My Library

gateway. Hastily dismounting, I paid the man half a gold louis, refused the offered change, but, dismissing him with a word of praise at his alacrity, I hastily rang the bell to summon the concierge or porter. That personage speedily made his appearance, all the quicker from the unwonted vigor applied to the bell-rope. “ ‘Is your master in the house, mon ami?’ “ ‘Oui, monsieur: he has not been absent to-day.’ “ ‘What! Not been absent, when he left me not thirty minutes ago? Impossible! Monsieur Ravalette must have been absent.’ “ ‘But who is Monsieur Ravalette? I know of no such person. Monsieur Jacques d’Emprat is my master, and not the person you have mentioned!’ “Here was a fresh mystery. ‘Call Monsieur Jacques d’Emprat, if you please.’ “ ‘Certainement, monsieur. Jeanette, my dear, go upstairs and tell the patron here’s a gentleman wants to see him.’ “Jeanette, a little girl of twelve years, flew to execute the errand, and in a few moments the landlord himself appeared; and I was surprised to find that the well-aproned butler who had attended upon us at dinner and the proprietor of the house were one and the same person. An explanation soon followed, and I learned that Ravalette, who was an entire stranger to the