flanked by girls. The director and organizer of this
can-can majestic, in a jaded black suit, walked about in every direction,
his head laid waste by his old trade of purveyor of public amusements,
at a cheap rate.

The large Pauline and her companions were not there; and Paul breathed
again.

They danced; couples opposite each other, capered in the most distracted
manner, throwing their legs in the air, until they were upon a level with
the noses of their partners.

The women, whose thighs were disjointed, skipped amid such a flying
upwards of their petticoats that the lower portions of their frames were
displayed. They kicked their feet up above their heads with astounding
facility, balanced their bodies, wagged their backs and shook their
sides, shedding around them a powerful scent of sweating womanhood.

The men were squatted like toads, some making obscene signs; some turned
and twisted themselves, grimacing and hideous; some turned like a wheel
on their hands, or, perhaps, trying to make themselves funny, sketched
the manners of the day with exaggerated gracefulness.

A fat servant-maid and two waiters served refreshments.

This cafe-boat being only covered with a roof and having no wall
whatever, to shut it in, the hare-brained dance was displayed in the face
of the peaceful night and of the firmament powdered with stars.

Suddenly, Mount Valerien, yonder opposite, appears illumined, as if a
conflagration had been set ablaze behind it. The radiance spreads itself
and deepens upon the sky, describing a large luminous circle of wan and
white light. Then something or other red appeared, grew greater, shining
with a burning red, like that of hot metal upon the anvil. That gradually
developed into a round body which seemed to arise from the earth; and the
moon, freeing herself from the horizon, rose slowly into space. In
proportion as she ascended, the purple tint faded and became yellow,
a shining bright yellow, and the satellite appeared to grow smaller in
proportion as her distance increased.

Paul watched her for sometime, lost in contemplation, forgetting his
mistress, and when he returned to himself the latter had vanished.

He sought for her, but could not find her. He threw his anxious eye over
table after table, going to and fro unceasingly, inquiring after her from
this one and that one. No one had seen her. He was thus tormented with
disquietude, when one of the waiters said to him:

"You are l