous individual has finished dictating his history to me, he instantly recommences it with variations, so that the job seems an endless one. In another way, again, my misfortune has even been aggravated, for with the difference in the moon's rising, which every evening is three-quarters of an hour later, he more and more advances the moment of his coming. It thus happens that, long previous to sitting down to study at my dinner hour, and while at the theatre, or in the evening parties to which I am invited, the disorderly conduct of the Osage having compromised me less than I had feared, I am condemned both to smell and see at my side this horrid larva, whom you may have remarked a little while ago endeavouring to lay hold of my cup, notwithstanding the care I always take to accord him his portion, just as if he yet possessed the sensual organs necessary to bring him into connexion with the external world, and were not a shadow and a spirit."

       "Eh, what!" very judiciously observed Frantz Hoffman, "it appears to me that you are expressing yourself on this dangerous man's account in a way but little measured or prudent. He is not then near you at present?"

       "No, sir," replied the pale and meagre mortal; "he left me to go and see the pool played. He has an unbounded passion for billiards, having evidently been during his lifetime a man of but indifferent morals, and very ordinary company."

       "And you know no means of compelling him to separate himself from you?"

       "Pardon me, sir, there would be one, and he has even clearly insinuated it to me; his book once written and re-written, he would consent to rid me of his presence were I to get it printed."

       "In that case who hinders you?"

       "But he is unwilling that I should have it done at my own expense, saying, with reason perhaps, that books printed for the authors never sell well. One by one I have waited on all the publishers; what people, sir! — they keep bawling out for something new, something extraordinary; but when I carry them the work in question, which assuredly is sufficiently new and extraordinary, they seem as if they thought me out of my mind, and with more or less courtesy conduct me to the door."

       Taking part in the sufferings of the poor maniac, "Hear me," said the compassionate young man; "I am perhaps able to render you a service. I am the son of a person who possessed some influence with the booksellers. You are acquainted with Hoffman's Tales?"

       "Do I know Hoffman's Tales! — and you are the son of that great man!" exclaimed the narrator, with admiration, while a flash of renovated life as it were lighted up his features, and lent a momentary colour to his faded cheeks.

       "Yes," replied the student, "Hoffman was my father; and, perhaps, offered under the patronage of that illustrious name, your manuscript would receive a less cold reception."

       "Who doubts it, young man? To-morrow it will be left at your lodgings. Your address, if you please."

       Frantz drew from his pocket a small portfolio bound in embroidered velvet, a present made him by his sweetheart at the period of his departure for Paris, and taking from it a card, he presented it to the poor secretary whom it was his intention to oblige. But this thoughtlessly revived a poignant recollection.

       "A card! a card to me!" exclaimed the maniac, with as much terror as if he had been menaced with a red hot poker. "Ah! I see it clearly now you are laughing at me like the rest!" And then unwilling to listen to any explanation, with a tragic step he strutted out of the coffee-room.

       The following day the young German was tranquilly smoking his pipe in his furnished lodgings, engaged in a discussion with some of his companions of the preceding evening, as to whether he had had to do with a person of fantastical ideas, or simply with a madman, when suddenly there appeared in the assembly a young female student, a tall fair girl, named Clara.

       "M. Frantz," said she to young Hoffmann, whom she visited in quality of a countrywoman, "here is what the porter has given me for you." And at the same time she placed in the hands of the young man a roll of paper sealed with black wax, besides a letter of large dimensions having a border of the same colour, and presenting the appearance of a funereal missive. This singular letter was thus conceived:—

"SIR, — My secretary is a blockhead, and his alarmed manner of quitting you last night, on the occasion of his meeting you in the coffee-room of the Rue de la Harpe, was of a nature to compromise the good and friendly intentions that you testified with regard to my manuscript. Could any one have acted more foolishly and absurdly than to have quitted you without being willing even to accept your address? Happily I have been enabled to repair his silly proceeding. I penetrate nearly into every place where I am desirous of visiting; and to the Faculty of Medicine, you can readily comprehend, I find free access in my quality of defunct. Last night, then, having retained your name, which I had heard pronounced by your comrades, I searched the register in which the students are inscribed, and succeeded in finding your address — Rue des Maçons Sorbonne, hotel of Cardinal Lenoine, where I sincerely trust this letter will not fail in reaching you. I cannot, sir, but thank you for your benevolent intentions, and pray that you may continue in them. The work which I have the honour of addressing to you is full of curious facts, and is extremely conscientious, as you may perceive, since the manuscript which I confide to your care is the seventeenth version written under my dictation by the individual named Carbonneau, whom I employ as secretary. I moreover wholly trust to you for correcting the proof-sheets; and at the same time I here engage to break off every kind of relation with the said Carbonneau from the day on which the work shall have been published. I nevertheless exact, as a sine quà non condition, that the bookseller shall be at the expense of the requisite advertisements, for on that head these gentry are not altogether to be trusted. Be pleased, sir, to receive the assurance of my high consideration; and do not be offended that, even with regard to you keeping my anonyme, I sign myself "* * *, ex Clerk in the Secret Office."

       Written by the same hand as the letter, the manuscript had, in the first place, the merit of being magnificently legible, and moreover it was enriched by some sufficiently curious illustrations drawn with the pen. At the top of the first page, and arranged in the manner of an epitaph, was read the following title:—

Below the title figured this motto, borrowed from Titan, the most celebrated of Jean Paul Richter's romances:—

       "By which it is well to open letters, under condition of resealing them again, for the benefit of state affairs." — Titan, vol. ii., cycle 74.

       The comrades of young Hoffmann amused themselves greatly with this present; but he made light of their pleasantries, and clearing a place on the work-table, which was encumbered with written extracts and medical books, he showed himself disposed to treat with a certain degree of seriousness the nocturnal lucubrations of the defunct.

       "Hallo!" cried Blanquillet, somewhat scandalised at the attitude of the candid young man, "are you about to commence reading these absurdities, in place of proceeding with us to the Hotel Dieu, where Dupuytren is to day to perform a wonderful operation?"

       "By my faith," replied Frantz, "I am not without feeling some curiosity to learn what this man has written. If he is a fool as you say, it seems to me that in a scientific point of view a work dropped from his pen must very well possess some interest."

       "Decidedly, what is bred in the bone wont come out of the flesh," remarked one of the comrades of young Hoffman; and at the same time slapping him on the shoulder, "my boy," he added, "you are the real son of your father, and yet they would make a doctor of you!"

       "Oh, gemini! that has an air quite genteel," said the student in petticoats, who, curious as a lady's maid, had opened the manuscript and been glancing it over.

       "Don't touch that, Clara!" laughingly exclaimed one of the young men; "it will cause you ill-luck, for it was written by a posthumous author."

       "In that case the style must be somewhat out of the common. Is it your wish that we should peruse these papers together, M. Frantz?" demanded Clara.

       "Willingly, my dear miss," replied young Hoffman, who did not, however, accept the amiable proposition without a slight embarrassment.

       "Excellent, Clara!" exclaimed several of the young men, "we shall inform Bourdin that you are come to engage in tête-à-tête readings with your countryman!"

       "Leave me alone!!" replied the good girl; "is it not known that M. Frantz already has a sweetheart? Besides, unlike you, he may be trusted."

       "Come, gentlemen, let us be off," cried Blanquillet, "for I am desirous of getting a good place."

       The students once fairly gone to their lecture, the fair Clara went and sat down near the window, in order to profit by the light for some work in embroidery in which she employed herself. During this time Frantz Hoffman had installed himself before the table, and taking up the manuscript he thus commenced: Prologue.

(To be continued.)

---

       In the course of the year 1819, a crime, accompanied by very extraordinary circumstances, was committed in Paris. A magistrate, an individual enjoying general esteem and consideration, was found one morning assassinated in his bed.

       The instrument employed by the murderer was a poignard, fashioned by the hand of a skilful artist, and the idea for its formation must have found its birth in an imagination that seemed to revel in the horrible. The handle represented a skeleton half concealed by drapery. Upon the blade was read in damaskeened letters the detestable pleasantry, The blade gives the handle, (i.e., causes death.) From the instrument of the murder, which remained implanted in the heart of the victim, was suspended, attached by a small chain of bronzed steel, an ebony label, on the black ground of which was inscribed in red letters the single word, PREVARICATOR. At the same time there was seen on the brow of the murdered man, a red stamp, bearing in the centre of a shield the figure 1. It appeared, as it were, the announcement of the first drawn number of a horrible series of assassinations!

       These various circumstances, however, at once assumed a striking appearance in the eyes of justice, as well as in those of the family of the magistrate, whose public life the assassin thus accused; the most absolute secrecy was kept respecting the kind of death to which the unhappy man had succumbed. Another consideration, that of avoiding to spread alarm in the population, who might have thought themselves under the menace of a band of invisible bravos, led to the adoption of a secret investigation. No indiscretion could, moreover, be committed by the public journals — the newspapers at that time being under the rule of the censorship, and the Gazette des Tribunaux, the official organ of the law courts, did not then exist.

       Several weeks passed away, during which all the researches of the police had remained fruitless, when a new crime and a new victim became known. A female, enjoying a distinguished reputation for piety and virtue, and who for the recent loss of her husband had exhibited an inconsolable grief, of which it had never entered the mind of any one to doubt the sincerity, was found dead in her bed-chamber, struck while in the act of kneeling at prayer. The same stab in the heart, the same kind of poignard left in the wound, and attached to the murderous instrument a like ebony label, bearing the double epithet of ADULTERESS AND POISONER; in short, on the brow of the deceased the same red stamp, and in the centre of the shield the figure 2!

       The reasons which had led to keeping secret the first crime determined, à fortiori, the most complete reserve as to the second; but the inquiry into this affair led to a serious complication. Attention having been drawn to the accusation thrown on the memory of the victim, justice urged its investigations in every direction, and while it remained without trace of the audacious murderer who numbered his crimes, it acquired the posthumous certainty, that a female, in the opinion of the world considered as the model of wives, had in fact been led, under the excitation of an adulterous passion, to make away with her husband by means of poison.

       It is unnecessary to detail the redoubled zeal which this discovery was calculated to impart to the magisterial researches. Already engaged by their duty and conscience in this inquiry, they now received the impulse of love; self was there not, in fact, for them an insolent defiance in the existence of a kind of secret tribunal having its justice and executioners, and which possessed a knowledge of and chastised crimes that, in so far as regarded a public example, remained unpunished or unknown?

       A month had scarcely elapsed since the drama, when one evening, at rather an early hour, in the open street, and at a few paces from one of the great thoroughfares in Paris, as if the assassins had been desirous of attaining that notoriety which until then had not accompanied their crimes, an old man was stabbed to the heart. His was more than a mere reputation for probity; it was a striking celebrity for philanthropy that the murderers had undertaken the task of extinguishing in blood. Number 3, as the red mark imprinted on the forehead of the victim indicated, must have been, according to the label appended to the poignard, an INCORRIGIBLE USURER; and this accusation was in fact borne out by an examination into the state of his pecuniary affairs.

       Nevertheless, the publicity which this secret justice seemed determined on obtaining at any price for its executions, failed it once more this time. No newspaper was permitted to notice the event; and as for a few oral details which might have been put into circulation by a small number of persons present when the corpse was removed, they were denied and treated as ridiculous fables by the official Moniteur: it is well known that its proprietors, the government, make as frequent use of this journal as a means of giving circulation to what is unfounded, as they do of it in giving currency to the truth.

       Towards the end of the same year, another adventure, surpassing in strangeness all the surprising facts laid before the reader, came to close the series of these mysterious crimes. It is well known that to the west of the Barrière d'Enfer is situated the entrance to a vast subterranean receptacle for human skeletons, the galleries of which extend under several quarters of Paris, and which bears the name of the Catacombs.

       On the 24th of December the wife of the keeper of this funereal depôt had invited some friends to celebrate with her Christmas-eve. The repast was a gay one, as it may be generally remarked that those individuals who live by means of the graveyard are anything but given to melancholy. The sparkling glass and the merry anecdote were circulating gaily, when, in the sombre empire of which he was the Cerberus, the Amphytrion thought he could distinguish subterranean noises, and as it were an occasional burst of voices. A superstitious terror immediately spread itself among the guests, for the residence of the keeper comprised the only entrance to these funereal galleries, and the latter thought he was certain that no one could have effected an entrance, or have remained there without his knowledge. An old soldier, and minutely exact in the fulfilment of his duty, the guardian of the catacombs, notwithstanding the endeavours of his wife to the contrary, was determined on learning whence the strange noises that reached him proceeded; and as none of those at his table had the courage to accompany him, he descended alone into the vaults, armed with two pistols and carrying a lantern, in order to find out what was actually going on there.

       After some time his prudent companions heard the report of two shots, and then all remained silent. Several dreary hours passed without witnessing the return of this second Æneas, gone to visit the lower regions; and although night was at length succeeded by day, still the unfortunate man did not make his appearance.

