r they be, and to
whatever party they belong; will feel the weight of the inexorable
Nemesis of human destiny.

XXXVI.

We are to have no more letters! As in the time of the siege, if you
desire to obtain news of your mother or your wife, you have no other
alternative than to consult a somnambulist or a fortune-teller. This is
not at all a complicated operation; of course you possess a ribbon or a
look of hair, something appertaining to the absent person. This suffices
to keep you informed, hour by hour, of what she says, does, and thinks.
Perhaps you would prefer the ordinary course of things, and that you
would rather receive a letter than consult a charlatan. But if so, I
would advise you not to say so. They would accuse you of being, what you
are doubtless, a reactionist, and you might get into trouble.

Yesterday a young man was walking in the Champs Elysees, a Guard
National stalked up to him and asked him for a light for his cigar.--"I
am really very sorry," said he, "but my cigar has gone out."--"Oh! your
cigar is out, is it? Oh! so you blush to render a service to a patriot!
Reactionist that you are!" Thereupon a torrent of invectives was poured
on the poor young man, who was quickly surrounded by a crowd of eager
faces: One charming young person exclaimed, "Why, he is a disguised
sergent-de-ville!"--"Yes, yes; he is a gendarme!" is echoed on all
sides.--"I think he looks like Ernest Picard," says one.--"Throw him
into the Seine," says another.--"To the Seine, to the Seine, the spy!"
and the unfortunate victim is pushed, jostled, and hurried off. A dense
crowd of National Guards, women, and children had by this time
collected, all crying out at the top of their voices, and without any
idea of what was the matter, "Shoot him! throw him the water! hang him!"
Superstitious individuals leaned towards hanging for the sake of the
cords. As to the original cause of the commotion, no one seemed to
remember anything about it. I overheard one man say,--"It appears that
they arrested him just as he was setting fire to the ambulance at the
Palais de l'Industrie!" As to what became of the young man I do not
know; I trust he was neither hanged, shot, nor drowned. At any rate, let
it be a lesson to others not to get embroiled in dangerous adventures of
that kind; and whatever your anxiety may be concerning your family or
affairs, you would do well to hide it carefully under a smiling
exterior. Suppose you meet one