ity of a human pincushion, in which, one
after the other, the sharpest and most pointed pins have stuck
themselves, namely, every infirmity and every disease that mortal man is
heir to.

"In this delicate and distressing position, dear friend, I thought of
you: yes, to you, to you only, shall I owe my restoration to health. Do
not therefore be surprised if, in the course of a few days, you should
see my shadow approach your hospitable door; and prepare for it, I beg
you, a small room and a bed of dried leaves, coarse bread, and a jug of
water. It seems that in order to regenerate my blood I shall want all
these; and I shall be fortunate if, in seeking a perfect restoration to
health, I am not obliged to be a swine-herd or keep sheep, to dig, cut,
and saw wood, pick spinach, or weed the flower-beds! Quick, my friend;
light with all convenient haste the altar on which we will burn again
the incense and benjamin of friendship. Blow again the sparks now so
nearly extinguished of our happy boyish days; revive again the holy
flames of our youthful affections; and, above all things, have the
scissors ready which are to cut the Gordian knot of my complicated
diseases. Soon, in shaking you by the hand, my shadow shall say much
more."

Yours, &c.,

Fifteen days after the receipt of this extraordinary composition, the
banker, escorted by a lean and cadaverous-looking doctor, arrived at our
_chateau_, half strangled with a churchyard cough, and in a state of
apparently hopeless debility. He was evidently very, very ill; and if it
had not been for the sincere friendship my father had for him, I really
do not know how we could have supported the dark cloud which his
presence seemed to throw upon our house for nearly nine mortal weeks.

No one dared either to move or speak: if you wished to laugh, it could
only be on the terrace; if to blow your nose, it was to be done in the
cellar; and as to sneezing, one was obliged to go to the bottom of the
garden. The horses' feet were wrapped up in hay-bands, so that no sound
should be heard in the court-yard; the servants went about the house in
list shoes, and all the approaches to it were knee-deep in straw. There
was an end to the _fanfares_ of the huntsman's horn, and the rollicking
chorus; guns, shot and powder, were all placed under lock and key; the
kennel was mute, and the muzzled dogs looked piteously at one another,
and hung their heads, as if they had given themselves up to