       The fact was made known to the police, and, having provided themselves with torches, a strong party descended to the galleries, endeavouring to discover the cause of the noises said to have been heard, and to assure themselves of the fate of him who had first commenced that exploration. The result of these researches was terrible. After a quarter of an hour they stumbled over the body of the unfortunate keeper. At his side, and near to the still burning lantern, which had been placed on his breast, were found the two pistols discharged. And here again appeared with the eternal poignard the red stamp, which this time marked No. 4. Inscribed upon the label, the words IMPERTINENTLY CURIOUS boldly assigned the reason of the murder, and led to the supposition of some frightful mysteries with which the unlucky guardian had had the misfortune to interfere.

       As usual, no trace of the invisible assassins could be found; everything in this profaned asylum of death remained silent and in its habitual state, and notwithstanding the most minute researches, nothing led to a knowledge of the means by which these men of blood had introduced themselves into the underground galleries. During several weeks frequent daily and nightly patrols vainly came to aid the very natural desire of justice to penetrate this black and seemingly unattainable secret; an impenetrable obscurity continued to veil it. Besides, this crime was, more than the murders which had preceded it, carefully concealed from a knowledge of the public; for never had the defective power of the magistrates against these midnight assassins, whom it was their mission to discover, been so scandalously demonstrated.

       About the same period as that of the preceding assassinations, an event of a very different nature had caused some sensation in the Faubourg St. Germain. The Marchioness de Camambert, one of the most elegant women belonging to the Parisian aristocracy, had all at once announced an intention of retiring from the world, and entering the convent of the Dames du Sacré Cœur of Turin. This resolution had appeared strange in all quarters, and every one felt a difficulty in explaining why a lady of only five and twenty, blessed with wit, beauty, and fortune, and recently become the widow of a septuaginary husband, had not found a fitter occupation for her youth and liberty. One supposition had, however, presented itself to the minds of some of the more clear-sighted; it was recollected that in the saloons where she obtained the greatest success in point of conversation and beauty, Madame de Camambert was at least as much dreaded as she was flattered and sought after. Considered as one fond of intrigue, she possessed such an intimate knowledge of the private life and secrets of many individuals, that people could never fully comprehend how that insight had been obtained. So varied and extraordinary was her acquaintance with the annals of scandal, that at one time it was near becoming for her the occasion and foundation of a lofty station. Admitted to an audience of Louis XVIII., who had a marked taste for anecdote and scandal, she had on that occasion entertained him with so many revelations connected with Parisian society, that he was at once seized with a sort of passion for her.

       Notwithstanding that she was sustained by the Congregation, and by the Pavillon Marsan, and already broken in to the yoke, another influence had prevailed, and it was to this failure in obtaining the royal favour, which had been thus nipped in the bud, that, in the opinion of certain observers, the marchioness's idea of withdrawing from the world was to be attributed.

       But be this as it may, her inflexibility and persistence could no longer be doubted, on seeing the beautiful penitent confer gifts on her servants and friends, and alienate and make away with her entire fortune, absolutely as if she were on the point of quitting this world. As to her reclusion she appeared desirous of giving to it a character of unaccustomed rigour and austerity, for, on setting out for her pious exile, she informed all who might have claims to a place in her memory, that she would keep up no correspondence, receive no visits, and, in short, would so wholly absorb her personality in her monastical name, that henceforward she must be considered as never having existed.

       Among other property which, before quitting France, Madame de Camambert disposed of, must be cited a magnificent mansion which she occupied in the Rue Notre Dame des Champs, adjoining the Luxembourg, and which previously had belonged to the celebrated comptroller-general, the Abbé Terray.

       The individual who became the purchaser of this splendid residence was a very remarkable personage; and as he is hereafter to play a distinguished part in this recital, we cannot dispense from entering with regard to him into some detail. Styling himself the Marquis de Lupiano, he fell one fine day into the very heart of Paris, from no one knows where, without its being possible to learn his descent, country, or family; some even went the length of entertaining a doubt as to his sex; and this was, it must be confessed, to have attained the utmost possible limits of eccentricity and incognito. The fact is, that, setting aside the mystery with which he appeared willing to surround himself, this man, even in his external appearance, presented the greatest singularity. With a forest of grey hair and a thin and meagre beard, his visage, of a blondness and delicacy but little common, presented to the eye that deep and multiplied crossing of wrinkles, which is an especial feature in the decrepitude of females; and at the same time by the tone of his clear and high-pitched voice, he gave cause to the strangest interpretations. But, on the other hand, the look of this singular old man had something in it so penetrating; his gestures, notwithstanding the apparent weakness of his constitution, were so imperious and energetical, and in brief, on the occasion of a celebrated duel with pistols, from which he came off victor, he had shown such prodigious courage and coolness, that in presence of symptoms of so powerful a moral organization, foolish conjectures could no longer be hazarded.

       At one time, in order to conciliate difficulties, people pretended to have discovered in this animated problem the counterpart and continuation of the famous hermaphrodite, the Chevalier d' Eon, who under the successive appearances of a gentleman and a lady occupied so keenly the public attention during the end of the last century. But this version when examined narrowly was not for a moment to be sustained. Born in 1728, the Chevalier d'Eon would have completed in 1820 his ninety-second year; and evidently the Marquis de Lupiano had not yet attained so advanced an age. Besides, what settled the question was, that, ten years previously, on the 21st May, 1810, the Chevalier d'Eon died in London, in the arms of the first surgeon of Louis XVIII, Father Elisée, who afterwards had presided at the inspection, and even at the dissection of the body. It thus became, it must be confessed, rather difficult to have seen him, at the period in which this history commences, walking about the streets of Paris.

       Whilst awaiting the moment in which it may be permitted us to pierce the hazy atmosphere in which it pleases the strange appearance of the marquis to surround itself, let us take note of another particularity in his existence, and this one at least had nothing problematical in it. Starting with a magnificent retinue, and before having, at the price of 500,000 francs, become purchaser of the Hotel Camambert, leading a truly princely existence in a house which he had rented, he justified that lavish expense by the well vouched-for possession of enormous sums placed in the banks of London, Paris, and Vienna. He, besides, made of this opulence a use as honourable as it was intellectual; for however often it may have happened to him to have thrown away considerable sums on strange fancies, he also employed much money in the encouragement of literature and the arts, of which he was an excellent judge. In a word, numerous acts of beneficence were cited of him; while, on the other hand, people reproached him with his haughty manners and imperious airs, and all the symptoms of a profound esteem for himself, combined with a contempt not less profound for the rest of humanity.

       Recommended by so many titles to general curiosity, the marquis yet solicited it still more, in attaching his name to a singular affair which, at the period of which we speak, was the public talk of Paris, without any one ever having learned the truth of it. All the contemporaries of that period recollect having heard speak of the famous young woman with the death's head; she was, according to public rumour, a rich heiress, who placed her hand and an immense fortune at the disposal of the man courageous enough to look upon her without shuddering after she should have unmasked before him. Now, this singular girl desirous of getting married, whose existence, as will shortly be seen, was much less fabulous than many imagined it, was nothing more or less than the daughter of the Marquis de Lupiano.

       Accompanying her father into public places and assemblies, she never exhibited herself without a mask of wax upon her face. But the cruel caprice of nature of which she was the victim seemed to have limited its attack to the charms of her visage, for she was tall and well shaped, exhibited a head of beautiful blond hair, an admirable bust, and hands of matchless whiteness and form. Nevertheless, whenever she gave expression to her thoughts, an exterior revelation of her infirmity might be detected in the tone of her voice, which, all prejudice apart, permitted something to be felt that was hollow and sepulchral.

       Considering as serious the offer of her hand that this strange would-be bride was reported to have made to the first-comer, some simple-minded pretenders presented themselves at the marquis's hotel, and, according to the humour of the latter, they were either pleasantly mystified or rudely repulsed. Nevertheless M. de Lupiano did not attempt to deny the hideous deformity; on the contrary, he was the first to confirm a belief in it by the explanation which he himself gave.

       According to this explanation, the marchioness, his wife, while enceinte, was present at some archæological researches, and frightened by the turning up of a human skull, which rolled forth under the pickaxes of the workmen. But, in supposing that celibacy should have been the only thought and unavoidable destiny of this poor creature, whom a cruel accident had deprived of all beauty, undoubtedly she was not reduced to the ridiculous matrimonial sale of which the report had been bruited abroad. Possessing a magnificent marriage-portion with which to dazzle the eyes of fortune-hunters, and with the remarkable mental superiority of which she afforded proof in conversation, she was yet a girl whom it was not difficult to establish in life, and on whom more than one lofty family in the aristocracy would gladly have conferred their name

 

       Already more than a year had elapsed since the Marquis de Lupiano and his daughter were established in Paris, when one afternoon, during the month of January, 1820, we find him traversing the obscure lateral arcade which, commencing in the Rue St. Marc, at that period had no other issue than the Galerie des Panoramas. He was accompanied by an individual remarkable for his handsome appearance, and for an air of energetical resolution that seemed to pervade his entire frame. The name of this individual, as well as the swarthy tint of his complexion, rendered evident his southern origin; but in that consisted all the information which until then had been obtained on his account. The Count de Montalvi was one of those foreigners of doubtful pedigree, who in Paris lead the most elegant style of life, without any one being able to say whence comes the fortune they expend, the titles and decorations they bear, or the country whence they trace their descent. From his feeble constitution and diminutive appearance, the Marquis de Lupiano, hanging on the arm of his manly companion, to whom he was addressing his conversation with an air of lively animation, formed, to say the truth, a sufficiently grotesque contrast. Not withstanding, from the apparent deference and approbation with which the count listened to him, it might be supposed that he acknowledged in his slender companion a lofty moral superiority; an athletic nephew, in the Guards, could not be more attentive to the words that drop from a ricketty, little, old, rich uncle, of whom he is the expectant heir.

       In the isolated passage in which this conversation was being carried on between the two friends was situated at that period the shop or warehouse of a celebrated dealer in second-hand articles of female apparel, perfumes, &c., named Madame Constantin. The cumulative nature of this kind of business is generally known. The most distinguished of her customers, whether in buying from or selling to them, belonging to that class of females not remarkable for reputation, the second-hand dealer is ever obliged to enter more or less into the private affairs of these magdalens, whom she frequently aids with her counsel, sometimes even in taking active steps in their favour. It may also be remarked that the second-hand dealer in general has known what it is to love, and to compassionate its wanderings, and is therefore dis posed to render those little services proceeding from goodness of heart and inclination, even when not induced to such a line of conduct by her personal interests.

       "'Pon my honour, a lovely creature!" all at once exclaimed the marquis, on seeing leaving the shop of Madame Constantin a female, in fact, remarkably beautiful, and who had just passed by him.

       "Somewhat bold of manner," observed the count.

       "Precisely what we want," replied Lupiano, "since decidedly we cannot count upon the assistance of our fair friend."

       "In truth," said Montalvi, "Providence is great, and who knows? perhaps at the moment in which we least expect such a favour it sends us the conducting angel that we stand in need of." Thus speaking, he had quitted the marquis's arm, and was about to follow the track of the charming apparition, who was already almost out of sight.

       "Not at all! not at all!" observed the marquis, in retaining his impetuous friend; "you are not going, like a simple student or notary's clerk, to dog the heels of a pretty woman. This trader," added he, pointing to Madame Constantin's shop, "will assuredly inform us of all we wish to know." And an instant after, followed by Montalvi, he passed into the second-hand dealer's. "Madame, we are desirous of seeing some lace," said the marquis on entering, and with the air of one really intending to buy.

       "English, Mechlin, or Alençon?" asked the dame, as much for the purpose of learning what they wanted with her, as to show off the extent of her assortment.

       "Whichever you please," replied Lupiano, "only let it be of the richest."

       "Sir, here is a magnificent article, and, moreover, quite a bargain," said the dame, beginning to unrol several yards of Brussels point wound round a piece of card-board.

       Nothing seems misplaced at a secondhand dealer's, and chance sometimes wills it that everything may be found there, from a bridal robe to a pair of duelling pistols. It need not therefore cause astonishment that the marquis should hastily shift from the article of the Brussels point to inquire what might be the value set on the bow and arrow of a savage, on which his eye had suddenly alighted in a corner.

       "That, sir? it is real Indian," replied the dealer, in a soft insinuating tone, which was equal to saying that, between the demand and the reply, the object which had in so unexpected a manner fixed the attention of the purchaser, had doubled its price.

       "No," observed Lupiano, who had travelled much and was a connoisseur, "that is not Indian; it is Caffre, from the Cape of Good Hope. But the question is not whence it comes; I ask you what you will let it go for?"

       The dealer put on it an exorbitant price, which the marquis, without attempting to beat down, paid in gold, at the same time saying that he wished his purchase laid aside, and that he would send one of his people for it. And having thus obtained the right of exercising his curiosity, "You had here," said he, "a little while since, a very remarkable woman; do you happen to know her?"

       "A very remarkable woman?" repeated the second-hand dealer, with an air of not knowing what was meant, which is indubitably the commencement of such conversations.

       "Yes, a tall and handsome woman, who has just left your shop; one of your customers apparently."

       "Ah! yes!" said Madame Constantin, recovering her memory, "a brunette, wearing a green cashmere? You are right, sir; in my opinion, she is one of the most charming women in Paris; and certainly it may well be said, that she is not in her proper sphere, the poor child!"

