more somber depths of the gallery, I perceived three
of my tapestry covered chairs; and farther on still, my two Henry II.
tables, such rare treasures that people came all the way from Paris to
see them.

Think! only think in what a state of mind I now was! I advanced,
haltingly, quivering with emotion, but I advanced, for I am brave,
I advanced like a knight of the dark ages.

I found, at every step, something that belonged to me; my brushes, my
books, my tables, my silks, my arms, everything, except the bureau full
of my letters, and that I could not discover.

I walked on, descending to the dark galleries, in order to ascend next
to the floors above. I was alone, I called out, nobody answered, I was
alone; there was no one in that house--a house as vast and tortuous
as a labyrinth.

Night came on, and I was compelled to sit down in the darkness on one
of my own chairs, for I had no desire to go away. From time to time I
shouted, "Hullo, hullo, somebody."

I had sat there, certainly, for more than an hour, when I heard steps,
steps soft and slow, I knew not where, I was unable to locate them, but
bracing myself up, I called out anew, whereupon I perceived a glimmer
of light in the next chamber.

"Who is there?" said a voice.

"A buyer," I responded.

"It is too late to enter thus into a shop."

"I have been waiting for you for more than an hour," I answered.

"You can come back to-morrow."

"To-morrow I must quit Rouen."

I dared not advance, and he did not come to me. I saw always the glimmer
of his light, which was shining on a tapestry on which were two angels
flying over the dead on a field of battle. It belonged to me also. I
said:

"Well, come here."

"I am at your service," he answered.

I got up and went towards him.

Standing in the center of a large room was a little man, very short and
very fat, phenomenally fat, a hideous phenomenon.

He had a singular beard, straggling hair, white and yellow, and not a
hair on his head. Not a hair!

As he held his candle aloft at arm's length in order to see me, his
cranium appeared to me to resemble a little moon, in that vast chamber,
encumbered with old furniture. His features were wrinkled and blown, and
his eyes could not be seen.

I bought three chairs which belonged to myself, and paid at once a large
sum for them, giving him merely the number of my room at the hotel. They
were to be delivered the next day before nine o'clock.

I then st