n addressed to the quack dentist; he remembered the counterfeited
writing and the coarse, common paper, stained with tears, which had
well-nigh obliterated part of the address,--too well did he see in the
mysterious grief-stained epistle the opening of a drama of deep and
fearful import; and while these sad presages filled his mind, a powerful
impression whispered within him that the dreadful doings ascribed to the
Italian were not altogether unfounded.

"Oh, I declare, here comes Alfred!" exclaimed the porteress. "Now he
will tell you his opinion of all these spiteful stories about poor M.
Bradamanti. Bless you! Alfred thinks him as innocent as a lamb, ever
since he cured his rheumatics."

M. Pipelet entered the lodge with a grave, magisterial air. He was about
sixty years of age, comfortably fat, with a large, broad countenance,
strongly resembling in its cast and style the faces carved upon the
far-famed nutcrackers of Nuremberg; a nose, of more than ordinary
proportions, helping to complete the likeness. An old and dingy-looking
hat, with a very deep brim, surmounted the whole. Alfred, who adhered to
this upper ornament as tenaciously as his wife did to her Brutus wig,
was further attired in an ancient green coat, with immense flaps turned
up with grease,--if so might be described the bright and shiny patches
of long-accumulated dirt, which had given an entirely different hue to
some portions of the garment. But, though clad in a hat and coat
esteemed by Pipelet and his wife as closely resembling full dress,
Alfred had not laid aside the modest emblem of his trade, but from his
waist uprose the buff-coloured triangular front of his leathern apron,
partly concealing a waistcoat boasting nearly as great a variety of
colours as did the patchwork counterpane of Madame Pipelet.

The porter's recognition of Rodolph as he entered was gracious in the
extreme; but, alas! he smiled a melancholy welcome, and his countenance
and languid air marked a man of secret sorrow.

"Alfred," said Madame Pipelet, when she had introduced her two
companions, "here is a gentleman after the apartment on the fourth
floor, and we have only been waiting for you to drink a glass of cordial
he sent for."

This delicate attention won for Rodolph the entire trust and confidence
of the melancholy porter, who, touching the brim of his hat, said, in a
deep bass voice worthy of being employed in a cathedral:

"We shall give the gentleman every sat