       "What do you mean by not in her proper sphere?" inquired Montalvi.

       "That is to say, one who is not fortunate; you must be aware, sir, that there must always be many such people."

       "But," interjected the marquis, "in what consists this want of good fortune? It is surely something to be beautiful, and in Paris a handsome woman is rarely unfortunate."

       "Really, if you imagine, sir, that to lose a rich admirer without there being any fault on your side, and to see oneself on the point of having one's furniture seized, be a subject of rejoicing, such is her position."

       "The loss of one is the gain of another," remarked Montalvi.

       "Hum! for Georgina," replied the dame, "it is not so very easy. There are words which destroy, do you perceive?"

       "How words which destroy? You are fond of talking riddles, Madame Constantin."

       "Yes, sir, such are men; and very frequently a wretched nickname is sufficient to destroy a poor woman in their estimation."

       "Oh! as to that," continued the marquis, in order to draw forth more particulars, "this damsel, Georgina, must then be a light giddy sort of person."

       "In that, sir, you are wrong! Georgina is a quiet, steady girl, gentle as a lamb, fond only of her own home, incapable of deceiving or of having words with any one; but it seems to be her destiny, that's a fact!"

       "What! to lose her admirers?" demanded Montalvi.

       "Yes, sir, to see them all depart, one after another, but not in an ordinary way, or by ceasing to admire her. Her misfortune is to be deprived of them by death, and always by horrid frightful deaths. Thus, for instance, she will have an admirer to-day who will be killed in a duel; to-morrow, another in making a promenade with her in the Bois de Boulogne, will be thrown from his horse, and never move again from the spot; the week after, it is some foreign nobleman, who, without rhyme or reason, commits suicide in her boudoir, and destroys her Persian carpet, thereby occasioning her a downright loss of fifty louis. There are some also who come to an end through politics and conspiracies."

       "In truth, hers is indeed a singular destiny," remarked Montalvi.

       "And in consequence of all these disasters, what is then," demanded the marquis, "this disagreeable surname conferred upon her?"

       "Some young fellows have taken it into their heads," mysteriously replied the second-hand dealer, "to call her the bleeding damsel, from the famous romance you must know, sir, in which there is a nun. The name has taken effect, and I do not impose upon you in saying so; at this very time of day, I know sensible men, magistrates, peers of France, bankers, in short, men of knowledge and capacity who, through a dread of their lives, would not dare even to nod to Georgina in the street!"

       "Eh, what! the bleeding damsel! " said the marquis, exchanging a glance with Montalvi.

       "Yes, certainly," observed the latter, as if entering into his idea; then addressing the dealer, "But, I say, tell us, if you please," added he gaily, "the residence of this very sanguinary beauty; for in fact one should positively avoid even to approach her neighbourhood."

       Madame Constantin assumed an air of considering the question as a mere pleasantry, and in place of replying to it, "Well," said she in an insinuating tone to the marquis, "you will not make me an offer for my Brussels point?"

       "Certainly, I will," hastily exclaimed Lupiano; "it is you, my dear lady, who do not inform me of the price."

       The marquis having once more paid very dearly, and without seeking to lower the extortionate demand, "Your pardon, gentlemen," said the dealer in cast-off stuffs; "I forgot a matter of business that presses." And at the same time placing herself at the entrance to her backshop, "Ernestine!" she cried to her assistant, "there is a cashmere that must be carried to Mamselle. Georgina's, at her old address, No. 31, Rue Roquépine; she is not to change her lodgings till after tomorrow."

       Having thus ingeniously communicated the information desired, "Madame, I wish you a very good day," said the marquis, directing his steps to the door, followed by Montalvi.

       "Shall I cause these things to be carried home, sir?"

       "No, that is unnecessary; as I have already informed you, they will be sent for." And the two friends withdrew.

       Two days later, a servant presented himself at Madame Constantin's, to claim the purchases made by the marquis. The dealer was all smiles to the messenger, and did her best to set him a-talking, but never was she less successful. He only knew French enough to say, 'Good day, madame.' Speaking Portuguese, he could only communicate with the second-hand dealer by means of a paper with which he had been provided, and on which was written, Give to the bearer the bow, arrows, and lace, purchased by M. de Hernandez.

       On withdrawing, the domestic left the paper in the hands of Madame Constantin. The latter did not fail to examine it with extreme attention, and perceived that it was the back of the envelope of a letter. On the other side was written: Monsieur de Hernandez, Merchant, Hotel de Cambridge, Rue de Rivoli, Paris, and the letter bore the Brazil post-office stamp.

       Immediately on the two strangers leaving, the officious dealer had hastened to make known by a note to Mamselle. Georgina, the curiosity and the questions of which she had been the subject. But, what was very singular, during the two days which had intervened, the negligent beauty had given no sign of existence; and instead of coming to obtain information, as would have been but natural, she had left Madame Constantin, whom, however, she knew to be intensely curious, in the most complete ignorance of the consequences arising from the excellent opinion given of her. At length, able to hold out no longer, the second-hand dealer adopted the resolution of proceeding to the Rue Roquépine, the lodging to which with such perfect politeness she had furnished the indirect indication. But there she encountered a first disappointment. The evening preceding this visit, Mamselle. Georgina, having paid all her creditors and discharged her femme de chambre, a confidential servant to whom she was greatly attached, had intimated that she was setting off for Italy. Employed to hand over the amount of a small note to Madame Constantin, the porter was left in ignorance of the period when the return of his handsome lodger, whose furniture, besides, he had received orders to dispose of, might be expected. Exasperated that she should thus be left in darkness, the second-hand dealer instantly decided on a bold step, and resolutely presenting herself at the Hotel de Cambridge, she asked to speak with M. de Hernandez, not at all embarrassed, once she should have reached him, about finding some pretext for her visit.

       Introduced without great difficulty, Madame Constantin found herself reserved for a new and graver miscalculation. M. de Hernandez was a gigantic Brazilian, with a mulatto complexion and an exuberant and curly head of hair, in whom it was impossible to discover the smallest trace of resemblance with the two strangers who had made use of his name. It is unnecessary to add that the bow, arrows, and Brussels point, were so many mysteries for him. Taking offence, after some time, at the persistence and multiplied questions of his second-hand visitor, the merchant recollected that at the period in which this scene occurred, individuals arriving from Brazil were honoured by the police with very particular attention. He therefore insinuated to the virtuous dame, that he was quite disposed to consider her as having, with regard to him, some secret mission to perform on the part of that occult body; and he bluntly put an end to the visit by unceremoniously showing the door to the respectable dealer in cast-offs, who to her infinite regret was thus forced to bring her investigations to a close.

 

       At a period approximating to that in which had taken place the unexplained departure of Mademoiselle Georgina, nothing was talked of in the city of Bordeaux save the charms of a Parisian lady, who had recently alighted at the Grand Hotel de Guienne in company with her husband. In order to produce so great a sensation, it was necessary to suppose in this lady, who moreover had already passed the age of early youth, a beauty in fact miraculous, for it is well known that the females of Bordeaux pique themselves on their charms, whilst the male part of the population, with a southern gasconade which has made the political fortune of many among them, would willingly persuade strangers that in their native city a Venus de Medici and a hunting Diana were to be met in every street. What, moreover, contributed to bring out in bolder relief the splendid attractions of the Parisian belle was perhaps the contrast of a husband already on the decline, and who did not compensate by any species of exterior advantage for the cruel disproportion in age which at a first glance was remarked between them. This striking difference had even commenced by attracting to every step made by the amiable stranger a host of ardent admirers, to whom the mean exterior of the husband had not acted as a trifling encouragement; but we must not forget to add that, in less than a week, this grand competition and compact and palpitating crowd were very considerably diminished.

       Rendered, it would seem, extremely jealous by the consciousness of his want of personal attractions and evident venerableness in point of age, the husband, in whom these two aggravating circumstances did not appear to have lessened the muscular vigour of his arm, commenced by killing in a duel one of these pretenders to his Penelope. Another adorer had been found one evening stabbed at the corner of a street, without the smallest proof, it is true, of the direct or indirect participation of the ferocious Othello, but also without this tragical adventure presenting any other possible explanation than the indiscreet ardour of the proceedings and sighs to which the victim had addicted himself.

       These two murders, it will be readily comprehended, had sufficed to draw around the handsome dame an imposing sanatory cordon; so that, the husband being left out of the question, there yet remained the difficulty of gaining the lady's attention. Now, the latter showing herself rather disdainful, and far more indifferent than eager to receive homage, the gentlemen contented themselves with admiring at a distance and outside the railing that encircled the shrine; the devotion of which she remained the object was a kind of realization of the popular caricature, Look, but touch not.

       Although they had arrived with post horses, and occupied the best apartments in the first hotel in the city, this lofty couple were not accompanied by a single servant, a circumstance which left the less chance for the ultimate gratification of that curiosity of which they were the object. They were rarely seen at the theatre or on the public promenades, and almost their only amusement appeared to be for the wife to change her dress several times a day, and for the husband to watch every movement in the harbour, either in walking along the quays or in observing from the elevation of a balcony the numerous vessels arriving or setting sail. As to the way in which the two spouses passed their time together, so far as could be learned, it was singular. Never did this husband, so terrible a guardian of his honour, address a kindly or tender expression to his wife, and he treated her with a coldness not at all equivocal, if not with a certain disdain. On her side, this beauty so proud and repelling did not seem even to except her gracious lord and master from that freezing indifference with which she had the air of honouring the entire masculine sex.

       Moreover, abounding in wealth, and possessing in one of the banks of the city credit to a considerable amount, not taking their repasts at the general table of the hotel, never receiving any one, and avoiding with marked attention everything that could lead to the forming of either friendship or acquaintance, the more this singular couple excited curiosity the less they appeared dis posed to satisfy it. The only circumstance that could be learned with certainty of the mysterious strangers, was that they had come from Paris, and were called Monsieur and Madame Lelouard, a revelation due to their passport, which without the slightest hesitation they had handed to the proprietor of the hotel the very day of their arrival.

       Little by little, discouraged by the meagreness of these details, public attention was beginning to withdraw itself from these two irritating objects, which offered no surface to the most persevering investigations, when by an unlooked-for event there was effected in their favour a release from the annoying inquisition to which up to this moment they had been a prey. One day it was reported at the Exchange that, arrived with a valuable cargo of indigenous productions, an official agent of Radama Manjaka, king of Madagascar, had landed in the course of the morning. Considered in every point of view, this news was interesting; in the first place, a cargo to be disposed of presented excellent matter for speculation — a rise or decline in the value of colonial produce, a certain amount of profit to be made, a good stroke of business to be effected; in a word, an important affair to be engaged in.

       In the next place, this event offered what journalists would have called a political horizon; because for persons having a knowledge of commercial transactions with the colonies, King Radama Manjaka was a personage of some importance, and the arrival of one of his accredited agents could not be otherwise regarded than as an affair far from indifferent.

       From 1665 France had not ceased with varied fortune to attempt forming establishments in the African island of Madagascar, and there as every where else she encountered the keen competition of England. Now, King Radama, at first merely the chief of the tribe of the Hovas, had finished by subjecting the entire isle to his domination, and after conquering it, like a civilised monarch, desirous of introducing into his kingdom the arts and intellectual progress of Europe, it was at first towards the English that his aspirations after exterior relations had appeared to incline him. But if now he had addressed a diplomatic agent to France, an entire change must have been effected in his line of policy, and their establishments, until then suffering and precarious, were about to be invested with renovated vigour, and to offer to exportation new and important markets and outlets. It is easy of comprehension that, happening to be circulated on the Exchange, that is to say in a place where, without its appearing, the greatest ardour of the imagination fermented, these conjectures had instantly produced an immense sensation, and so much, in fact, was not wanting to convert the new-comer into a very important personage. Other information soon arrived, and all tended to support the encouraging views at first entertained.

       Proposing doubtless to give to his mission all the distinction and publicity possible, the envoy of the king of the Hovas presented himself with a magnificent suite and train, and he brought with him his vadi-be, or legitimate wife, a native beauty of the deepest chestnut tint, and nearly allied to King Radama, since she was cousin-german of the queen, then and now reigning, Ranavalo Manjaka. As for the plenipotentiary, of a strongly marked copper colour, and magnificently tatooed on the chest, as was remarked by a tailor whom, on the instant of his arrival, he had caused to be summoned, in order to his being supplied with clothes cut in Parisian fashion, everything led to a supposition of his having sprung from an African stock. His followers, nevertheless, gave him out for a European, come from no one knew where to the kingdom of Madagascar. By his administrative and military talents, as well as by the distinguished manner in which he comported himself in the frequent orgies to which the civilising king but showed himself too fondly addicted, he rapidly rose in the favour of Radama, and the latter, after having made him his favourite, then one of his ministers, had finished by converting him into his relative, and now his envoy. Several days passed, during which the Madecass diplomatist showed himself as prodigal of his presence as the couple whom he had dethroned in public curiosity had been sparing of theirs.

