kitchen, which is next to his sleeping-room;
he again heard the same noise in his study or closet; he rose to see
what it was, and not having found anything more than he did the first
time, he was going to shut the door, but he felt some resistance to
his doing so; he then went in to see what this obstacle might be, and
at the same time heard a noise above his head towards the corner of
the room, like a great blow on the wall; at this he cried out, and his
people ran to him; he tried to reassure them, though alarmed himself;
and having found naught he went to bed again and fell asleep. Hardly
had these lads extinguished the light, than M. de S. was suddenly
awakened by a shake, like that of a boat striking against the arch of
a bridge; he was so much alarmed at it that he called his domestics;
and when they had brought the light, he was strangely surprised to
find his bed at least four feet out of its place, and he was then
aware that the shock he had felt was when his bedstead ran against the
wall. His people having replaced the bed, saw, with as much
astonishment as alarm, all the bed-curtains open at the same moment,
and the bedstead set off running towards the fire-place. M. de S.
immediately got up, and sat up the rest of the night by the fire-side.
About six in the morning, having made another attempt to sleep, he
was no sooner in bed than the bedstead made the same movement again,
twice, in the presence of his servants, who held the bed-posts to
prevent it from displacing itself. At last, being obliged to give up
the game, he went out to walk till dinner time; after which, having
tried to take some rest, and his bed having twice changed its place,
he sent for a man who lodged in the same house, as much to reassure
himself in his company, as to render him a witness of so surprising a
circumstance. But the shock which took place before this man was so
violent, that the left foot at the upper part of the bedstead was
broken; which had such an effect upon him, that in reply to the offers
that were made to him to stay and see a second, he replied that what
he had seen, with the frightful noise he had heard all night, were
quite sufficient to convince him of the fact.

"It was thus that the affair, which till then had remained between M.
de S. and his domestics, became public; and the report of it being
immediately spread, and reaching the ears of a great prince who had
just arrived at St. Maur, his highness was desir