are to be found in the narrative of Dr
Bataille. No one in England would dream of publishing in this form a
work which was to be taken seriously, nor am I acquainted with any
precedent for it abroad. It is therefore a discreditable and unfortunate
choice, but seeing that a section of the clerical press in France has
agreed to pass over this point, and to accept Dr Bataille as a credible
witness, and seeing also that he has been followed by other writers who
must be taken into account and stand or fall with him, we must not
regard his method as an excuse for refusing to hear him. Apart from him
and his adherents there is indeed no first-hand evidence for Palladian
Masonry. The present chapter will therefore contain a summary of what
was seen and heard by Dr Bataille in the course of his researches.

Sec. 2. _Why Signor Carbuccia was Damned._

In the year 1880, Dr Hacks, who makes, I believe, no attempt to conceal
himself under the vesture of Dr Bataille, was a ship's surgeon on board
the steam-boat _Anadyr_, belonging to the _Compagnie des Messageries
Maritimes_, and then returning from China with passengers and
merchandise. On a certain day in the June of the year mentioned, he was
to the fore at his post of duty--that is to say, he was extended idly
over the extreme length of a comfortable deck-chair, and the _hotel
flottant_ was anchored at Point-de-Galle, a port at the southern
extremity of Ceylon, and one of the reputed regions of the terrestrial
paradise. While the doctor, like a good Catholic, put a polish on the
tropical moment by a little gloss of speculation over the mystery of
Eden, some passengers presently came on board for the homeward voyage,
and among them was Gaetano Carbuccia, an Italian, who was originally a
silk-merchant, but owing to Japanese competition, had been forced to
change his _metier_, and was now a dealer in curiosities. His numerous
commercial voyages had made them well acquainted with each other, but on
the present occasion Carbuccia presented an appearance which alarmed his
friend; a _gaillard grand et solide_ had been metamorphosed suddenly
into an emaciated and feeble old man. There was a mystery somewhere, and
the ship's doctor was destined to diagnose its character. After wearing
for a certain period the aspect of a man who has something to tell, and
cannot summons courage to tell it--a position which is common in
novels--the Italian at length unbosomed himself, beginning dramatic