       Another change then occurred, and new reports began to circulate, in which the old and new objects of general attention were unexpectedly found united and blended together. To believe in these strange rumours, it would appear as if, in order to find in Bordeaux a man whom he judged worthy of being on a footing of intimacy with him, the terrible M. Lelouard had found it necessary to wait till an envoy of King Radama should expressly come to land there; for no sooner had his tawny excellency installed himself in the hotel where the fierce Parisian resided, than the latter had shown a disposition far from equivocal to humanize himself. From the proximity of their apartments a habit of meeting soon sprang up between them; they next became inseparable, took their repasts together, and, so to speak, the two families, black and white, were not long in forming but one. But, more. remarkable still, although the envoy of King Radama, doubtless somewhat fatigued of the regimen of coloured attractions, could not contemplate without a lively emotion the contrast presented by the resplendent beauty of the fair Madame Lelouard, the husband, in general so little enduring, did not appear to take umbrage at the warm expression given to that admiration; and although it suffered itself to be carried to a pitch which daily knew less bounds, still this admiration continued to encounter a husband patient, forbearing, and not indulging in demonstrations which had for object the reducing of it to a more seemly state of reason.

       On her side, encouraged apparently by this species of conjugal indifference, or carte blanche, Madame Lelouard was far from showing herself disagreeable or without sympathy for the impetuous manifestations of her African worshipper; and her kindly amenity had finished by assuming so expressive a character, that it was impossible for the cousin of Queen Ranavalo any longer to shut her eyes to it.

       Breaking out at length in all its fiery energy, the Madecass jealousy had made a furious explosion, and but little was wanting, it was added, that the tanguin, a poison much honoured at Madagascar, where it is employed for judicial purposes, should have played a distinguished part in that rivalry. In any case, in such a situation of matters a denouement became inevitable, and this is how it was brought about. One fine evening the charming Madame Lelouard furtively ascended the carriage which had brought her to Bordeaux. Only, in consequence of an abstraction rather remarkable, instead of having M. Lelouard conjugally at her side, it so happened that for travelling companion the beautiful fugitive had taken the envoy of his copper-coloured majesty of the Hovas. At this thunder clap, awaking though somewhat tardily his marital vigilance, the unhappy husband had precipitated himself on the traces of the infidels, who, according to the information obtained, appeared to have taken the road for Paris.

       As for the illustrious and unfortunate cousin of Queen Ranavalo, like another Ariadne, she was for the moment forced to continue her residence at Bordeaux; her ignorance of the language and manners of the country in which she had been abandoned, only permitting her to exhibit her despair on the spot, and putting off till a later period her terrible vengeance should she succeed in again laying hands on her fickle and perfidious spouse.

 

       Fifteen days after the arrival at Bordeaux of King Radama's envoy, the 13th of February, 1820, a memorable date, since on that unlucky day the Duke de Berry perished by assassination, there occurred at Paris an adventure as little known as extraordinary, and by which the police of the period were thrown into a state of commotion. It is even somewhat singular that at the time this event did not make a much greater noise, since at the first blush it presented an appearance of being a sort of appendix or continuation of Louvel's crime. But probably the lesser emotion was swallowed up in the greater; and occurring as it did in the midst of the immense preoccupation caused by a crime which threatened the existence of a dynasty, may be explained the riddle how such a strange imbroglio as that with which we are about to occupy the attention of our readers was suffered to pass away almost unperceived.

       At the hour in which the unhappy prince fell under the blows of his assassin, Providence having willed that, by a sorrowful contrast, the fatal event should take place on the night of Shrove Sunday, it is unnecessary to observe that there were many dancing assemblies in Paris. Among others, a grand ball was given that evening at the house of M. B—–, an attorney, and the letters of invitation bore the express and imperative postscript that the guests were to present themselves in costume. Among the invited to the fête was to figure a young man named Maisonneuve, who was received in the attorney's house on a footing of the greatest familiarity. Himself the son of a provincial attorney, and destined by his father to the magistracy, this youth had been sent to Paris, in order to enter on a profound study of jurisprudence, and in the capacity of an old friend of his family, M. B—– had kindly undertaken the charge of him. With but little intellect, a jovial, ruddy, and vulgar countenance, herculean shoulders, an iron constitution, and the most sottish assurance that it is possible to imagine, the future magistrate presented all the necessary conditions for deceiving the vigilant control of an entire bench of attorneys; and it was especially at the public dancing places called the Prado, the Grand Chaumière, and such like establishments, to use his own phrase, that he obtained the greatest success, for it was there he habitually pursued the course of those profound studies which were one day to endow France with another d'Aguesseau.

       The carnival of 1820 was the first that Maisonneuve passed in Paris; it was therefore destined to become for the student a dangerous and stormy epoch, and the 18th of February had been for him but one long and ardent sacrifice at the merry shrine of Shrove-Sunday. Early morn found him provided with the costume of a savage, holding an osier mace in hand, cap and feathers of a cazique on his head, and something like a leopard's skin thrown over a tight-fitting, flesh-coloured dress, which showed off his athletic and muscular form; he went to meet a young shepherdess, who in nowise ought to be confounded with the chaste and pastoral patroness of the city of Paris. A Harlequin and a Turk of his friends, three-fourths of whose doors he had greatly damaged under pretext of awaking them, next received his visit and that of his lively companion; and the sextuor completed by the adjunction of a clown and a fishfag; after a preliminary and ample breakfast, they picturesquely grouped themselves in an open caleche, the hire of which they had arranged to pay by a joint contribution. The day passed away in driving processionally along the Boulevards. The youths had dined at the Cadran Bleu, and night being come, after having provided themselves with torches, they commenced a round of all the places having any claim to notoriety at which the carnival was being fêted. Maisonneuve proposing to leave his friends about eleven o'clock, in order to proceed to the ball given by the attorney who inhabited the Faubourg St. Germain, the joyous band had for an instant entered the Salon de Mars, Rue du Bac, and for a last trip had fallen back upon Vauxhall, frequented by the lowest class, and which was then situated on the Quai Voltaire, in the abandoned church of an ancient religious community, from whence arose, by a rather singular alliance of words, the name of Bal des Théatins conferred on this indifferently famed spot.

       In the meanwhile, the fête which Maisonneuve did not as yet honour with his presence, seemed to get on very well without him. It had already reached its highest degree of animation, when the attention of the attorney was all at once attracted by the noise of an animated discussion, or rather by a quarrel, of which his ante-chamber had become the scene. Having proceeded to learn the cause of this scandalous proceeding, M. B—– ascertained that it was occasioned by a kind of porter carrying a chest of considerable weight and dimensions. In this grotesque disguise, which he called his costume, this singular guest, notwithstanding a lively opposition on the part of the domestics, insisted on penetrating to the ball-room, and presenting his homage to the mistress of the house. At sight of the mask worn by the blusterer, M. B—– concluded that the whole affair was merely some carnival joke, and without considering the pleasantry as one founded on the best taste, he took it in better part than his servants had done. After some little discussion the mystery was cleared up, and under this burlesque equipment, which formed the subject of debate, Maisonneuve finished by being discovered. In the first moments, the very natural manner in which he played the part of a drunken porter had rendered the detection of his person impossible by the inmates of the mansion.

       At the period in question the fashion had not as yet reached the hideous and half-naked disguises which since then have had such wonderful success; the attorney was, however, but indifferently satisfied with the style of dress, something more than negligent, of his guest, and drawing largely on the right of censure delegated to him by the father of the young man, he rebuked him sharply touching the wretched choice and unsuitableness of the dress under which he had thought fit to present himself. Nevertheless, at the conclusion of some rather lengthy explanations, it was decided that, in spite of his costume of ticket porter, the adventurous youth should, at his proper risk and peril, have access to the saloons; but on the chapter of his great box, M. B—– was inexorable, and it was doomed to remain with the pelisses and great-coats in the ante-chamber, in spite of the persistance and protestations of Maisonneuve, who exclaimed in despair, that he should thus be altogether made to fail in his début. The freak of the student had in the meantime occasioned some noise in the ball room, and in the interior of that gigantic box which he had taken the trouble of carrying on his shoulders, and upon which the puritanism of the notary had placed an interdict, some joyous surprise was generally suspected to be concealed and was looked for. On every side the pretended porter was therefore pressed with questions, but, assuming a mysterious air, he gave it to be understood that a drama, an entire history, like that of the old Trojan horse, lay hid within this chest; and to some ladies, whose curiosity persecuted him with untiring ardour, he had finished by replying, "That the mystery was one of those which could not with propriety be spoken in the ears of angels." While this was going forward the moment of supper arrived. The ladies passed into the refreshment-room, where, conformably to the usage in all great reunions, they alone sat down.

       Thus left to themselves while awaiting their turn, the gentlemen considered the moment a favourable one for obtaining from the student a knowledge of that secret which, from the state of inaction in which they then found themselves, elicited still more strongly their curiosity. Maisonneuve at length appeared ready to yield. Nevertheless, before commencing his recital he anxiously inquired if M. B—– was within hearing, the details into which he should be obliged to enter not being doubtless of a nature greatly to edify that grave voucher for his studious life and irreproachable morals. The fact once established that, wholly occupied in doing the honours of the table, the attorney could not in any way occasion umbrage to the narration, Maisonneuve had no longer an excuse for refusing to satisfy the general wish, and placed in the centre of a circle formed by his auditory, he commenced his recital.

(To be continued.)

       "Desirous of acquiring a perfect knowledge of the moral and philosophical physiognomy of the Parisian carnival, about two hours since I penetrated with a party of male and female friends into a kind of dancing and carousing den, commonly called the Bal des Théatins. There, it may be quite unnecessary to say, I did not find any of those venerable ecclesiastics, but in their stead I found a host of clowns and Punches, by whom, I give you my word, that, for the particular occasion, they were advantageously replaced.

       "My friends and I had dined very passably; nevertheless, the ladies, in accordance with the practice of our Quartier Latin, thinking that a little something would not be at all disagreeable to them, we settled the business by a bowl of hot wine so well, that I finished by finding myself slightly gay and elevated.

       In that situation of mind I have a taste for engaging in exercises of the description of those of the Alcides, and without presumption I may say that in these athletic sports I am not absolutely a novice. I consequently offered to bet that with outstretched arm I could lift one of the benches, the said bench ornamented and garnished with an honest family from the provinces with the most stolid faces possible, and who had boldly installed themselves there to witness the dancing. The friend to whom I offered the bet doubtingly shrugged his shoulders, which induced me so far to forget the rules of propriety, as to boast of several feats of vigour not less extraordinary, which I had succeeded in performing in my native province. On this my friend rather coarsely replied, that I was top-heavy and ought to go to bed.

       "The affair was assuming an ugly aspect, for the calumny was openly insinuated in presence of a numerous auditory, who until then had appeared to take some interest in my assertions; but all at once, acting as a happy diversion to my anger, I perceived facing me a charming black domino, whose eyes from under the mask shot out lightning glances, whilst with a little hand ungloved and white as alabaster, she made me a sign perfectly intelligible, and in which it was easy to detect a double meaning. On the one hand, she had an air of saying to me, Come to me, my dear fellow; on the other, marking an unmistakeable disdain for the menagerie with whom I found myself at table, she signified the imperious order that I was to conceal from them the charming intelligence beginning to establish itself between the captivating domino and me. Comprehending at a glance the extent of my good fortune, I rose under some pretext, and manœuvring as happily as skilfully, I soon succeeded in joining my unknown one, who preceded me by some steps in the crowd, where I never once lost sight of her. I naturally expected a lively and animated conversation, such as is commonly practised under a mask. Not at all; in the arm which I had passed under mine I felt a trembling, as if fear agitated the bosom of my divine odalisk; and on my inquiring whether it was that she felt unwell, 'How happens it, sir,' she said to me, (excuse my citing literally her words,) 'that an individual endowed as you are with all the external advantages which lead to the supposition of a good education and elegance, should appear to derive pleasure from the ignoble society from which I have just snatched you?'

       "'Stop, my little darling, my friends are not low people; and if it is for the purpose of reading me a lecture on cant, that you are desirous of addressing me —–'

       "'Cant! I neither like nor practise it; but vice, disorder, orgies even!' and she pronounced the word with the accent of a tigress, 'I am desirous that they should be adorned with the polish of politeness and good breeding. You are handsome,' continued the syren, (whose words I repeat with a blush,) 'your air and manners are noble; in fine, you possess all that is necessary to resemble the most distinguished rakes of the Regency, and yet I find you here in the society of vulgar women and shopkeepers' apprentices, casting your pearls before swine, when life is already too short for the enjoyment of the refined pleasures which only ask to spring up around your steps!'

       "The language of this demon of a woman, like sparkling champagne, flew to my brain; and yet I had sufficient self-possession to turn her argument against herself. 'Aha! my lovely mask!' said I to her, 'and what are you yourself doing in the very same place, where by your insinuating language and alluring manners, you appear to me in your turn entirely out of your sphere?'

       "'I? I came to witness how low the depravation of certain appetites could sink the human mind. I am horrified, confounded by the ignoble rivalry which has been made known to me, and now vengeance is my desire.'

       "'And that vengeance, my charmer?'"

       "'There are not two — that of woman is the real one.'

       "'But an accomplice is necessary, have you thought of that?'

