k appeared and made a hit, since that sort of thing was the
center of interest just then. But almost a month passed before I could
arouse myself from that condition of fear and--I had almost said,
softening of the brain--which prevented my enjoyment of my success.

"Then the explanation came. Thanks to this occurrence I know now that
I shall never again be in danger of being 'haunted.'

"And I know now that Chance can bring about stranger happenings than
can any fancied visitations from the spirit world. Here you have the
story of this 'mystic' occurrence, which came near endangering my
sanity, and which turns out to be a chance combination of a gust of
wind, a sudden downpour of rain, and the strange elements in the
character of our little friend Adolphe the printer's boy.

"You remember that funny little chap with the crafty eye, his talent
for gambling, and his admiration for the girl of 'La Prunelle'? A
queer little mixture this child who has himself alone to look to for
livelihood and care, the typical race of the Paris streets, the
modified gamin from 'Les Miserables.'

"About a month after the appearance of my book I lay on the divan one
day,--your favorite place, you remember?--and lost myself in idle
reasonings on the same old subject that never left my mind day or
night, when the bell rang and Adolphe appeared, to call for the essay
on 'Le Boulevarde.' There was an unusually nervous gleam in his eyes
that day. I gave him an anisette and tried to find out what his
trouble was. I did find it out, and I found out a good deal more
besides.

"Thanks to his good fortune as a gambler, Virginie came to look upon
him with favor. Pierre was quite out of the race and Adolphe's
affection was reciprocated as much as his heart could desire. But with
his good fortune in love came all the suffering, all the torture, the
suspicions that tear the hearts of us men when we set our hopes upon a
woman's truth. Young as he was he went through them all, and now he
was torturing himself with the thought that she did not really love
him and was only pretending, while she gave her heart to another.
Perhaps he was right--why not?

"I talked to Adolphe as man to man, and managed to bring back a gleam
of his usual jollity and sly humor. He took another glass of anisette,
and said suddenly:

"'M. Lucien--I did something----'

"'Did what?' I asked.

"'Something I should have told you long ago--it was wrong, and you've
always been