196 THE FRENCH CONVULSIVES. 



tured his skull by falling from a third story, precisely as he was finishing his 

 day's work, and on the point of demanding the slender remuneration which 

 was due for it. It was evident that the unhappy man after long years of toil 

 had become too feeble to pursue his laborious trade : the gossips of the 

 place, and this place was to them a delightful rendezvous for diversion and 

 prattle ; related amongst themselves, that of three children left by this old 

 man not one would recognize him, lest they should be liable to the expense 

 of his burial. Beside the mason was exposed a young child, crushed to death 

 by the carriage of an opera girl ; its form was half hid beneath a black 

 and humid piece of leather, which had been thrown over his large wound. 

 You would have said, it slept, forgetting the lesson and the ferule of its 

 schoolmaster ; above his head hung his cap, his green neckcloth, his em- 

 broidered jacket, soiled with dust and blood, the light scrip, containing his 

 luncheon, in the centre. On a slab apart, lay the body of a young man, 

 overspread by the livid hues of death. Henriette stopped short, here, and 

 without changing colour, exclaimed, as to herself, ' It is he.' " 



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The deceased was a young English nobleman, who, like the author, 

 had seen her upon Chariot, in all her original purity ; and infatuated 

 by her charms, had sacrificed for her the prospects of the highest and 

 most glorious of earthly careers, and finally his life. Satisfied with 

 finding herself at liberty, she would have departed with the single 

 ejaculation, " It is he," but she is politely requested to witness the 

 application of galvanism to the body, at which operation she assists 

 with the utmost composure and indifference. All this, it must be 

 owned, looks too monstrous and improbable, and even allowing the 

 widest latitude to the imagination, in the manufacture of the terrible, 

 seems too rapid a descent into horror. In the next glimpse he catches 

 of her, she appears in a totally altered condition. She has become 

 a fine lady, and to acquire consideration, an ostentatious supplicant 

 for public charities. In this character he is one morning surprised by 

 a visit from her. 



" It was two o'clock ; a burning summer's sun scorched my side of the 

 street ; my blinds were closely drawn ; upon my table was a most charming 

 bouquet of roses ; my apartment was fresh and brilliant, lighted only by a 

 single joyous sunbeam, which, victorious over all obstacles, and coloured by 

 my white and blue curtains, fell upon an exquisite head of Madonna, which 

 seemed fresh from the pencil of Raphael. That young beauty was ushered 

 in. She was alone, she was full dressed, she fanned the perfumed air of my 

 apartment, and on her countenance I retraced the lively carnation which had 

 before struck me. I received her with marked attention and kindness ; she 

 who had not taken the least notice of me in the crowd of society, had come 

 to me, at an hour as improper as if it had been evening. She was sitting 

 there, opposite to me, looking at me, speaking to me there for me. 



" ' You have come to see me at length, my fair Henriette,' said I to her, 

 as I handed her a chair, in the style of a man who addresses an old ac- 

 quaintance, or rather like one who knows whom he is addressing, and who 

 begins without ceremony. 'Henriette!' rejoined she, 'do you know my 

 baptismal name ?' ' And Chariot, Henriette ; what has become of Chariot ?' 

 ' Chariot !' and she stared at me, as if trying to recollect if she knew me, or 

 it might be, to dissemble all knowledge of Chariot. This forgetfulness 

 pierced my heart. 'Yes, Chariot,' rejoined I, more moved than before. 

 ' Chariot, that you loved so much, that you embraced with transport ; Char- 

 lot, the gentle Chariot, whom you cantered in the plain of Vauvres ; Chariot, 

 who one day caused you to drop your straw bonnet ; that poor Chariot that 

 I have seen ?' 