       "'Why have I selected you? why made sign to you to approach me? At this moment even, why do you convulsively press my arm?'

       "And here you will be pleased to recollect, gentlemen, that it was she who pressed the arm of your humble servant in the most fascinating manner. 'Is it possible!' observed I; 'why, what a charming creature you must be! so full of heart, too!'

       "'Yes, people consider me passable — but let us withdraw — I am suffocated here.'

       "We withdrew, and, arrived on the steps leading to the ex-sacred edifice, I was about to approach a rather queer-looking carriage, in which throughout the day my friends and I had been confoundedly shaken.

       "'Quite unnecessary,' said the charmer; "at two paces hence, at the corner of the Rue des Saints Perès, my carriage and people are waiting for me.'

       "'Only think!" said I to myself; "my people! and my carriage!' In two steps we reached the indicated spot. A superb equipage, coachee with a three-cornered hat and a box coat like a tod of wool, also an ebony nigger servant to open the coach-door. Once in — 'In what direction, madame?' — 'To the hotel.' — And off we rolled."

       In supposing that the history of this bonne fortune or intrigue proceeded from the memory of Maisonneuve, and not from his imagination, some people may perhaps remark that a like affair could not have fallen to the lot of a lighter or more indiscreet young man. Such also it will be thought was the impression made on one of his auditors, who, during a few moments only, had entered the saloon.

       "It is inconceivable," said in a loud voice this discontented individual, "how any one can exhibit such perfect gravity while detailing stories so ridiculously absurd!" And then, as if in a mighty passion, he set about gaining the door.

       "Hallo! what is the matter with the gentleman?" said Maisonneuve, at the conclusion of such an unlooked-for interruption, and still following with his eye the individual until he had left the saloon. He, however, attached no importance to the incident, and immediately recommenced his narration.

       "We proceeded," continued he, "for some time, and as long as the coach man chose, for I cared little for what was passing outside, occupied as I was in endeavouring to lift the mask of my adored, but which, I owe it to truth to declare, she prevented me from effecting. All at once, however, the carriage stopped, and, what is not usually the case, both the coach doors were at the same time thrown open with a bang.

       "'What a terrible misfortune!' then exclaimed the domino, while leaping out at the door on the left. I however did not attempt to leave by that on the right, but I looked out, and with an astonishment that may be easily conceived, I found myself in a spot dark as night, for the precaution had been taken to extinguish the carriage lamps. I also particularly recollect that I breathed an odour of stable-dung and of a poultry yard, which led me to suppose myself in a straw yard, or some other filthy and rural locality; and then by way of additional satisfaction, I heard some one undo the chain of a watch-dog, which he had an air of presenting to me under the gracious appellation of Tiger, and I could perfectly figure to myself the size and cut of this playful monster by one or two powerful bass notes which proceeded from its throat in the form of a bark, to celebrate amid the profound silence of the night its first moments of liberty. Upon which, continuing to hold the coach-door open, "Are you not going to alight, sir?' inquired the negro respectfully.

       "'No, by heavens! I am not going to alight. What is the meaning of all this? and whither have I been led?'

       "'You cannot, sir, sleep in the carriage.'

       "'I tell you that nothing shall compel me to alight. I am here in a cut throat-looking place, but, if it must be so, I will sustain a siege.'

       "'Take away!' now exclaimed the villanous black, and instantly, as it were by magic, the imperial of the carriage divided itself into two, and left me exposed to the heavens. At the same instant I felt myself seized round the waist from behind; in front a running knot encircled my legs, and in spite of the vigorous manner in which I plied my arms for the purpose of disengaging myself, I was rapidly transported into a room on the ground floor, where in shutting me up my jailor begged in the politest terms that I would have the goodness to wait a little.

       "A romance writer would have experienced no difficulty in describing this room; for furniture it presented nothing more or less than the four walls, and it was only lighted by a night-lamp, formed of a chipped drinking glass, placed in a corner on the ground. If I had been overcome by wine, as my impertinent acquaintance had pretended, there was here, by my faith! wherewithal to have sobered me; and it must be confessed that in the first moments my reflections were anything but rose-coloured. Cursing the duplicity of women, and my stupid belief in flattering intrigues, I now foresaw only the most sinister denouement, and found that, though joyously commenced, the carnival would terminate most villanously for me. But with the word carnival there presented itself to my mind a more consoling idea. At Paris, I finished by saying, people are jovially disposed; we are in the season of mirth and frolic; my adventure began at a ball, and will it not ultimately turn out that I am simply the object of a farce? I did not deceive myself. The next minute I heard a hist! hist! and then under the doorway was thrown a scrap of paper, which I picked up. Hastily written with a pencil, it contained —–'

       Here Maisonneuve drew from his pocket, as a justificatory proof of his assertion, a piece of paper folded in four, and read as follows:—

       "'Dear Sir, I am in despair at what has happened to us; it is a practical joke intended to be played off on you, and which, far from being able to prevent, I am forced to take part in; otherwise I should be compelled to declare that you are not the person you have been taken for, and that I returned to the house with an unknown individual. I moreover beseech you, for the interest of my safety, on no account to quit your mask, and to soften your tone of voice as much as possible. If you are desirous of again seeing me, you must, in order to get over all suspicion, do without fail whatever may be required of you, and which will appear more absurd than difficult of execution. Do not be grieved for the strange place in which you find your self; it was for greater security that I caused you to be brought through the outhouses and stables, and shortly it will be a very different matter, seeing that these detestable jokers are about to make you descend into the cellars. Here is, moreover, my name, and the address of the house in which you now are. One more test; lend yourself to it willingly, and fear nothing. To-morrow, at as early an hour as may suit you, present yourself at my house. I shall impatiently expect you, were it only to offer, with more ample explanations, my excuses and regrets.'"

       Having finished reading the note, Maisonneuve refolded the paper, and with a self-satisfied air added, "Then followed a magnificent Spanish name, and the address of a street in the Faubourg St. Honoré. But in respect to that name and address I would rather not explain myself more categorically.

       "By the light of the lamp," he continued, resuming his recital, "I had just finished reading this consolatory epistle, when the second act commenced. I saw enter two individuals, masked and strangely attired in loose black and red robes, in the style of those worn by executioners on the stage. One of these savage looking personages, in whom I observed a portly rotundity of form, held a white handkerchief, rolled up so as to serve as a bandage, the other a kind of running knot, doubtless destined to alarm me in case I exhibited symptoms of resistance, and with the greatest affability and attention to forms these would-be jailers invited me to follow them. Whilst I was undergoing the preliminary formality of suffering my eyes to be bandaged over my mask, 'It is I; do not be alarmed,' said to me in a whisper the charming executioner, who at the same time found the means of pressing my hand significantly. We then made about twenty steps out of my prison, when I was told to take care, as we were about to descend; this was in fact the order of the programme, the staircase leading to the cellar which had been announced. In order to lead me to a belief that I was penetrating into the bowels of the earth, my guides did not set about it in the least ingenious manner. We at first descended a certain number of steps, which I should not have failed to count had I imagined myself engaged in a serious adventure; I was then made to walk straight forward, next to descend, then to mount again, until I began to feel fatigued with the exercise; but at length reaching the level ground the bandage was removed, and although forewarned of the purely facetious turn which the rencounter was to assume, I must confess it, the lugubrious appearance of the place into which I had been introduced did not fail in greatly astonishing me.

       "Figure to yourselves a long gallery, very imperfectly seen by means of a reddish and sepulchral light. On the side by which I had entered it was closed by immense red hangings descending from the vaulted roof to the ground. On the right and left the wall appeared covered with painted cloth, representing in frightful relief long ranges of death's heads and human bones. At the other extremity, bounded solely by the profound obscurity, this terrible hall had an air of infinity; but towards the spot where the light ceased to act, the eyes were attracted by a species of throne surmounting a platform, and crowned by a dais or canopy. On each side of the platform was ranged a number of seats. I counted a dozen; ten only, besides the throne, were occupied by a kind of phantoms, who wore red masks, red gloves, and red cloaks with hoods: this flaming colour was also that of the entire furniture, and decidedly appeared to be the favourite tint of the establishment. My two conductors, who never lost sight of me, after having placed me near to the platform, made to the president a silent and profound salutation, and then placed themselves a few paces behind me, one on each side. Then speaking in a hollow tone, 'Sir,' said the high functionary to me, 'I would fain believe that, agreeably to my instructions, you have been treated with the greatest respect. I nevertheless owe you an apology relative to the species of violence which must have been employed in bringing you here.'

       "'Not, at all, president,' I replied; 'to kidnap people by means of a pretty woman is, on the contrary, very flattering and gallant.'

       "'Nothing could please me more,' observed my grave interlocutor, 'than your self-possession in a situation where many others would feel alarmed perhaps by the apparent danger. Your gaiety proves that we have to do with a man of courage, and that we could not have made a better choice for the important mission which it is our desire to confide to you; nevertheless, we are here for the purpose of occupying ourselves with serious interests, and like me perhaps you will find it suitable to treat them seriously.'

       "This kind of reprimand brought back to my recollection the recommendation of the beautiful Spaniard, who had keenly solicited me to play naturally my part of dupe; at the same time softening down my voice to the flute stop, in order to observe the tenor of the instructions she had communicated to me, 'I am in your hands, sir,' replied I; 'say what is it you wish me to do?'

       "'As you may readily perceive by the mystery with which we surround ourselves,' was the reply, 'we are a secret association, and, what is more, a political association. It is enough to say that, under a government the enemy of liberty, we can only assemble together in the midst of the greatest peril. Hunted for a long period by the police, we are at the present moment sold and betrayed by a traitor. In consequence of his information, the place of our meetings, where it is thought we must surely be surprised, is this very night to be surrounded by an armed force, and we are here assembled for the last time.'

       "'That's a pity, 'pon my soul!' I could not hinder myself from replying, forgetting for a moment the nature of my own part; 'the hall is spacious, commodious, well-ventilated, and decorated with especial taste.'

       "'We shall not want for space,' replied the president, with increased solemnity; 'and to form for us an asylum, there remains for us the entire world, over which extend the innumerable ramifications of our association. But to-day, momentarily forced to disperse, we are about to set out while pre-occupied by a grave interest — that is to say, the safety of our archives. None of those here present can undertake to provide for their safe-keeping; for at this moment, each of the members of this assembly is preparing to start for a different and distant point of the globe.'

       "'I understand,' I hastened to say, in interrupting him; 'the affair in hand is, as one may say, to lend a help in finding another locality for these papers.'

       "'You have said it, and trust that our gratitude —–'

       "'Gratitude — I shall be flattered by it; but, on the other hand, the gentlemen of the police and the attorney-general?'

       "'It is precisely the peril that constitutes the service; for if the question merely regarded the carrying of an ordinary burden, the first ticket-porter in the street could render us that good turn, and we should have no need of the special individual upon whom we have cast our eyes.'

       "'Enchanted with the preference; nevertheless, permit me to have the honour of observing that —–'

       "'President,' now hastily exclaimed one of the assessors in rising, 'this person hesitates, and we are losing with him precious moments. I demand that another decision be come to, after, however, getting rid of this poltroon, who has come here only to possess himself of our secret.'

       "'Do not alarm yourself, brother,' replied the president; 'between the prudence which weighs a danger and the baseness which declines it there is some distinction to be made; and I shall entertain so much the more confidence in the resolution of our accomplice that he shall have well reflected upon it and calculated its extent.'

       "'That's what I call speaking,' exclaimed I, 'while the other gentleman is desirous that I should take and adopt a resolution before it has even been explained to me what the nature of the proceeding is which this honourable association expects from me.'

       "'You see that object yonder,' said the president, directing my attention to a corner in which was a box of large dimensions, upon which the words WITH CARE were written many times in large and legible characters. 'In that are contained all the documents of our chancery.'

       "'I would rather have bet on its being porcelain, so often is it indicated to touch it with precaution.'

       "'You must,' continued the scarlet gentleman, 'take that box upon those shoulders which, heaven be thanked, you possess both large and strong. Thus loaded, by favour of the darkness you will proceed without hindrance, according to all appearance, to the Rue Notre Dame des Victoires, where is situated the office of the diligence, which starts to-morrow morning at four o'clock for Bordeaux. Taking the first name that presents itself as the sender, you will have the box registered to the address which it bears written on the lid. That accomplished, your labour will have terminated, and in a few days the society, without considering itself capable of worthily recompensing so important a service, will nevertheless cause to reach you a testimonial of its high satisfaction.'

       "'But, president,' I took it upon me to observe, 'am I to carry that enormous box on my bare shoulders?'

       "'All has been provided for,' replied, with an important air, the lofty dignitary, who in fact played his part in the most natural way imaginable. 'You will there find a knot and a porter's dress complete, the ticket included, in case of your being accosted by a patrole, or a body of police making their rounds. You can have no possible objections to make, unless it be that your heart fails you at the moment of proceeding to act.'

