d the shop,
which was crowded with people (for it was Saturday afternoon), I
perceived that all the operators were unknown to me, and that my father
was not there. One of the expectants, who waited his turn, politely
made room for me beside him on the bench, and I had time to look about
me before I made any interrogations.

The shop had been newly painted, a looking-glass of considerable
dimensions had been added, and the whole wore the appearance of a more
thriving establishment.

"You are a stranger, monsieur," observed my neighbour.

"I am," replied I; "but I have been at Marseilles before, and when I was
last here I used to frequent this shop. There was a short stout man who
was at the head of it, but I do not recollect his name."

"Oh--Monsieur Maurepas. He is dead; he died about two months since."

"And what has become of his family?"

"He had but one son, who had an intrigue with the daughter of an old
officer in this town, and was obliged to leave it. No one has heard of
him since: he is supposed to have been lost at sea, as the vessel in
which he embarked never arrived at the port to which she was bound. The
old man died worth money, and there is a law-suit for his property now
carried on between two distant relations."

"What became of the lady you were speaking of?"

"She retired to a convent, not three miles off, and is since dead.
There was some mystery about the abbess, and she was supposed to be able
to explain it. I believe she was pronounced `contumacious' by the
inquisition, and put into prison, where she died from the severity of
her treatment."

My heart smote me when I heard this. The poor girl had endured all this
severity on my account, and was faithful even to the last. I fell into
a reverie of most painful feelings. Cerise, too, whose fate I had
before ascertained when I was at Toulouse--dear, dear Cerise!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I tell you again, Huckaback; I wish to have no more of Cerise," cried
the pacha. "She is dead, and there's an end of her."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The information that I received made me doubtful how to proceed; I could
easily prove my identity, but I had a degree of apprehension that I
might be catechised in such a manner as to raise suspicions. At the
same time without a sou in the world, I did not much like the idea of
abandoning all claim