taken out of the wall of his
room, had traced a long white line, representing a cord, on the floor.
Pistache, on a signal from his master, placed himself on this line,
raised himself on his hind paws, and holding in his front paws a wand
with which clothes used to be beaten, he began to dance upon the line
with as many contortions as a rope-dancer. Having been several times
up and down it, he gave the wand back to his master and began without
hesitation to perform the same evolutions over again.

The intelligent creature was received with loud applause.

The first part of the entertainment being concluded Pistache was desired
to say what o'clock it was; he was shown Monsieur de Chavigny's watch;
it was then half-past six; the dog raised and dropped his paw six times;
the seventh he let it remain upraised. Nothing could be better done; a
sun-dial could not have shown the hour with greater precision.

Then the question was put to him who was the best jailer in all the
prisons in France.

The dog performed three evolutions around the circle and laid himself,
with the deepest respect, at the feet of Monsieur de Chavigny, who at
first seemed inclined to like the joke and laughed long and loud, but a
frown succeeded, and he bit his lips with vexation.

Then the duke put to Pistache this difficult question, who was the
greatest thief in the world?

Pistache went again around the circle, but stopped at no one, and at
last went to the door and began to scratch and bark.

"See, gentlemen," said M. de Beaufort, "this wonderful animal, not
finding here what I ask for, seeks it out of doors; you shall, however,
have his answer. Pistache, my friend, come here. Is not the greatest
thief in the world, Monsieur (the king's secretary) Le Camus, who came
to Paris with twenty francs in his pocket and who now possesses ten
millions?"

The dog shook his head.

"Then is it not," resumed the duke, "the Superintendent Emery, who gave
his son, when he was married, three hundred thousand francs and a house,
compared to which the Tuileries are a heap of ruins and the Louvre a
paltry building?"

The dog again shook his head as if to say "no."

"Then," said the prisoner, "let's think who it can be. Can it be, can it
possibly be, the 'Illustrious Coxcomb, Mazarin de Piscina,' hey?"

Pistache made violent signs that it was, by raising and lowering his
head eight or ten times successively.

"Gentlemen, you see," said the duke to those