       "What a charming fellow, this dear president, with his no objections to make! — there would have been a cart-load of them, provided that one had been disposed to examine curiously his amiable proposition. For instance, he might have been told that in this hasty removal there appeared some thing much more perilous than he chose to make believed, since in fact no member of the distinguished society possessed sufficient enthusiasm to take charge of the unwieldy box. One might even, in taking the commission for what it really was, that is to say a practical joke, have hinted to the gentlemen mystificators that their farce was not skilfully got up, nothing bearing less resemblance to the truth than their having accorded their confidence for so ill-favoured a job to the first individual picked up in the street. But it was not my part to play the debater. I knew the solution of the enigma; the pleasantry consisted in forcing me to walk through Paris for a longer or shorter period of time with the ridiculous burden upon my back; and unquestionably when I reflected that, as the price of this complaisance, I assured to myself the kindly regards of the charming Spanish lady, who, to say the truth, ran strangely in my head, I do not very well see how any one can prove to me that I made a bad bargain. Pretending, therefore, to be deeply hurt by the doubt implied by the last words of the president as to my courage, in the twinkling of an eye, and with the assistance of my two conductors, I assumed the dress fitting the occasion.

       "Next came a second edition of the bandage formality, which was more than repaid me by a renewed and more energetic pressure of the hand from my beautiful conquest, and another recommendation given in a whisper to be punctual and exact in the execution of my mission. All that done, two of the associates preceded us carrying the box, and there we now were ascending the staircase. Having regained the stable-yard, I was told to take my place in a carriage; but there was no question this time of the magnificent equipage; and a tilted cart, of which, as if nothing were the matter, my hand slyly felt the covering, gave me to understand that, like a criminal, my evasion was to be operated in the humblest of vehicles. Having for travelling companion the red and black gentleman who, in his quality of master of the ceremonies, had served to introduce me, we continued our route for some time with the slow and uneven pace usually exhibited by heavily loaded carts. My conductor at length begged me to alight, and having done the like himself, he assisted me in adjusting the knot, on which he installed the box; then, leaping back into the cart, which instantly set off at a rapid trot, he wished me 'good luck!' and authorised me to undo the bandage. The handkerchief removed, I turned round to learn where I was, and the first thing which presented itself to my eyes was, to my surprise, the dome of the Invalides! The villanous jokers, because I was considered to have business near the Place de la Bourse, had caused me to be conducted to and abandoned on the Banks of the Seine, opposite the Esplanade of the Invalides."

       A general laugh having for a moment interrupted the speaker, he was doubtless about to explain the concatenation of ideas or circumstances by which he had been induced to bring the mysterious box to the attorney's, instead of taking it, agreeably to the pressing intimation of the unknown dame, to the coach-office. But before Maisonneuve had had time to enter into these explanatory circumstances, the ladies had finished their supper, and already they were seen entering the saloons in crowds. The moment being come to occupy their places, the student was not the man to allow himself to be distanced by any one. Abandoning, therefore, his audience and the conclusion of his recital, he rushed into the refreshment room, and took possession of one of the first vacant places, for what with the fatigue of his narration, as well as that of his box, it will readily be understood that he had got what he called a ferocious appetite.

 

       Several times already the mistress of the house had come to solicit that the guests would hasten their repast, seeing that from a want of gentlemen the dancing could not recommence. The table was little by little abandoned, and some of the most desperate gastronomers alone continued to seek fortune amid the remains of the banquet. Although the first to commence among the number of those masticators still at table might be seen the renowned porter, and judging from the unallayed sharpness of the appetite with which he showed himself yet provided, that infinity which Bonaparte imagined existed in his head and his destiny, the voracious Maisonneuve appeared to find in his stomach. For the second time a cheesecake, the fresh and unctuous savour of which he could not sufficiently praise, found a place in his affections, when advancing all at once upon him, with a thoughtful and severe countenance, the attorney tapped him on the shoulder, and said in a dry and sharp tone, "Maisonneuve, come this way; I have something to say to you." In the midst of his gastronomical enjoyment, and with the circle of his mouth festooned in cream, Maisonneuve had turned round with every appearance of a very indifferent haste to take this intimation into consideration; but the attorney, by a movement which could not leave the shadow of a doubt as to his earnestness, taking from the hand of his guest the spoon with which it remained armed, coolly placed it on the table, and this time, with an imperious and determined accent, "I tell you to follow me," he said; "I wish to speak with you." Perceiving that decidedly there was something serious in question, Maisonneuve in rising had yet sufficient self-possession to empty a glass of champagne, which, he observed, he was unwilling to abandon without an asylum. He then at length accompanied M. B—– into his study, the only spot that had escaped from the all pervading disorder of the fête. He there found a stranger, who on his entrance returned his bow with a grave and mysterious air.

       Attacking the question without other preamble, M. B—– said to the student, "What is to be thought of that strange story which you just now related in the saloon, and where it is being repeated from mouth to mouth?"

       "It is the truth from beginning to end," replied Maisonneuve. "I am incapable of an invention."

       "I am quite aware of that," observed the notary, emphasising the phrase in a manner but little complimentary. "But I ask you whether, without the slightest doubt on your part, you imagine yourself to have been simply the object of a mystification?"

       "Why, certainly it was all a farce; ay, and one, too, to speak plainly, of the most silly description. I was no further the dupe of it than I chose to be so."

       "Well, then, I must inform you that, in my opinion, as well as in that of the gentleman here present, with your hair-brained mode of acting and detestable acquaintances, you have compromised yourself in a very serious affair; and there is nothing even to prove that I, for my own part, may not have reason to dread the consequences."

       "Nonsense!" said Maisonneuve, shrugging his shoulders, and in a tone of the most perfect incredulity.

       "Are you aware of what has just happened, Mr. Thoughtless?" asked the patron, with increased seriousness and severity. "His Royal Highness the Duke de Berry has been assassinated!"

       "Really?" replied the student. "Who has been trumping up such a story?"

       "The gentleman here brought the news of the frightful event; and he has every reason to believe his information but too correct, since a little time since, on leaving a house in which he had been passing the evening, he met within a short space of each other the Duke d'Angoulême and the Count d'Artois, proceeding in all haste to the theatre of the crime, which was committed at the masked ball which took place this evening at the Opera."

       "But is it said that the prince died on the instant?' demanded Maisonneuve, assuming a more serious tone than he had yet done.

       "Up to this time," replied the attorney, "an extremely dangerous wound is alone talked of; but that circumstance, which, for those attached to the monarchy, affords a degree of consolation and hope, is, perhaps, for you an additional misfortune and danger."

       "All stuff and nonsense! I am not such an ass as that comes to!" exclaimed Maisonneuve, somewhat angrily. "What can my proceedings have in common with the dire event of which you are talking?"

       "This, sir," said the stranger, taking up the conversation, somewhat sententiously, "is what may be found to present between the facts under consideration a very disagreeable connexion. You will admit that the political crime which has just been committed may, with every appearance of truth, be attributed to the directing committee, as well as to the secret societies, the existence of which, for every right-thinking individual, is no longer a matter of doubt."

       "I admit that," replied Maisonneuve. "But what then?"

       "Well, then, however differently you may consider it, it remains evident to us that you to night have been drawn into the bosom of an occult and dangerous association, which necessarily must have been permanently assembled, in anticipation of the catastrophe prepared through its means."

       "All that is mere reasoning," disdainfully replied the student, "and not a matter of fact."

       "Mere reasoning as much as you please," observed the stranger, drily; "but, to continue the reasoning, allow me to add, that the unfortunate prince not having immediately succumbed, the society, in consequence of their attempt having partly failed, must necessarily have thought of adopting measures for their personal safety. Now, you will allow, sir, that this removal of its archives, for which you were so singularly called into requisition, enters quite into this order of ideas."

       "Once more," said Maisonneuve, "I am morally and physically certain of having merely taken part in a mystification; and now, if it is wished to. make commentaries without end —–"

       "But, headstrong fellow," exclaimed the attorney, taking the incredulous young man by the arm, and squeezing it with a sort of nervous contraction, "your adventure was so little of a joke, that the description you gave of the place to which you were conducted perfectly agrees with what has been learned of the mysteries of certain associations. Thus, in the ceremonies of the Ecossime — a parasitical and more than suspected branch of free-masonry — the lodge of the supreme council, or thirty-third and last degree of the order, is precisely hung with purple and funereal ornaments, as was the pretended cavern into which you were conducted."

       "In that case," said Maisonneuve, not knowing how to parry this last argument, "if it is the box remaining in the ante-chamber which is the source of your disquietude, why, then, in the demon's name, let us open it, and see what it contains."

       "It will assuredly be opened," keenly replied M. B—–; "but as I have no desire to aggravate still more the suspicion of complicity that its appearance in my house will naturally excite, it is in presence of the constituted authorities, and in order that every one may receive the reward of his deserts, that the opening shall take place. The commissary of police has been sent for; he will be here in an instant; and I beg to inform you that it is to him that you will have to explain yourself."

       "Well, well," said the student, rubbing his hands, "we shall have a capital laugh, and the venerable magistrate will enjoy a full share of it. Decidedly Paris is a very amusing place in a Shrove-tide."

       "Tell me," said the stranger, addressing himself to M. B—–, "as it will not be possible to make an inventory of the contents of the suspected box in the ante-chamber, do you not think it would be better to have it brought in here?"

       "I am not so foolish as to do that," cried the notary, with a comical expression of fear. "Where that brainless youth placed the box I shall leave it. The commissary of police will decide."

       At this moment a servant opened the door of the closet in which this grave deliberation was being held. Thinking it was the magistrate whom he had sent for, M. B—– hastily advanced to meet him, disposed beforehand to show all the attention and politeness which one never fails in exhibiting to the dispensers of justice when not without apprehension of getting entangled in the meshes of the law. But the servant did not announce the commissary; and the amazement will be easily imagined, when the individual who had entered set about informing him, with an air of alarm, "Sir, it must be that your house is taken for a waggon-office — four other boxes and four more porters have just arrived!"

       At these words, the stranger and M. B—– looked at each other, as if to consult on what was to be concluded from this new and curious turn in the affair, in which decidedly the carnival seemed to engross a larger share than politics; but this mute exchange of thoughts bringing with it no lucid explanation for the attorney, he directed his attention to Maisonneuve, who appeared highly amused by the incident, and inquired of him haughtily what all that meant.

       "Probably," responded the student, "the diverse secret societies of Paris have chosen you for their agent; and alarmed by the assassination of the prince, they have sent you their documents to keep!"

       This repartee, which, considering Maisonneuve not remarkable for wit, was not the worst that might have been found for the occasion, put a finishing touch to the rage of the attorney; and, followed by the other actors in the scene, he rushed furiously from the room, to put an end to what appeared a conspiracy that the trunk-makers and packers of Paris seemed to have entered into against his residence.

       When M. B—– reached the ante-chamber, the brawny-shouldered individuals whom he proposed to lecture roundly, notwithstanding all that had been said to the contrary, had got rid of their burdens; and now, ranged by the side of the box brought by Maisonneuve, four others of nearly similar dimensions imparted to the invaded apartment the appearance of a warehouse or the yard of the diligence-office.

       Closely questioned as to the origin and destination of these huge boxes, the porters replied, in a discordant concert of Auvergnian patois, that a well dressed gentleman had come to their lodgings and awakened them from their slumbers; that he had paid them liberally, in consequence of the unseasonable hour at which he claimed their service. He had then conducted them to a waggon-office near the Jardin des Plantes, and directed them to carry in all haste these four boxes to their addresses, which, as might be seen written on the lids, was that of M. B—–, attorney, Rue de l'Universitè, Faubourg St. Germain, to whom a M. Britannicus, of Bordeaux, had sent them.

       If, previous to this burlesque incident, Maisonneuve had given himself the trouble of reading the address on the box which he had brought, and especially if, making use of his head, he had been capable of comparing two things together, he would on the instant have been struck by a circumstance sufficiently remarkable, that is to say, that he himself had been charged to send to M. Britannicus at Bordeaux, whilst now it was M. Britannicus of Bordeaux who was sending to M. B—–, in Paris. But in the midst of the attorney's indignation and the almost unintelligible explanations of the porters, exposed to the cross-fire of a hundred questions put by the guests, whom the noise had succeeded in drawing from the saloons, and who all at the same time were desirous of learning the facts, it would have been impossible for a mind gifted with the most scrutinising powers to have retained sufficient self-possession for the enregistering a remark of that temerity. Finishing by ranging himself on the side of Maisonneuve, who now declared the fact of the quadruple invoice the incontestible suite and continuation of his own adventure, M. B—–, in order to cut short the ridiculous situation in which he found himself placed, imperiously ordered the porters to remove what they had brought, and instantly to relieve the apartment of their presence.

       Although they at first refused obedience to the mandate, the Auvergnians, who from a certain bantering and jovial air might be supposed better informed on the matter than they pretended, effected nevertheless their retreat with some promptness, and they had been gone from the premises for more than ten minutes when the comissary arrived.

       Informed of the manner in which the suspected box had been confided to Maisonneuve, the magistrate was far from adopting the student's opinion as to the purely facetious character which the latter continued to attribute to his adventure. The fact of the cavern and the gentleman in red instantly recalled to the mind of the functionary that audacious series of crimes which we have already stated, for in his quality of officer of the judicial police he had been called on to act in some of these affairs, with the details of which he had been made acquainted. In particular, the strange invasion of the porters appeared to him highly worthy of attention and very significant, and he sharply reproached M. B—– with not having carefully guarded these individuals until his arrival, not doubting but that he should have drawn from them conclusive and important information.

