ne?"

"Yes. And the same person, too, formerly Russian minister at Madrid, and
latterly residing on his parole at Paris," continued he, reading from
the paper. "'The very decided part his Majesty has taken against the
practice of duelling is strengthened on this occasion by a recent order
of council respecting the prisoners on parole.' _Diable!_ Burke, what
a scrupulous turn Napoleon seems to have taken in regard to these
Cossacks! And here follows a long list of witnesses who have seen
nothing, and suspicious circumstances that occur every morning in the
week without remark. After all, I don't think the Empire has advanced
us much on the score of police,--the same threadbare jests, the same
old practical jokes, amused the _bourgeoisie_ in the time of Louis the
Fourteenth."

"I don't clearly understand your meaning."

"It is simply this,--that every Government of France, from Pepin
downwards, has understood the value of throwing public interest, from
time to time, on a false scent, and to this end has maintained a police.
Now, if for any cause his Majesty thought proper to incarcerate that
Russian prince in the Temple or La Force, the affair would cause a
tremendous sensation in Paris, and soon would ring over the whole of
Germany and the rest of Europe, with every variation of despotism,
tyranny, and all that, attached to it, long before any advantages to be
derived from the step could be realized. Whereas see the effect of an
opposite policy. By this report of a duel, for instance,--I don't
mean to assert it false, here,--the whole object is attained, and
an admirable subject of Imperial praise obtained into the bargain.
Governments have learned wisdom from the cuttlefish, and can muddy
the water on their enemies at the moment of danger. I should not be
surprised if the affairs of the Bank looked badly this morning."

"It is evident, then, you disbelieve the whole statement about the
duel."

"My dear friend," said he, smiling, "who is there in all Paris, from
Montmartre to St. Denis, believes, or disbelieves, any one thing in the
times we live in? Have we not trusted so implicitly for years past to
the light of our reason that we have actually injured our eyesight with
ils brilliancy. Little reproach, indeed, to our minds, when our very
senses seem to mislead us; when one sees the people who enter the
Tuileries now with embroidered coats, who in our father's days never
came nearer to it than the Place de Carrous