My Library

into the windows, two of which occupied the northern end of the parlor, both being very richly curtained, and both quite shut. I repeat, lest trickery in what followed should be suspected by yourself, that the seven jets of gas were brightly burning, and continued so all the evening, except when extinguished, without the aid of human hands; and as they were put out, so also were they relighted more than once. “Having disposed of the bunch of keys, Vatterale went to both windows, examined them closely, fastened them down securely—that is to say, the lower sashes; for he let down one of the upper ones, and threw the eastern external blinds wide open, and fastened them so. Of course, the master of ceremonies had never been in that dwelling before, and of course could not have obtained information respecting it by the usual methods of visit and inquiry, yet, turning to the Baron, he requested him to ring for the servant, and through the closed door bid him remove an ornamental iron sofa from the chamber immediately above our heads, into the dark bedroom on the third floor, as its presence where it then stood would materially affect the experiments to be made! “This request, made under such circumstances, surprised us all, but particularly the Baron, who stared at the man who made it, as if he regarded him as one risen from the dead; and it was, forsooth, rather a startling circumstance, to say