       The inventory of the contents of the fifth box yet remained to be drawn up. Carried into M. B—–'s cabinet it was for some time examined, and as it were smelt all over, by the magistrate, who, without giving utterance to what he thought, had an air of being led by the nose to the discovery of some suspicious contents. But at the moment when, having already demanded the means of forcing it open, he seemed prepared to satisfy his own curiosity and that of those present, he was suddenly arrested by a scruple. Did his authority, should the proofs of a crime lie concealed within these mysterious planks, extend so far as to warrant his opening the box? and ought he not to content himself with sequestrating it, and rendering an account of the affair to the attorney-general?

       Happily, this difficulty admitted of being surmounted on the instant. The attorney recollected that in the number of his guests were several magistrates, and among others two deputy procureurs, who unquestionably were invested with the requisite powers. Proceeding instantly to bring into requisition the first who should fall under his hand, M. B—– dragged away almost forcibly from a warm game at écarté, and led forward, decked out in the costume of a Roman senator, which he had chosen for the festive occasion, a youthful magistrate, whom he summoned to the exercise of his official duties.

       During all this delay the sinister news of the assassination of the prince had little by little penetrated to the ballroom, where it had brought the dancing to a stop, but none of the guests had quitted the apartment; the arrival of the commissary occasioned a deep sensation; every one was anxious to learn the solution of the enigma which was about to be declared in the study of the host, and generally a revelation of the most fearful mysteries was suspected and looked for.

       At length all was made known, and we are almost ashamed to confess that an immense triumph awaited Maisonneuve. In the box which had been the object of so many suspicions, commentaries, and judicial proceedings, there was at length found something prodigiously ridiculous — five or six paving stones, carefully enveloped in hay, old rags, and paper shavings!

 

       The following day, at a rather early hour, the director of the police of the kingdom received three detailed reports of the strange and inexplicable adventure that had been crowned by so pitiable a conclusion. The first of these reports was that of the commissary of police. With the addition merely of an insinuation, giving it to be understood that, for the really serious and interesting box had been adroitly substituted the one against which they had run their heads, the magistrate set forth no fact which is not already known to the reader. It is therefore unnecessary to reproduce his narrative.

       The second document emanated from a humbler agent, by whom the commissary had been accompanied on proceeding to the residence of M. B—– By a law of progression which increases and augments the zeal in proportion to the humility of the functions, employed to act as a spy at a salary of 900 francs (£36) a year, this man, in his ardour to throw light on the dark affair, had thought fit to make up by the force of imagination for the absence of more positive information.

       The third report was, both in substance and style, infinitely superior to the other two. It contained a summary of the spy's proceedings during the fatal evening of the 13th. The writer first attended a ball given at a banker's, and frequented by political partisans. On leaving this species of club he went to pass a quarter of an hour at the Duchess de N.'s, better known for its devotional habits than for dancing. Here he gleaned the anecdotes and bon mots which were passing current. Finally, he attended the fancy dress ball at the attorney's, with what result will be known on perusing the following extract:—

       "Very probably, sir, other reports may have been addressed to you relative to a very strange incident which took place at the residence of an attorney residing in the Faubourg St. Germain. Probably, moreover, the singular imbroglio may have been represented to you as a mere matter of carnival drollery, into which, after all was said and done, the investigations of justice terminated purely and simply in a mystification. Nevertheless, in presence of information known only to me, and which I have here with the honour of transmitting, you will, perhaps, find that a much graver character ought to be attributed to an affair upon which I do not hesitate to call your most pressing and serious attention. A perquisition by the magistrates had just been made; and whilst the crowd of guests, before separating, were indulging in commentaries such as you may suppose, I hastened to take my leave, in order to draw up in writing the result of my various observations during the evening, when, passing before a hackney-coach standing in the vicinity of the house, I distinctly heard a female voice saying, in an animated tone, to the coachman, 'Yes, M. Maisonneuve — beg the porter of the house to tell him that there is a lady inquiring for him, and that he is requested to come down immediately.' Hearing the name of Maisonneuve, which was that of the student to whom, through the medium of an unknown dame, had been remitted the care of the famous box, my attention was instantly awakened; then at the same moment recognising that the lady who claimed the young man presented herself masked, and in a domino, my first movement was to have had her arrested, in order that, through her means, might at last be obtained the solution of the foolish pleasantry, or that of the dark intrigue which during several hours weighed on the house of Monsieur B—–. Nevertheless, should the question turn out one of mere frolic, would it not be taking cognisance of the affair with too heavy a hand to force a person, whom the student's recital led to suppose highly placed in the world, to suffer herself to be surprised in a position so compromising? A less rough but equally sure mode presenting itself on the instant to my mind, I advanced towards the mysterious dame; and, with a perfectly simple and natural air, I hastened to say to her, 'You are desirous of speaking with M. de Maisonneuve? I believe he is still within; and if you will permit me to become your ambassador, I will inform him that he is waited for.' Had the beautiful mask shown ever so little embarrassment, I should have called for aid, and forced her to alight, whatever might have been the consequence; but not the slightest objection was offered to confiding to me the mission for which I presented myself; on the contrary, I had excuses and thanks showered on me.

       "I encountered young Maisonneuve upon the stairs, and made known to him the good fortune that awaited him. The hair-brained youth gave me a thousand thanks, and ran off. I mounted my cabriolet, and instantly followed their traces; for, after a very short colloquy, the hero of the adventure had seated himself by the side of the lady, and immediately the rumbling machine was set a-rolling.

       "We thus traversed together the Rue du Bac and the Pont Royal, and it appeared to me that in a very short time I should be in possession of the address of the charming domino. Where, in fact, could the pair be proceeding? At the hour it then was, and in consequence of the sinister news already spread abroad, all the public places and balls had shut their doors. On the other hand, they were not proceeding to the student's quarters; for I had been informed that he resided in the Pays Latin, upon which we had now turned our backs. Having arrived in the neighbourhood of the Palais Royal, all at once the carriage stopped, turned back, and at length terminated its course in the Rue d'Argenteuil, before a house of mean appearance, where, the coachman having been paid and sent away, the parties entered.

       "After having sent away my cabriolet, I set about considering this residence, the aspect of which afforded me matter for reflection; but a recollection which flashed on my mind suddenly explained the resolution adopted by the mysterious pair of seeking an asylum there. Without being what may positively be called disreputable, the house before which I then stood was of somewhat suspicions character for intrigue. The greater part of this dwelling was occupied by workmen, and free from the inconvenient watchfulness of a porter or door-keeper; and the second floor, to the best of my recollection, had for occupant a certain lady, widow of a colonel, who had experienced the usual misfortunes. In the sad state of money matters to which she saw herself reduced, Madame de St. Brice carried into execution the idea of engaging and furnishing an extensive suite of rooms, of which she had reserved for her own use only a very small portion. The remainder, comprised of several rooms, which were so happily disposed as not to interfere with each other, formed a species of asylum for embarrassed friends, who, for various reasons, might be desirous of occasional quiet and retirement.

       "On this hospitable floor a light was not long in showing itself in two windows, which previously had remained in darkness. I thereupon no longer remained in doubt as to the happy inspiration of my recollections. From that moment all hesitation was at an end. Finding without much trouble the secret by which the outer door was opened, I groped my way up stairs, and decided on knocking at the complaisant widow's, exercising, however, every possible discretion, in order not to frighten the turtle-doves from their temporary retreat.

       "After some little hesitation, and a few words exchanged through the key-hole, Madame de St. Brice decided on admitting me; and I began by placing a louis in her hand, and begging, with a degree of solemnity, a private conversation.

       "I mysteriously confided to my incorruptible widow that her two protegées were strongly suspected of a participation, more or less intimate, in the great political crime which had just been committed; but instead of yielding obedience to this species of requisition, the cunning jade took advantage of the sad intelligence I had given her to burst into the most immoderate explosion of grief.

       "It was necessary, however, to bring the affair to a close, and my ultimatum was thus laid down:— If I continued to meet a refusal of the prompt and devoted aid which I had a right to demand from her, the refractory dame might from the following day expect that her conduct should be revealed to the prefect of police, and there would be reason to inquire how far her manner was compatible with the rigour of the laws laid down and observed in like cases.* Attacked in this fashion, Madame de St. Brice no longer exhibited a shadow of hesitation, and she immediately introduced and installed me with the least possible noise into a room admirably adapted for becoming an observatory. Left alone, and aided by a few holes effected in, the partition by means of a gimblet, which habitually I carry in my pocket, I considerably increased my chances of correct information, and thence forward it only remained for me to bring my eyes and ears into play.

       "Between the young man and the domino, who until then had not unmasked, everything, let us hasten to declare, had passed with the strictest attention to decorum. Seated at each side of the fire-place, the young folks were chatting reasonably of their affairs, and, in order to explain why he had carried the box to the notary's instead of going, conformably to his instructions, to leave it at the diligence office, young Maisonneuve was proceeding to state that, though the willing dupe of a mystification, he had not considered himself obliged implicitly to follow the intentions of its originators, in dragging through the gutters at a single breath a load which did not fail to prove itself sufficiently incommodious to carry. 'I imagined,' continued he, 'that it would be very funny to present myself thus equipped at M. B—–'s; and, in fact, my idea met with boisterous success, since it stirred up quite a revolution in the house of the worthy scrivener.'

       "'But, in short,' chimed in the domino, 'I had adopted every means of inspiring you with a conviction of the absolute necessity there was for your blindly fulfilling the mandate imposed upon you.'

       "'Agreed; but persuaded that it had nothing serious in it, and having besides abundance of time previous to the hour of its departure for Bordeaux, I had foreseen no inconvenience in my indulging in a little repose.'

       "'And such is the consequence,' observed the dame, 'of wishing to play the wit, and interpreting what you did not understand; on the contrary, the utmost secresy should have been observed.'

       "'Why, then, lead me to give credence to a carnival pleasantry?'

       "'Because, in the first place, I had taken an interest in you; because I feared on your part a resistance which might have thrown you in the way of danger; and because I imagined it easier to purchase your docility in speaking to you of a silly jest in which you were invited to take part, through attachment for me.'

       "'So then,' inquired Maisonneuve, 'I decidedly carried on my back the archives of a political society?'

       "'No, indeed! you carried much more precious objects — the products of a smuggling transaction — laces amounting in value to some hundred thousand francs were, through your imprudence, on the point of being seized and confiscated.'

       "'Nonsense! laces of such deadly weight!

       "'In order the better to escape suspicion, they were packed with paving stones, as was proved by the boxes sent after your absurd frolic became known to us, with a view to operate an adroit confusion, which set all to rights again.'

       "'But tell me, then, my fair dame,' observed the student, 'in drawing me thus into an ambush, did you imagine that you were playing an amiable and distinguished part?'

       "'What I did I was compelled to do. Chief of a band of smugglers who, in order to escape the penetrating eye of the law, assume the most strange and diverse forms, my husband entertained the idea of going to search for a dupe in a public ball-room. You yourself, while playing the part of Hercules, attracted his attention; and it was he who, by his menaces, for he renders me the unhappiest woman on earth, compelled me to address and circumvent you. It was he who, disguised as a negro, opened the carriage door for you, and afterwards got up behind the landau?'

       "'But then again,' remarked Maisonneuve, 'your society of smugglers, to have such dashing equipages at its disposal, must luxuriate in gold and silver?'

       "'My husband for his share draws at least 80,000 francs a year from this perilous enterprise. He therefore occupies a distinguished place in society, where he is highly esteemed and considered. He was last year on the point of being named a member of the Chamber of Deputies, and, with his prodigious capacity, I do not doubt but he would soon have become Chancellor of the Exchequer, for no one understands commercial questions and money matters better than he does.'

       "'All which,' replied the young man, 'does not prevent him from being a very disagreeable husband.'

       "'Yes, he often ill-treats me, because as much as in me lies I resist becoming the accomplice of his criminal practices, or because I endeavour to persuade him to secure the fortune he has already made, and renounce his dangerous profession.'

       "'Now I understand the idea you expressed to me at the ball, respecting your desire for vengeance.'

       "'Ah! let us talk of more serious matters,' said the domino, avoiding to reply more directly to the observation; 'if I have risked all to see you again, it was to make known to you the perils which surround you, and not to give ear to the expression of your folly.'

       "'Nonsense! the peril!' replied, like a real student, the young Maisonneuve; 'when it presents itself we shall see it approach!' And speaking thus he endeavoured to loose the mask of the amiable domino.

       "'At all events,' replied the dame, while defending her mask, 'I shall not suffer you to see my face, being daily exposed to meet you in society; and then, believe me, sir, lose no time in withdrawing yourself from the vengeance of these terrible associates. Informed by an individual, whom doubtless you may remember leaving the room whilst you were so imprudently relating our affairs in M. B—–'s saloon, they have sworn to make of you a fearful example, and did you but know the power of these people!'

       "'Mere folly! Smugglers, as men of the world, cannot after all be so very cruel.'

