The Banded Monk 



bush in it and every heap of stones; and I am 

 in a position to declare that there are no Oak 

 Eggars there. To make the swarm that filled 

 my study, the whole of the surrounding dis- 

 trict must have contributed, from this side 

 and from that, within a radius which I dare 

 not determine. 



Three years pass; and fortune persistently 

 entreated at last grants me two Monk- 

 cocoons. Towards the middle of August, 

 both of them, within a few days of each other, 

 give me a female. This is a piece of luck 

 which will allow me to vary and renew my 

 tests. 



I quickly repeat the experiments which have 

 already procured me a most positive reply 

 from the Great Peacock. The pilgrim of 

 the day is no less clever than the pilgrim of 

 the night. He baffles all my tricks. He hast- 

 ens infallibly to the prisoner, in her wire- 

 gauze cage, in whatever part of the house the 

 apparatus be installed; he is able to discover 

 her hidden in a cupboard; he guesses her 

 secret presence in a box of any kind, provided 

 that it be not tightly closed. He ceases to 

 come, for lack of information, when the 

 casket is hermetically sealed. Thus far we 



287 



