thoughts, could not be
hidden from him;--and, "who dared try his skill?"

"_C'est moi!_" said Madame Duprez, as she drew her chair to the centre
of the room, and accepting the challenge, cast loose her beautiful
hair, which fell in a raven torrent over snowy neck and shoulders,
heightening tenfold every charm of face and figure.

Du Jean was nothing loth to commence his tender manipulation of the
charming head, whose wicked mouth and teasing eyes shot glances of
defiance at me. Several organs were disclosed and explained to the
company; but then came others which he ventured to whisper in her ears
alone, and, as he did so, I noticed that his mouth was pressed rather
deeper than I thought needful among the folds of her heavy locks. I
took the liberty to hint rather jestingly that the doctor "_cut quite
too deep_ with his lips;" but the coquette at once saw my annoyance,
and persisted with malicious delight in making Du Jean whisper--heaven
knows what--in her ear. In fact, she insisted that some of the organs
should be repeated to her three or four times over, while, at each
rehearsal, the doctor grew bolder in his dives among the curls, and
the lady louder and redder in her merriment.

At last, propriety required that the scene should be closed, and no
one knew better than this arch coquette the precise limit of decency's
bounds. Next came the lawyer's cranium; then followed the horse-jockey
and tavern-keeper; and finally, it was _my_ turn to take the stool.

I made every objection I could think of against submitting to
inspection, for I was sure the surgeon had wit enough not to lose so
good a chance of quizzing or ridiculing me; but a whispered word from
Madame forced an assent, with the stipulation that Du Jean should
allow _me_ to examine his skull afterwards, pretending that if he had
studied with Spurzheim, I had learned the science from Gall.

The doctor accepted the terms and began his lecture. First of all my
Jealousy was enormous, and only equalled by my Conceit and Envy. I was
altogether destitute of Love, Friendship, or the Moral sentiments. I
was an immoderate wine-bibber; extremely avaricious; passionate,
revengeful, and blood-thirsty; in fine, I was a monstrous conglomerate
of every thing devilish and dreadful. The first two or three essays of
the doctor amused the company and brought down a round of laughter;
but as he grew coarser and coarser, I saw the increasing disgust of
our comrades by their si