       "Ah! sir, you cannot imagine what they are capable of, and it is simply your life which is now in question.'

       "'That is a reason the more for in the mean time drowning it in pleasure,' and the student indicated an intention of becoming more enterprising.

       "Protecting herself, but without exhibiting anger, 'In fact,' continued the unknown dame, 'this house is perhaps for you the best place of refuge. Therefore I am about to leave you here, and in a few hours I shall send you all the indications necessary for your safety; but the first step, you must understand, the most indispensable in fact, will be to quit Paris, and that too without delay.'

       "'It is possible that to-morrow I shall quit Paris, if you command me; but you, certainly, my lovely one, shall not leave me at this moment.'

       "'Ay, you may well speak at your ease, you who a short while ago were seated at table before an excellent collation; but if all must be told, I am ready to drop through inanition. The stir occasioned by the endeavour to recover possession of that box, and then the care of providing for your safety, have not left me leisure to take any nourishment since this morning.'

       "'Excellent! why then, let us sup together,' exclaimed Maisonneuve. 'I myself, thanks to that old fool, M. B—–, have but indifferently exercised my masticators. Only, and here is the question, will our worthy hostess have anything to give us?'

       "'It is more than probable,' replied the dame.

       "'Well, I will go and see,' said the student, rising.

       "'No, leave me to act,' replied the domino; 'I know where the good things of the old witch are kept. She would offer you only the warmed-up scraps and remains.' And with a smile she left the room. An instant after the amiable provider returned, bringing the results of her inroad on the hostess's larder. 'We are not very fortunate,' said she; 'I have only found some ham, a bottle of claret, and part of a bottle of Madeira.'

       "'What! Madeira?' observed Maisonneuve, 'whether the bottle is full or only three parts so, is not so bad a rencounter.' And the covers being quickly placed on a table, they sat down to supper.

       "Counting on the effect produced by the stronger wine, the student was desirous that the claret should remain untouched; but his companion insisted on drinking no other, and she even mixed it with two-thirds water. Maisonneuve, on the contrary, applied himself wholly to the Madeira, and at the end of a quarter of an hour his exaltation had reached the highest diapason. In that situation of mind, become audacious even to impertinence, the student was desirous at any price to see the countenance of the amiable domino, and advancing towards her by a sudden movement he succeeded in undoing the mask. But then, my dear director-general, imagine if you can his horror! The pretended beauty, whose features he had succeeded in uncovering, was no other than the famous young woman with the death's head, with whose name rumour has been busy in Paris for several months, and whom you have no doubt met at parties with her eccentric father, the Marquis de Lupiano. Taking advantage of the surprise and terror into which Maisonneuve naturally found himself thrown by her hideous aspect, 'You are a wretch!' exclaimed the horrible young woman; 'but you shall pay dearly for this;' and at the same time rushing out of the room, she double-locked the door.

       "Almost at the same moment a like ceremony was performed at the door of my chamber, in which I had suffered to be revealed the presence of an inhabitant by foolishly neglecting to withdraw the key. That double precaution taken, the wily jade tranquilly left the apartment, and in a few seconds she was safely out of the house.

       "Thus encaged, the student began to make a confounded noise; it lasted, however, but for a short time. The matron, (whether in connivance with the young woman who had left the house, or whether the noise had not succeeded in awakening her), appeared to have heard nothing, and without budging suffered Maisonneuve to exhaust his fury. The latter soon began to yawn, stretch out his arms, and at length appeared as if struggling against a violent attack of stupor. He afterwards went and threw himself on a bed placed in an angle of the room, which was not long in resounding with his harmonious snoring. On seeing him so rapidly assailed by sleep, my first idea was that the Madeira had been drugged with some narcotic, although at the same time all might be explained by the heady nature of the wine of which he had made too free a use. "On my side also I was deprived of liberty. My reclusion was anything but agreeable; but making a disturbance in order to obtain my deliverance would probably attract the attention of the student, and consequently lead him to the knowledge of my having watched his steps. After waiting a mortal quarter of an hour, this ridiculous situation was crowned by a sorrowful termination. To the powerful snoring of the sleeper which I had at first heard, low groans and in articulate sounds succeeded; I then beheld him turn and twist himself on the bed, and at last exhibit all the symptoms of serious indisposition. Struck by this circumstance with a horrible idea, I no longer thought it necessary to act with a prudent caution, and by the tremendous hubbub which I made at my door, I finished by attracting the attention of the hostess, who restored me to liberty. Rushing instantly to the young man's chamber, I found him pale, exhausted, and suffering greatly from vomiting. I thereupon ordered the matron, who by the unaffected expression of her terror seemed to protect herself against every suspicion of complicity, to give the patient warm water to drink, and taking the address of the nearest physician, I ran to awaken and bring him back with me. When we arrived, the poison appeared to have taken its course to the intestines, where it exercised the most frightful ravages.

       "My attention was no longer necessary to the patient, and I had a pressing duty to perform, that of informing justice, and more especially, my dear director-general, that of rendering you the present account. Nevertheless, before quitting the place, I was anxious to have the opinion of the doctor, and asked him what decidedly he considered the nature of the case to be. 'In similar circumstances,' he replied, 'we are never quite sure; it is above all necessary that the liquids should be analysed; but there is unfortunately here the strongest appearances, and my opinion, until better informed, is, that the unhappy young man has been poisoned.'"

 

       In the reports forwarded from all sides to the director of the police, every thing evidently tended to signalise a new and more alarming revelation connected with those invisible malefactors, the researches after whom for a considerable period had formed the despair of the magistrates. But this last affair appeared to furnish some hope of having at length got upon their traces. These men, mysteriously assembled in a subterranean locality, which, from the description furnished by Maisonneuve, must have been the Catacombs, presented themselves naturally to the mind as the murderers of the unfortunate guardian. Besides, was not a conclusive indication to be formed in that predilection for a red colour, which already remarked in the species of horrid ceremonial adopted by these concealed murderers in making away with their victims, was once more brought into notice on the present occasion? And hence, by a new fact, it seemed as if the individuality of one of these assassins had been made out, and probably that of the chief of the band. Was not that woman with the death's head, who, in the singular affair of the boxes, after having played so distinguished a part, had come to finish all by an act of poisoning, notoriously the daughter of the Marquis de Lupiano? and if the mystery and darkness in which the life of that man was enshrouded were taken into consideration, would not all that was hitherto known on his account lend a marvellous support to the suspicions which a last and more transparent revelation permitted to fix upon him? Let us add to these different indications the vague presumption which seemed to connect this dark and bloody past with the poignard of Louvel, and it will readily be understood why, the day following that on which the ball was given by B—– the attorney, the officers of justice paid a visit to the Hotel Lupiano.

       The marquis received the magistrates with the airs of a great lord, tempered, however, with the most perfect courtesy. He listened without apparent embarrassment or emotion to the long list of charges brought against him, and gave with the most perfect self-possession every explanation demanded from him. Proceeding at length to sum up the accusation, "Thus," he inquired, "the commencement of all these suspicious on the part of justice, and the circumstance which in particular has procured me the honour of this visit, is the grievous infirmity of my daughter? Easily known again by a description which admits of no equivocation, her presence must have been unmistakeably marked in the mysterious occurrence which at this moment calls forth the solicitude of the magistracy?"

       Upon an affirmative reply by the latter, "Well, gentlemen," continued the marquis, "I myself, before you have ordered such a step, demand the presence of my daughter. You will be the first in Paris in whose presence she has thrown aside her mask. Yesterday, perhaps she would have offered objections to yielding to your injunctions; to-day the mystery is at an end, and henceforth it is with an uncovered countenance that she will everywhere present herself."

       Having thus spoken, Lupiano rang for a domestic, and gave orders to inform his daughter that he was waiting for her. Shortly after a young person appeared in an elegant negligee morning-dress. The marquis having told her to remove a thick veil of black lace which concealed her features, those present started in disgust and affright on finding themselves face to face with the hideous appearance of a skeleton; but, at the same moment, the marquis passed behind the young woman, and pressed a small spring concealed in her hair. The effect was magical; in the place of a mask of wax, which, in detaching itself, fell and was severed into a thousand pieces on the floor, appeared a charming female face which, may heaven forgive the offence, had very much the appearance of laughing in the faces of the officers of justice.

       But although thus beholding thrown down the structure on which the accusation was raised, the representatives of justice did not consider themselves as wholly convinced, and arrogating a right of curiosity which, up to a certain point might very well appear justifiable, they asked an explanation of the reason and the object of the hideous disguise, being continued during so long a period.

       "Excuse me," replied Lupiano; "but I consider myself dispensed from replying, for I do not see why, because the fancy of exciting horror has taken possession of a woman, she must therefore render an account of her conduct to the laws. Nevertheless, in order to explain all that may appear extraordinary in our proceeding, two words I imagine will suffice. My daughter is married; her husband had for a long time been compelled to live apart from her, and as he is of a suspicious and jealous nature, he had only permitted her to make a residence in Paris, the air of which is considered peculiarly obnoxious to conjugal honour, on condition that she should reside there in a state of complete sequestration. With a view to withdraw her from the action of this rigorous command, without at the same time committing an infraction of the conditions laid down by her lord and master, it was I, gentlemen, who first entertained the idea of this funereal masquerade, well assured that no soft-sighing admirer would be proof against the horrible caprice of my imagination. It so happened that last night the absent husband arrived. Protected henceforth by his presence, my daughter has received permission to resume the use of her charms, and I am happy, gentlemen, in having been able to make you the first witnesses of her agreeable transformation."

       Justice, as is well known, when it once thinks it has laid hands on a victim, is not easily induced to lose its held. Its officers, therefore, did not fail to turn and twist the explanations offered by the marquis in every possible fashion, clearly showing that they would accept them only on condition of the clearest proof, and with many reserves and restrictions.

       Lupiano now appeared moved, but merely with impatience, and speaking in a tone which seemed to mark his determination to cut short all further discussion, "If your intention and your duty," he replied, "is to discover the guilty, at whatever price, I do not see why, in fact, gentlemen, you should give yourselves the trouble of going to search for them elsewhere than on my premises, where you have the advantage of finding yourselves at present. I ought, however, to inform you that here, where you are obstinately bent on discovering the traces of a crime, you expose yourselves to the ridicule of a burlesque result. One of my friends present at the ball mentioned witnessed the absurd commencement of the foolish story which has so powerfully attracted the attention of justice, and he has had the curiosity to carefully watch the progress of the affair. According to the information which he transmitted me a little before your arrival, young Maisonneuve is at this moment in the enjoyment of perfect health; and what will doubtless appear to you, as it does to me, to exclude all idea of an act of poisoning, about two hours ago there was addressed to him a note conceived in something like the following terms:—

       "'Sir, — You are so very silly, that you are unworthy of being made the object of a crime. You make pretension to having been poisoned; while, on the contrary, for the purpose of teaching you to execute for the future your commissions with a better grace, good and worthy young man, you have only been physicked.'

       "I am," continued the marquis, "wholly at your disposal, and ready to constitute myself prisoner, as well as my daughter; but perhaps you will find it prudent and useful previously to verify the truth of the information I now afford you."

       The assured and peremptory air of Lupiano could not fail to make an impression on his guests, and already they found themselves greatly embarrassed in their research, when a letter, which arrived in all haste from the Minister of Justice, came to confirm the oral explanations of the marquis, and to intimate to them in consideration of the quality of the person, to proceed with extreme caution in the business. Ranging themselves therefore on the side of Maisonneuve, the magistrates like him now believed the affair to have been a carnival joke got up on a grand scale; and they explained to their own satisfaction at least, that the history then so popular of the death's head, and the fantastical association of men in red, afterwards known to some persons, might have been enrolled in the same corps, and played a part in this vast mystification.

       Well, then, it must be acknowledged that justice once more had been led on a wrong scent; and that if, persevering in its first inspiration, it had pressed the marquis more closely, without discovering between the mysterious box and the crime of Louvel an affinity which in reality never existed, it would have found the key to a mysterious intrigue of which it remained wholly in ignorance, but the minutest details connected with which have been laid open to us. The moment is not arrived to give the solution of that intrigue; and a world of events and facts not less extraordinary must be traversed before reaching the winding-up of the strange history.

       At this moment, however, we may state, for the satisfaction of the reader, that the unknown and masked lady with whom Lupiano was in the habit of showing himself in Paris was not the same person whom he had presented as his daughter to the magistrates. We may even go the length of making known that the substituted individual whom he had brought forward for the purpose of deceiving justice was no other than Georgina, the Bleeding Damsel, who, at Bordeaux, had played the part of Madame Lelouard, and had afterwards caused herself to be carried off by the envoy of King Radana.

       A few words more of preface and explanation to the hints already thrown out by the writer to the reader. In the vast and arduous development of what may be called an immense imbroglio, in which curiosity and mystery must form the principal elements of interest, would it be showing one's self too exigent to demand from those willing to follow up the tale to its close — patience for those explanations which always finish by being given to everything — attention for the generating of multiplied incidents, the tangled thread of which must be unravelled — and, in fine, a somewhat ready memory of the facts already recounted, and which may often find a final echo and accomplishment in a distant part of the narration?

 

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